METHODS AND APPARATUS TO MONITOR MOBILE DEVICES

• US 20090305680A1
• Filed: 04/03/2009
• Published: 12/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Swift, Roderick D., Chatterjee, Manjirnath, Simon, Gregory R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,503,991 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/106 using time related information in packets, e.g. by adding timestamps
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/611 for multicast or broadcast systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/22 Arrangements for supervision, monitoring or testing

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to monitor mobile devices are disclosed. A disclosed example method involves operating first and second wireless telephone device terminals. In the example method, the first wireless telephone device terminal includes a first media decoder configured to decode a first media encoding format and the second wireless telephone device terminal includes a second media decoder configured to decode a second media encoding format. The example method also involves receiving a first media presentation via the first wireless telephone device terminal and a second media presentation via the second wireless telephone device terminal. The first media presentation is encoded using the first media encoding format and the second media presentation is encoded using the second media encoding format. The first and second media presentations include substantially similar media content. The example method also involves generating a first reference signature of the first media presentation and a second reference signature of the second media presentation. The first reference signature is stored in association with first device identifier information indicative of the first wireless telephone device terminal. The second reference signature is stored in association with second device identifier information indicative of the second wireless telephone device terminal.

Claims

1. A method to monitor media delivered over wireless communication networks, comprising:

operating first and second wireless telephone device terminals, wherein the first wireless telephone device terminal includes a first media decoder configured to decode a first media encoding format, and wherein the second wireless telephone device terminal includes a second media decoder configured to decode a second media encoding format;

receiving a first media presentation via the first wireless telephone device terminal and a second media presentation via the second wireless telephone device terminal, wherein the first media presentation is encoded using the first media encoding format and the second media presentation is encoded using the second media encoding format, and wherein the first and second media presentations include substantially similar media content;

generating a first reference signature of the first media presentation and a second reference signature of the second media presentation;

storing the first reference signature in association with first device identifier information indicative of the first wireless telephone device terminal; and

storing the second reference signature in association with second device identifier information indicative of the second wireless telephone device terminal.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein operating the first and second wireless telephone device terminals comprises emulating a first wireless telephone device corresponding to the first wireless telephone device terminal and emulating a second wireless telephone device corresponding to the second wireless telephone device terminal.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein operating the first wireless telephone device terminal comprises operating a first wireless telephone handset.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first media encoding format is associated with a first media encoding standard, and wherein the second media encoding format is associated with a second media encoding standard different from the first media encoding standard.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a panel metering signature associated with a third media presentation presented via a panel member wireless telephone device;

retrieving third device identifier information indicative of an identification corresponding to the panel member wireless telephone device;

comparing the third device identifier information to the first device identifier information and the second device identifier information; and

comparing the panel metering signature to one of the first reference signature or the second reference signature based on the comparison of the third device identifier information to the first device identifier information and the second device identifier information.

6. A method as defined in claim 5, further comprising crediting the media content with an instance of a presentation based on the comparison.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first and second wireless telephone device terminals are associated with at least one of different device manufacturers or different device models.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first and second media encoding formats are associated with at least one of different display resolutions, different transport protocols, or different compression algorithms.

9. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first and second media encoding formats are associated with at least one of different video encoding industry standards or different audio encoding industry standards.

10. A system to monitor media delivered over wireless communication networks, comprising:

a first wireless telephone device terminal comprising a first media decoder configured to decode a first media encoding format, the first wireless telephone device terminal to receive a first media presentation encoded using the first media encoding format and generate a first reference signature of the first media presentation;

a second wireless telephone device terminal comprising a second media decoder configured to decode a second media encoding format, the second wireless telephone device terminal to receive a second media presentation encoded using the second media encoding format and generate a second reference signature of the second media presentation, wherein the first and second media presentations include substantially similar media content; and

a database to store the first reference signature in association with first device identifier information indicative of the first wireless telephone device terminal and store the second reference signature in association with second device identifier information indicative of the second wireless telephone device terminal.

11. A system as defined in claim 10, wherein the first wireless telephone device terminal emulates a first wireless telephone device, and wherein the second wireless telephone device terminal emulates a second wireless telephone device.

12. A system as defined in claim 10, wherein the first wireless telephone device terminal is a first wireless telephone handset.

13. A system as defined in claim 10, wherein the first media encoding format is associated with a first display resolution of the first wireless telephone device terminal, and wherein the second media encoding format is associated with a second display resolution of the second wireless telephone device terminal and different from the first display resolution.

14. A system as defined in claim 10 further comprising an analyzer to:

receive a panel metering signature associated with a third media presentation presented via a panel member wireless telephone device;

retrieve third device identifier information indicative of an identification corresponding to the panel member wireless telephone device;

compare the third device identifier information to the first device identifier information and the second device identifier information; and

compare the panel metering signature to one of the first reference signature or the second reference signature based on the comparison of the third device identifier information to the first device identifier information and the second device identifier information.

16. A system as defined in claim 10, wherein the first and second wireless telephone device terminals are associated with at least one of different device manufacturers or different device models.

17. A system as defined in claim 10, wherein the first and second media encoding formats are associated with at least one of different display resolutions, different transport protocols, or different compression algorithms.

15. (canceled)

18. (canceled)

24. A machine accessible medium as defined in claim 18, wherein the first and second media encoding formats are associated with at least one of different display resolutions, different transport protocols, or different compression algorithms.

19. A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to:

operate first and second wireless telephone device terminals, wherein the first wireless telephone device terminal includes a first media decoder configured to decode a first media encoding format, and wherein the second wireless telephone device terminal includes a second media decoder configured to decode a second media encoding format;

receive a first media presentation via the first wireless telephone device terminal and a second media presentation via the second wireless telephone device terminal, wherein the first media presentation is encoded using the first media encoding format and the second media presentation is encoded using the second media encoding format, and wherein the first and second media presentations include substantially similar media content;

generate a first reference signature of the first media presentation and a second reference signature of the second media presentation;

store the first reference signature in association with first device identifier information indicative of the first wireless telephone device terminal; and

store the second reference signature in association with second device identifier information indicative of the second wireless telephone device terminal.

20. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 19 having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause the machine to operate the first and second wireless telephone device terminals by emulating a first wireless telephone device corresponding to the first wireless telephone device terminal and emulating a second wireless telephone device corresponding to the second wireless telephone device terminal.

21. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 19 having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause the machine to:

receive a panel metering signature associated with a third media presentation presented via a panel member wireless telephone device;

retrieve third device identifier information indicative of an identification corresponding to the panel member wireless telephone device;

compare the third device identifier information to the first device identifier information and the second device identifier information; and

compare the panel metering signature to one of the first reference signature or the second reference signature based on the comparison of the third device identifier information to the first device identifier information and the second device identifier information.

23. A machine accessible medium as defined in claim 19, wherein the first and second wireless telephone device terminals are associated with at least one of different device manufacturers or different device models.

22. (canceled)

25. (canceled)

26-100. -100. (canceled)