SYSTEMS, METHODS, APPARATUS, AND ARTICLES OF MANUFACTURE TO MEASURE MOBILE DEVICE USAGE

• US 20130171960A1
• Filed: 12/29/2011
• Published: 07/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Kandregula, Anil
• Granted Patent: US 9,020,463 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/405
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3013 where the computing system is an embedded system, i.e. a combination of hardware and software dedicated to perform a certain function in mobile devices, printers, automotive or aircraft systems testing or monitoring of control systems or parts thereof G05B23/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3072 where the reporting involves data filtering, e.g. pattern matching, time or event triggered, adaptive or policy-based reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/28 with meter at substation or with calculation of charges at terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/58 based on statistics of usage or network monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing

Abstract

Systems, methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to measure mobile device usage are disclosed. An example method to determine mobile device usage includes filtering, with a processor, a debug log file stored in the device to obtain debug file entries representative of device usage information, the debug log file having been modified by at least one of an operating system of the device or a device application, and sending, to a server, a filtered log file based on filtering the debug log file.

Claims

1. A method to determine usage of a device, comprising:

filtering, with a processor, a debug log file stored in the device to obtain debug file entries representative of device usage information, the debug log file having been modified by at least one of an operating system of the device or a device application; and

sending, to a server, a filtered log file based on filtering the debug log file.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the filtered log file includes at least one of a uniform resource locator accessed by the device, information representative of a multimedia event, or information representative of an advertisement sent to the device.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein filtering the debug log file comprises generating a filtered log file from the debug log file.

4. A method as defined in claim 3, wherein the filtered debug log file comprises usage information.

5. A method as defined in claim 3, wherein the filtered log file is generated in response to a threshold amount of time lapsing.

6. A method as defined in claim 3, wherein filtering the debug log file comprises updating the filtered log file from the debug log file.

7. A method as defined in claim 6, wherein the device is a mobile device and the filtering is done by a second application on the mobile device.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the debug log file is a public log file on the device.

9. An apparatus, comprising:

a log filter to generate a filtered log file from a debug log file stored in a mobile device to obtain debug file entries representative of mobile device usage information, wherein the debug log file is updated by at least one of an operating system of the mobile device or a second mobile device application; and

a filtered log reporter to send, to a server, a filtered log file based on filtering the debug log file.

10. An apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein the log filter is to generate the filtered debug log file by determining whether a debug message in the debug log file is associated with a monitored application.

11. An apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein the log filter is to generate the filtered debug log file by determining whether a debug message in the debug log file is associated with a monitored operating system activity.

12. An apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein the log filter is to filter the debug log file by determining whether a debug message in the debug log file includes at least one of a uniform resource locator or a uniform resource identifier.

13. A tangible article of manufacture comprising machine readable instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

execute a first device application to filter a debug log file stored in a device to obtain debug file entries representative of device usage information, wherein the debug log file is modified by at least one of an operating system of the device or a second device application; and

send, to a server, a filtered log file based on filtering the debug log file.

14. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 13, wherein the filtered log file includes at least one of a uniform resource locator accessed by the device, information representative of a multimedia event, or information representative of an advertisement sent to the device.

15. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 13, wherein filtering the debug log file comprises generating the filtered log file from the debug log file.

16. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 15, wherein the filtered debug log file comprises usage information.

17. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 16, wherein the usage information comprises at least one of a timestamp, an application name, a service name, an informational message, a uniform resource locator, or a uniform resource identifier.

18. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 15, wherein the filtered log file is generated in response to a threshold amount of time lapsing.

19. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 13, further comprising decrypting a debug log message to determine usage information.

20. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 13, wherein filtering the debug log file comprises updating the filtered log file from the debug log file.

21-37. -37. (canceled)