US Patents

Gracenote is constantly striving to develop the highest quality technology and services that enrich the multimedia experience. Our domestic patents cover technologies developed as a result of pioneering efforts in the audio and video technology space. The innovations in these technologies have been recognized by patent offices around the world and have resulted in the issuance of the patents below. Copies of Gracenote's U.S. patents can be found at http://www.USPTO.gov or accessed from the full patent text links below each patent's summary.

SELECTION OF CONTENT FROM A STREAM OF VIDEO OR AUDIO DATA

U.S. Patent No. 8,406,607, issued March 26, 2013, relates to a method and apparatus for selection of content from a stream of data, in particular video and/or audio data, that has been distributed. More particularly, according to one aspect, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for replay of a stream of data, in particular video and/or audio data, that has been edited after it has been distributed. According to one aspect, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for channel switching.
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METHOD AND DEVICE FOR GENERATING AND DETECTING FINGERPRINTS FOR SYNCHRONIZING AUDIO AND VIDEO

U.S. Patent No. 8,358,376, issued January 22, 2013, relates to utilizing fingerprints to synchronize audio and video content without modifying the signals.
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MUSIC SEARCHING METHODS BASED ON HUMAN PERCEPTION

U.S. Patent No. 8,326,584, issued December 4, 2012, relates to characterizing a musical recording as a set of scalar descriptors, each of which is based on human perception, and then allowing a human to search for a recording where the descriptors are compared to an identified scalar characteristic.
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APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING A PROMINENT TEMPO OF AN AUDIO WORK

U.S. Patent No. 8,071,869, issued December 6, 2011, relates to a method and system for determining a prominent tempo of audio data.
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METHOD AND DEVICE FOR GENERATING AND DETECTING A FINGERPRINT FUNCTIONING AS A TRIGGER MARKER IN A MULTIMEDIA SIGNAL

U.S. Patent No. 8,020,000, issued September 13, 2011, relates to a device and method of relating one or more trigger actions with a multimedia signal and corresponding method and device for detecting one or more trigger actions in a multimedia signal.
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METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ACCESSING WEB PAGES BASED ON PLAYBACK OF RECORDINGS

U.S. Patent No. 7,945,645, issued May 17, 2011, relates to a method and system for synchronizing the delivery of complementary content to a device.
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GENERATING AND MATCHING HASHES OF MULTIMEDIA CONTENT

U.S. Patent No. 7,921,296, issued April 5, 2011, relates to a method of identifying multimedia content by matching hash words derived from the content to a database.
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METHOD AND DEVICE FOR GENERATING AND DETECTING FINGERPRINTS FOR SYNCHRONIZING AUDIO AND VIDEO

U.S. Patent No. 7,907,211, issued March 15, 2011, relates to utilizing fingerprints to synchronize audio and video content without modifying the signals.
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METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MEDIA NAVIGATION

U.S. Patent No. 7,908,273, issued March 15, 2011, relates to a method and system for media navigation wherein a descriptor hierarchy may be accessed.
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METHOD OF ENHANCING RENDERING OF CONTENT ITEM, CLIENT SYSTEM AND SERVER SYSTEM

U.S. Patent No. 7,904,503, issued March 8, 2011, relates to enhancing rendering of a content item along with a related client and server system.
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AUTOMATIC IDENTIFICATION OF SOUND RECORDINGS

U.S. Patent No. 7,881,931, issued February 1, 2011, describes a method for identifying digital recordings from unidentified recordings by extracting one or more fingerprints from an unidentified recording and searching a reference database for candidate matches.
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AUTOMATIC IDENTIFICATION OF DVD TITLE USING INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES AND FUZZY MATCHING TECHNIQUES

U.S. Patent No. 7,856,443, issued December 21, 2010, relates to an automatic disk identification method involving using unique information about an unidentified DVD to search possibly matching records about the DVD from a remote database.
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METHOD OF ENHANCING RENDERING OF A CONTENT ITEM, CLIENT SYSTEM AND SERVER SYSTEM

U.S. Patent No. 7,849,131, issued December 7, 2010, relates to enhancing rendering of a content item along with a related client and server system.
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METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ACCESSING WEB PAGES BASED ON PLAYBACK OF RECORDINGS

U.S. Patent No. 7,680,902, issued March 16, 2010, relates to retrieving remote data via a computer network related to a recording being played in a local device, where the remote data is display data representing a World Wide Web page.
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FINGERPRINT DATABASE UPDATING METHOD, CLIENT AND SERVER

U.S. Patent No. 7,523,312, issued April 21, 2009, relates to a method of updating a database where a complete set of metadata is determined for each multimedia object in the database from plural sets of metadata associated with a particular fingerprint of a multimedia object accumulated using a file sharing peer-to-peer client.
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GENERATING AND MATCHING HASHES OF MULTIMEDIA CONTENT

