Patent ID: 8893167

Claim:
A method, comprising: in an automatic content recognition (ACR)-enabled connected TV device, wherein: said ACR-enabled connected TV device comprises an ACR module that communicates with an ACR system that is external to said ACR-enabled connected TV device, and said ACR system comprises an abstraction layer that supports different video and audio fingerprint technologies from multiple vendors, wherein said abstraction layer enables said ACR system to assign same interactive event identifiers to different sets of video and audio fingerprints that are generated by said different video and audio fingerprint technologies from said multiple vendors based on timing of said assignment of said interactive event identifiers; said ACR module providing fingerprints to said ACR system for matching; said ACR module receiving information and/or content from said ACR system based on said matching; and said ACR-enabled connected TV device is paired with or associated with a paired device utilizing a companion application running on said paired device: identifying by said ACR module, utilizing an ACR system, content in a presented program associated with a network; identifying by said ACR module, utilizing said ACR system, an event category related to said identified content; determining by said ACR module, utilizing said ACR system, whether to present an overlay associated with said event category, based on a user profile associated with said ACR-enabled connected TV device; and presenting by said ACR module, utilizing said ACR system, said overlay based on said determination, for viewer interaction, wherein said overlay is also presented on said paired device.