Methods and apparatus to monitor media presentations

• US 10,489,805 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2017
• Issued: 11/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Alla, Madhusudhan Reddy, Ramaswamy, Arun
• Primary Examiner(s): Stevens, Robert
• Application Number:
  US15/636,203
• Publication Number:
  US 20170300947A1
• Time in Patent Office: 881 Days
• Field of Search: 707732
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/245 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0204 Market segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0246 Traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/251 Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies details of learning user preferences for the retrieval of video data in a video database G06F16/739; computer systems using learning methods G06N3/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25883 being end-user demographical data, e.g. age, family status or address arrangements for identifying locations of users in broadcast systems H04H60/52

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture to monitor media are disclosed. An example method includes installing a monitoring enabled application on a media device. Configuration information to instruct the monitoring enabled application to enable monitoring functionality is accessed. A media presentation event is identified within the monitoring enabled application. A media identifier corresponding to the media presentation event when the monitoring functionality is enabled is determined. At least one of a user identifier or a device identifier associated with the media device is determined when the monitoring functionality is enabled. A record is transmitted including the media identifier and the at least one of the user identifier or the device identifier to the audience measurement entity when the monitoring functionality is enabled.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring a media presentation, the method comprising:

installing a monitoring enabled application on a media device;

accessing, by executing an instruction with a processor, configuration information to instruct the monitoring enabled application to enable monitoring functionality, the configuration information to instruct the monitoring enabled application to operate in at least one of a census-based mode or a panelist-based mode;

identifying a media presentation event within the monitoring enabled application;

determining, by executing an instruction with the processor, a media identifier corresponding to the media presentation event when the monitoring functionality is enabled;

determining at least one of a user identifier or a device identifier associated with the media device when the monitoring functionality is enabled, the at least one of the user identifier or the device identifier assigned by an entity other than an audience measurement entity when the monitoring enabled application is to operate in the census-based mode, the at least one of the user identifier or the device identifier assigned by the audience measurement entity when the monitoring enabled application is to operate in the panelist-based mode; and

transmitting a record including the media identifier and the at least one of the user identifier or the device identifier to the audience measurement entity when the monitoring functionality is enabled.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the media identifier is an ID3 tag.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the user identifier or the device identifier is an Apple ID.

4. The method of claim 1, further including storing the record in a memory of the media device.

5. The method of claim 4, further including storing a timestamp in association with the record in the memory of the media device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information is accessed when the monitoring enabled application is executed.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information includes an identifier indicating whether demographic information associated with the at least one of the user identifier or the device identifier may be collected on at least one of an aggregate basis or an individual basis.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the record includes the identifier indicating whether the demographic information associated with the at least one of the user identifier or the device identifier may be collected on at least one of an aggregate basis or an individual basis.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the audience measurement entity is to request the demographic information from a database proprietor using a plurality of at least one of user identifiers or device identifiers associated with the media identifier when the record indicates that the demographic information may be collected on the aggregate basis.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the audience measurement entity is to request demographic information from a database proprietor using the at least one of the user identifier or device identifier associated with the media identifier when the record indicates that demographic information may be collected on the individual basis.

11. A tangible computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

install a monitoring enabled application on a media device;

access configuration information to instruct the monitoring enabled application to enable monitoring functionality, the configuration information to instruct the monitoring enabled application to operate in at least one of a census-based mode or a panelist-based mode;

identify a media presentation event within the monitoring enabled application;

determine a media identifier corresponding to the media of the media presentation event when the monitoring functionality is enabled;

determine at least one of a user identifier or a device identifier associated with the media device when the monitoring functionality is enabled, the at least one of the user identifier or the device identifier assigned by an entity other than an audience measurement entity when the monitoring enabled application is to operate in the census-based mode, the at least one of the user identifier or the device identifier assigned by the audience measurement entity when the monitoring enabled application is to operate in the panelist-based mode; and

transmit a record including the media identifier and the at least one of the user identifier or the device identifier to an audience measurement entity when the monitoring functionality is enabled.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the media identifier is an ID3 tag.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the at least one of the user identifier or the device identifier is an Apple ID.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to store the record in a memory of the media device.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to at least store a timestamp in association with the record in the memory of the media device.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the configuration information is accessed when the monitoring enabled application is executed.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the configuration information includes an identifier indicating whether demographic information associated with the at least one of the user identifier or the device identifier may be collected on at least one of an aggregate basis or an individual basis.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the record includes the identifier indicating whether the demographic information associated with the at least one of the user identifier or the device identifier may be collected on at least one of an aggregate basis or an individual basis.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the audience measurement entity is to request the demographic information from a database proprietor using a plurality of at least one of user identifiers or device identifiers associated with the media identifier when the record indicates that the demographic information may be collected on the aggregate basis.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the audience measurement entity is to request the demographic information from a database proprietor using the at least one of the user identifier or the device identifier associated with the media identifier when the record indicates that the demographic information may be collected on the individual basis.