Media Research & Innovations has proprietary software for Automatic content recognition (ACR), The Mobile Application, named MediaIcon, using ACR as an identification technology to recognize content played on a media device or present in a media file. Devices containing ACR support enable users to quickly obtain additional information about the content they have just experienced without any user-based input or search efforts. For example, developers of the application can then provide personalized complementary content to viewers.
To start the recognition, a short audio clip is recorded by the device and sent to the identification service. Through algorithms such as fingerprinting, information from the audio is taken and matched to the corresponding media. The database also contains information about the content and associated information, including complementary media. If the fingerprint of the recorded audio sample is matched, the identification service returns the corresponding metadata to the client.
Acoustic fingerprinting generates unique fingerprints from the content itself. Fingerprinting techniques work regardless of content format, codec, bitrate and compression techniques. This makes it possible to use across networks and channels. Therefore, it is widely used for interactive TV, second screen application and content monitoring sectors.