A receiver (10) includes one or more tuners (12) and one or more controller-circuits (28). The one or more tuners (12) are operable to receive broadcast-signals (14) from transmitters. The broadcast-signals (14) include metadata (16) that includes the broadcast-station-name (18). The one or more controller-circuits (28) are in communication with the one or more tuners (12). The one or more controller-circuits (28) store the metadata (16) in a first-memory-location (32), detect metadata-sequences (38) based on the metadata (16) stored in the first-memory-location (32), count occurrences (40) of each metadata-sequence (38), determine whether the count of occurrences (40) of each metadata-sequence (38) is greater than a first-threshold (42), determine the broadcast-station-name or its sequences (18) and store the broadcast-station-name (18) in a second-memory-location (44). A method (100) of operating a receiver (10) is also provided.

A receiver (10) includes one or more tuners (12) and one or more controller-circuits (28). The one or more tuners (12) are operable to receive broadcast-signals (14) from transmitters. The broadcast-signals (14) include metadata (16) that includes the broadcast-station-name (18). The one or more controller-circuits (28) are in communication with the one or more tuners (12). The one or more controller-circuits (28) store the metadata (16) in a first-memory-location (32), detect metadata-sequences (38) based on the metadata (16) stored in the first-memory-location (32), count occurrences (40) of each metadata-sequence (38), determine whether the count of occurrences (40) of each metadata-sequence (38) is greater than a first-threshold (42), determine the broadcast-station-name or its sequences (18) and store the broadcast-station-name (18) in a second-memory-location (44). A method (100) of operating a receiver (10) is also provided.

A method for decoding the name of detected radio stations, the method being implemented by a receiving system including at least one radio receiver, each of the received radio signals including a digital datum corresponding, at least intermittently, to the name of the radio station, the method including the following steps: for each radio station belonging to a list of radio stations preselected from the detected radio stations, a first decoding of the digital datum at a first sampling frequency, in order to determine a probable name; for any detected radio station not belonging to the list of preselected radio stations, a second decoding of the digital datum at a second sampling frequency lower than the first, in order to determine a probable name; and measuring a quality of the radio signal and inhibiting the first and second decodings if the quality of the signal drops below a preset threshold.

A method for decoding the name of detected radio stations, the method being implemented by a receiving system including at least one radio receiver, each of the received radio signals including a digital datum corresponding, at least intermittently, to the name of the radio station, the method including the following steps: for each radio station belonging to a list of radio stations preselected from the detected radio stations, a first decoding of the digital datum at a first sampling frequency, in order to determine a probable name; for any detected radio station not belonging to the list of preselected radio stations, a second decoding of the digital datum at a second sampling frequency lower than the first, in order to determine a probable name; and measuring a quality of the radio signal and inhibiting the first and second decodings if the quality of the signal drops below a preset threshold.

Broadcast signatures (fingerprints) from different sources are compared to distinguish between a known base media item and unknown versions of the known base media item, without prior storage of the unknown altered versions of the known base media item. Field recorders collect and store in buffers signatures found within portions of sequential broadcast content. Mobile devices (users) collect unknown signatures while recording broadcast content. Using a cloud callout routine, the mobile device requests a comparison between the collected unknown signatures and the field recorded signatures. Potential matches can be loose matches, strict matches or comparisons between failed loose comparisons

Broadcast signatures (fingerprints) from different sources are compared to distinguish between a known base media item and unknown versions of the known base media item, without prior storage of the unknown altered versions of the known base media item. Field recorders collect and store in buffers signatures found within portions of sequential broadcast content. Mobile devices (users) collect unknown signatures while recording broadcast content. Using a cloud callout routine, the mobile device requests a comparison between the collected unknown signatures and the field recorded signatures. Potential matches can be loose matches, strict matches or comparisons between failed loose comparisons

A multicast content delivery system can use both multicast and unicast streams to efficiently use available bandwidth to deliver content. Available multicast content can be identified to gateways serving consumption devices, and the gateways can receive requests for unicast content deliver, but honor the requests with multicast group sessions.

An automotive radio receiver includes an over-the-air radio tuner and a network interface. When a broadcast is received at the radio receiver, it includes embedded information that can be used to identify the radio station providing the broadcast. The radio receiver uses the embedded information to identify a streaming station that corresponds to the broadcast station. The radio receiver transmits information associated with the streaming station to a web service, which returns an address at which the radio receiver can access the streaming station. The address of the streaming station is stored in a memory accessible to the radio receiver for later use. The next time the radio receiver is tuned to the same broadcast station, the radio receiver instead connects to the streaming station at the stored address.

An example apparatus to monitor media that is presented via a mobile device includes: an application monitor to determine when media presentation software is being executed by the mobile device; and a metering information collector to collect at least one of a signature or a code of the media presented by the media presentation software based on the media presentation software being executed by the mobile device.

Small changes in a broadcast version of a base media item can be identified by performing a multi-level comparison of digital fingerprints. A fingerprint of a base media item is compared to a fingerprint of a media broadcast to determine whether a media item embedded in a broadcast is likely, to a first level of certainty, to be the base media item. A second, more stringent, match between the fingerprint of the base media item and loosely matched items can be used to identify potentially-altered versions of the base media item. Potentially-altered versions can be compared against each other, and resulting matches are flagged as altered base media items, which can be fingerprinted and tested against broadcast fingerprints in the same manner as the base media item. Comparisons are made in parallel between two fingerprints to distinguish between a known base media item and unknown altered versions of the known base media item without prior storage of the unknown altered versions of the known base media item.