U.S. Patent No. 7,549,052, issued June 16, 2009, relates to a method of comparing hashes derived from media signals in a non-exact fashion. This technology is utilized to reliably detect even harshly distorted or otherwise altered media content.
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EFFICIENT STORAGE OF FINGERPRINTS

U.S. Patent No. 7,477,739, issued January 13, 2009, relates to a method for efficiently storing media fingerprints in a database to enable fast and scalable look-ups against large data sets of reference fingerprints using an index table for fuzzy hash look-ups and, subsequently, performing a more thorough comparison on the results of the indexed search.
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AUTOMATIC IDENTIFICATION OF SOUND RECORDINGS

U.S. Patent No. 7,328,153, issued February 5, 2008 describes a method for identifying digital recordings from unidentified recordings by extracting one or more fingerprints from an unidentified recording and searching a reference database for candidate matches.
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METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ACCESSING WEB PAGES BASED ON PLAYBACK OF RECORDINGS

U.S. Patent No. 7,308,485, issued December 11, 2007, relates to retrieving remote data via a computer network related to a recording being played in a local device.
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FINDING DATABASE MATCH FOR FILE BASED ON FILE CHARACTERISTICS

U.S. Patent No. 7,228,280, issued June 5, 2007, relates to finding a match for a file in a database of files, based on sample values for at least one portion of the file and an indication of the amount of data in the file.
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METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR FINDING APPROXIMATE MATCHES IN A DATABASE

U.S. Patent No. 7,167,857, issued January 23, 2007, relates to a comparison of table of contents information (TOC) on physical media and using Fuzzy Matching Techniques to search for a match in a database of records.
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APPARATUS FOR ANALYZING AN AUDIO SIGNAL WITH REGARD TO RHYTHM INFORMATION OF THE AUDIO SIGNAL BY USING AN AUTOCORRELATION FUNCTION

U.S. Patent No. 7,012,183, issued Mar. 14, 2006, relates to the extraction of rhythmic and tempo information from music signals by applying autocorrelation functions to multiple frequency bands of said signals, and subsequently weighting and merging the results depending on the obtained characteristics.
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AUTOMATIC IDENTIFICATION OF DVD TITLE USING INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES AND FUZZY MATCHING TECHNIQUES

U.S. Patent No. 6,983,289, issued January 3, 2006, relates to an automatic disk identification method involving using unique information about an unidentified DVD to search possibly matching records about the DVD from a remote database.
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SYSTEM FOR COLLECTING USE DATA RELATED TO PLAYBACK OF RECORDINGS

U.S. Patent No. 6,330,593, issued December 11, 2001, relates to collecting use data associated with a recording and transferring the information over a network from one device to another.
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PLAYBACK DEVICE HAVING TEXT DISPLAY AND COMMUNICATION WITH REMOTE DATABASE OF TITLES

U.S. Patent No. 6,304,523 issued October 16, 2001, relates to a device that connects to a network in order to retrieve and then display textual and other information about the files stored or played on the device.
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NETWORK DELIVERY OF INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT SYNCHRONIZED TO PLAYBACK OF AUDIO RECORDINGS

U.S. Patent No. 6,240,459, issued May 29, 2001 relates to features including a playback system that compares the playback position of a recording with timing information received via a network from a database system to determine whether to request a new display segment from the database system.
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NETWORK DELIVERY OF INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT SYNCHRONIZED TO PLAYBACK OF AUDIO RECORDINGS

U.S. Patent No. 6,230,207, issued May 8, 2001, relates to features including interactively synchronizing the display of information from a remote device with the playback of a recording at a local device.
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METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ACCESSING REMOTE DATA BASED ON PLAYBACK OF RECORDINGS

U.S. Patent No. 6,230,192, issued May 8, 2001, relates to a method for associating local data with remote data over a network. A uniform resource locator is generated when a recording is played on a local device identifying the location for obtaining remote data. The remote data is then outputted on the local computer.
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SYSTEM FOR SYNCHRONIZING PLAYBACK OF RECORDINGS AND DISPLAY BY NETWORKED COMPUTER SYSTEMS

U.S. Patent No. 6,161,132, issued December 12, 2000 relates to a method of using a first device to control playback of a recording at one or more second devices connected to the first device via a network and transmitting output data related to the recording between the first and second devices.
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NETWORK DELIVERY OF INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT COMPLEMENTING AUDIO RECORDINGS

U.S. Patent No. 6,154,773, issued November 28, 2000, relates to a method of synchronizing distributed content from a distributed medium with complementary content from a remote device delivered over a network.
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METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR FINDING APPROXIMATE MATCHES IN DATABASE

U.S. Patent No. 6,061,680, issued May 9, 2000, relates to a method of searching for a match in a database of records by calculating approximate length information based on the number and length of tracks on a recording.
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NETWORK DELIVERY OF INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT SYNCHRONIZED TO PLAYBACK OF AUDIO RECORDINGS

U.S. Patent No. 5,987,525, issued November 16, 1999, relates to features including synchronizing visual content with playback of a musical recording at a local computer where the visual content is received from a remote computer.
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