Determining visibility of rendered content

• US 10,068,352 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2016
• Issued: 09/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Khandpur, Sundeep Singh
• Primary Examiner(s): Sajous, Wesner
• Application Number:
  US15/279,103
• Publication Number:
  US 20180012378A1
• Time in Patent Office: 706 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/001 Texturing; Colouring; Generation of texture or colour inpainting G06T5/77
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10004 Still image; Photographic image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10024 Color image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30242 Counting objects in image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/33 using feature-based methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/62 of area, perimeter, diameter or volume
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/90 Determination of colour characteristics

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for determining whether content rendered on a display is actually visible to a user. In one aspect, a method includes generating and transmitting content presentation data that causes a user device to present, at a display and over a first time period, a content item that includes one or more content portions that are each designated for presentation in a respective first color. For a second time period, the respective first color of a particular content portion is changed to a second color. Visual representation data that includes a visual representation of the display during the second time period is generated and provided. Using the visual representation, an amount of the content item that was visible at the display is determined based on an amount of the particular content portion presented in the second color.

Claims

1. A mobile device, comprising:

a data processing apparatus; and

a memory apparatus in data communication with the data processing apparatus storing instructions executable by the data processing apparatus that, upon execution, cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising;

receiving content presentation data comprising a content item and associated instructions, the content item having a portion designated for presentation in a first color;

altering the portion of the content item during a first state in which the associated instructions are to present the portion in a second color different from the first color;

capturing a visual representation of the display of the mobile device during the first state;

determining, using the captured visual representation of the display of the mobile device during the first state, an amount of the content item visible at the display based on an amount of the portion of the content item that was presented in the second color; and

transmitting the determined amount of the content item visible at the display of the mobile device to a server associated with the content presentation data.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein determining the amount of the content item visible at the display comprises:

identifying a first number of pixels of the portion of the content item;

determining, using the visual representation, a second number of pixel-sized areas that were presented in the second color; and

determining the amount of the content item that was visible at the display based on a comparison of the first number to the second number.

3. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein determining the amount of the content item that was visible at the display comprises:

identifying in the visual representation an expected presentation location of the portion of the content item; and

determining a number of pixel-sized areas in the expected presentation location that match the second color for the portion of the content item.

4. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the content item comprises an advertisement, the operations further comprising:

determining that the amount of the advertisement visible at the display satisfies a specified visibility threshold; and

generating and transmitting data that indicates that an impression of the advertisement occurred in response to determining that the amount of the content item that was visible at the display satisfies the specified visibility threshold.

5. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

capturing a plurality of visual representations from the display of the mobile device, each of the plurality of visual representations associated with a timestamp specifying a time at which each of the plurality of visual representations was obtained;

determining that one or more of the plurality of visual representations include at least a specified amount of the content item; and

determining an amount of time that the content item was visible based on the timestamps for each of the one or more of the plurality of visual representations that include at least the specified amount of the content item.

6. The mobile device of claim 5, wherein the operations further comprise deleting the content item in response to determining that the specified amount of the content item that was visible at the display satisfies a specified visibility threshold and the amount of time the content item was visible satisfies a specified time threshold.

7. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein altering the portion of the content item during the first state comprises adjusting one or more RGB color values that define the first color for the portion of the content item to produce the second color.

19. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the visual representation of the display comprises data from an off screen buffer of the mobile device designated for presentation at the display.

8. A non-transitory computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by a data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

presenting, at a display and over a first time period, a content item that includes a content portion that is designated for presentation in a respective first color for the content portion;

changing, for a second time period that is after the first time period, the first color of the content portion to a second color different from the first color; and

capturing visual representation data that includes a visual representation of the display during the second time period;

determining, using the visual representation data, an amount of the content item that was visible at the display based on an amount of the content portion presented in the second color; and

transmitting the determined amount of the content item that was visible at the display to a server associated with the content item.

20. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 8, wherein the visual representation of the display comprises data from an off screen buffer of the data processing apparatus designated for presentation at the display.

9. A method performed by a data processing apparatus, the method comprising:

altering, by a web browser executed by the data processing apparatus, a portion of a content item, designated for presentation in a first color, to a second color different from the first color during transition to a first state;

capturing, by the web browser, a visual representation of a display in the first state;

identifying, by the web browser, a first number of pixels of the portion of the content item;

determining, by the web browser, using the captured visual representation, a second number of pixel-sized areas that were presented in the second color;

determining, by the web browser, an amount of the content item that was visible at the display based on an amount of the portion of the content item that was presented in the second color based on the first number of pixels and the second number of pixel-sized areas; and

transmitting, via a network interface of the data processing apparatus, the determined amount of the content item visible at the display to a server associated with the content item.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the amount of the content item that was visible at the display further comprises:

identifying, by the web browser, in the visual representation an expected presentation location of the portion of the content item; and

determining, by the web browser, a number of pixel-sized areas in the expected presentation location that match the second color for the content portion.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the content item comprises an advertisement, the method further comprising:

determining, by the web browser, that the amount of the advertisement that was visible at the display satisfies a specified visibility threshold; and

generating, by the web browser, and transmitting data that indicates that an impression of the advertisement occurred in response to determining that the amount of the content item that was visible at the display satisfies the specified visibility threshold.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

capturing, by the web browser, a plurality of visual representations, each particular visual representation being obtained at different times and associated with a timestamp that specifies a time at which the particular visual representation was captured;

determining, by the web browser, that one or more of the plurality of visual representations include at least a specified amount of the content item; and

determining, by the web browser, an amount of time that the content item was visible based on the timestamps for each of the one or more of the plurality of visual representations that include at least the specified amount of the content item.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises deleting, by the web browser, the content item in response to determining that the amount of the content item that was visible at the display satisfies a specified visibility threshold and the amount of time the content item was visible satisfies a specified time threshold.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the second color of the portion of the content item is displayed by adjusting one or more RGB color values that define the first color for the portion of the content item to produce the second color.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein each of the one or more RGB color values is adjusted by a specified amount.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the captured visual representation of the display is a screenshot of an area of the display in which the content item is presented.

17. The method of claim 9, further comprising changing, by the web browser, in a second state, the portion of the content item presented back to the first color.

18. The method of claim 9, wherein the visual representation of the display comprises data from an off screen buffer of the data processing apparatus designated for presentation at the display.