METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR AUDIENCE DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS IN A CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORK

• US 20110110515A1
• Filed: 09/07/2010
• Published: 05/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/11/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Time Warner Cable Enterprises LLC (Charter Communications Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Time Warner Cable Enterprises LLC (Charter Communications Incorporated)
• Inventors: Anaya, Luis Roberto, Tidwell, Justin
• Granted Patent: US 9,635,421 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 380/200
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0421 Anonymous communication, i.e. the party's identifiers are hidden from the other party or parties, e.g. using an anonymizer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23109 by placing content in organized collections, e.g. EPG data repository details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video databases G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2408 Monitoring of the upstream path of the transmission network, e.g. client requests monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876; scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• 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 21/254 Management at additional data server, e.g. shopping server, rights management server arrangements for maintenance or administration in data networks H04L41/00; network services using third party service providers H04L67/53
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25808 Management of client data terminal profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/303
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25866 Management of end-user data customer care in data networks H04L41/5077
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for collection and processing of data relating to users of a content-delivery network. In one embodiment, the content delivery network is a cable or satellite or HFCu network, and the apparatus includes an architecture for routinely harvesting, parsing, processing, and storing data relating to the activities of the users (e.g., subscribers) of the network. In one variant, at least portions of the data are anonymized to protect subscriber privacy.

Claims

1. A method for anonymizing data collected in a data collection system, said method comprising:

collecting a first identifier, said first identifier uniquely identifying a first one of a plurality of households;

determining a second identifier, said second identifier being descriptive of a geographic location associated with said first household;

concatenating said first and second identifiers;

converting digits of said concatenated identifiers to a first converted format yielding a first converted string of digits;

dividing said first converted string of digits into a plurality of first and second alternating segments;

adjusting each of said plurality of first and second alternating segments by;

adding a first fixed value to said plurality of first segments; and

subtracting a second fixed value from said plurality of second segments;

converting said adjusted plurality of segments to a second converted format;

performing a cryptographic hash of said second converted plurality of segments to produce one or more results; and

storing said one or more results on a computer readable storage apparatus.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said first identifier comprises a customer identifier.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said second identifier comprises a division identifier.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said first converted format comprises a hexadecimal representation and said segments comprise 32 bit segments.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein further comprising:

identifying a media access control (MAC) address corresponding to at least one client device within said first household; and

performing at least a cryptographic hash of said MAC address.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said second converted format comprises American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) character representation.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said act of performing a cryptographic hash comprises:

selecting hash algorithm parameters;

generating both public and private keys for a single user based at least in part on the parameters; and

calculating a message signature based at least in part on the parameters.

8. A method for anonymizing data collected in a data collection system, said method comprising:

collecting a media access control (MAC) address corresponding to a first device within a first one of a plurality of households, said MAC address comprising a string of digits;

converting said string of digits to a first format;

dividing said converted string of digits into a plurality of first and second segments;

adding a first fixed value to said plurality of first segments;

subtracting a second fixed value from said plurality of second segments;

converting said plurality of first and second segments to a second format;

performing a cryptographic hash of said first and second plurality of segments; and

storing results of said cryptographic hash on a computer readable storage apparatus.

9. A method for providing anonymized data in a data collection system, said data collection system comprising a plurality of users, one of said plurality of users being associated with at least one client device, said method comprising:

performing a first anonymization of a plurality of user-specific information to obtain a first result, said user-specific information being unique to said one of said plurality of users;

performing a second anonymization of a plurality of device-specific information to obtain a second result, said device-specific information being unique to said at least one client device associated to said one of said plurality of users;

collecting one or more data records relating to tuning events occurring at least one client device;

enriching said one or more data records by attaching said first result and said second result thereto; and

transmitting said enriched one or more data records to a network entity.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said first and said second anonymization comprise (i) converting said user-specific and said device-specific information to at least one other format, (ii) performing a cryptographic hash of said converted user-specific information, and (iii) performing a cryptographic hash of said converted device-specific information.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein said plurality of user-specific information comprises information relating to at least one of said users and a geographic location to which said at least one user belongs;

and wherein said plurality of device-specific information comprises information which is unique to an individual one of said client devices associated with said at least one user.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising performing a cryptographic hash of said enriched one or more data records prior to transmission thereof.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein said network entity:

stores an association of said first and said second result; and

utilizes said association to provide a second network entity with only said user-specific information and said one or more data records.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein said first and said second anonymization further comprise:

dividing said first and second results into a respective plurality of segments; and

adjusting each of said respective plurality of segments by adding or subtracting a first fixed value thereto.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein said one or more data records relating to tuning events comprise at least one of

a tune in event;

a tune out event; and

channel or program information.

16. A computer readable apparatus comprising a medium adapted to store a computer program, said computer program which is configured to, when executed:

collect a unique identifier of a particular user of a network;

convert said unique identifier to a first converted format yielding a first converted string of digits;

divide said first converted string of digits into a plurality of segments;

adjust a value of each of said plurality of segments;

convert said adjusted plurality of segments to a second converted format; and

apply a cryptographic hash of said second converted format.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said computer program is further configured to:

determine a demographic or geographic identifier associated with said particular user;

combine said unique identifier of said particular user and said demographic or geographic identifier; and

create said first converted format from said combined unique identifier and said demographic or geographic identifier.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said adjustment of a value of each of said plurality of segments comprises:

addition of a first fixed value to first ones of said plurality of segments; and

subtraction of a second fixed value from second ones of said plurality of segments.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said first converted string of digits comprises a hexadecimal representation of said unique identifier.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein:

said segments comprise 32 bit segments;

said second converted format comprises American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) character representation; and

said cryptographic hash comprises a Message-Digest algorithm 5 (MD5) cryptographic hash.

21. A computer readable apparatus comprising a medium adapted to store a computer program, said computer program which is configured to, when executed:

perform a first anonymization of information specific to a user associated with a network client device to obtain a first result;

collect one or more data records relating to tuning events occurring at said device;

append said first result to said one or more records; and

transmit said appended one or more data records to a network entity.

22. The computer readable apparatus of claim 21, wherein said program is further configured to perform a second anonymization of information specific to said device to obtain a second result.

23. The computer readable apparatus of claim 22, wherein said apparatus is disposed on said client device and operable to run on processing apparatus thereof.

24. The computer readable apparatus of claim 23, wherein said computer program comprises an application program.

25. The computer readable apparatus of claim 23, wherein said client device comprises consumer premises equipment (CPE) of a subscriber of a content distribution network, and said computer program comprises middleware within a software stack of the CPE.

26. The computer readable apparatus of claim 21, wherein said tuning events comprise both tune-to and tune-away events.

27. A method for anonymizing data collected in a data collection system, said method comprising:

collecting at least one unique identifier associated with a first one of a plurality of households, said at least one unique identifier comprising a plurality of digits;

converting said plurality of digits to a first format;

dividing said plurality of digits into a series of alternating n-bit segments;

adding first fixed values and subtracting second fixed values to respective ones of said alternating n-bit segments of converted digits;

converting said alternating n-bit segments to a second format; and

performing a cryptographic hash of said alternating n-bit segments

28. The method of claim 27, wherein n=32.

29. The method of claim 27, further comprising storing one or more results of said cryptographic hash on a computer readable storage apparatus.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein said at least one unique identifier associated with said first one of said plurality of households comprises a media access control (MAC) address associated with a subscriber device within said first one of said plurality of households.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein said at least one unique identifier associated with said first one of said plurality of households comprises a concatenation of a customer identifier and a division identifier.

32. The method of claim 27, wherein said first format comprises a hexadecimal representation and said second format comprises American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) character representation.