tvtak is a platform for TV content recognition. It can auto-recognize real-time broadcast and offline advertising video. Tvtak's core technology should be the real-time image matching between front-end image(from tv viewer's phone camera) and backend frame images(from real-time capturing broadcast frame). The question is :
1. How tvtak can get the real-time broadcast channels stream?. We know the channels are encrypted by cable operator! Does tvtak need to corporate with cable operator? Or do they get the video from some free internet broadcast stream?
2. What may be the matching algorithm for tvtak?
3. How do tvtak get the electronic program guideline (EPG) for all channels?
http://www.tvtak.com/developers.html says they take the real-time streams and index them on-the-fly:
Live TV -In the back-office, TvTak indexes in real-time broadcast TV channels in multiple countries. Video is not recorded but only analyzed in real-time to produce the reference matching identifiers.
- Cues for Pre-recorded Clips – for ad spots, movie trailers, or any other pre-recorded content, reference IDs can be generated in advance.
I doubt anyone will tell you the algorithm