Patent ID: 7574451

Claim:
A method for providing identification of media objects embedded in client-monitored media broadcast streams to each of a plurality of client computers, comprising using a computing device to: for each of a plurality of client computers, transmit client-generated media stream traces to a server computer on an ongoing basis; for each transmitted media stream trace received by the server, use the server to search a trace cache for a matching trace to the media stream trace; wherein each trace in the trace cache includes a pre-determined lifetime, and wherein any trace having an expired lifetime is removed from the trace cache along with any associated media object identification information; if the trace cache includes a matching trace, transmit any media object identification information associated with that matching trace from the server to the corresponding client; if the trace cache does not include a matching trace, search a fingerprint database to determine whether there are any matching fingerprints to media stream trace and store the transmitted media stream trace to the trace cache along with results of the database search; if the fingerprint database includes a matching fingerprint, transmit media object identification information associated with the fingerprint from the server to the corresponding client; uploading a subset of one or more fingerprints from the fingerprint database and zero or more traces from the trace cache and any media object identification information associated with the uploaded fingerprints and traces from the server to one or more of the client computers; and wherein the fingerprints sent to the client, although stored in the server, are not used by the server itself for trace matching for the corresponding client.