Authenticating Users For Accurate Online Audience Measurement

• US 20140033317A1
• Filed: 07/30/2012
• Published: 01/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kount Incorporated (Equifax, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Kount Incorporated (Equifax, Inc.)
• Inventors: Barber, Timothy P.
• Granted Patent: US 9,430,778 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0246 Traffic
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0248 Avoiding fraud
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification

Abstract

Online entities oftentimes desire to ascertain information about their audience members. To determine information about audience members and their activities, online transactions including information about transactions performed by audience members are collected. One or more audience analysis processes are applied to the online transactions to determine the collection of online transactions performed by a given audience member. With an accurate assignment of online transaction to the audience member, the audience member and associated transactions may be classified as a legitimate or illegitimate.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a plurality of online transactions representing online activities of a plurality of audience members, each transaction in the plurality of transactions having associated transaction information comprising characteristics describing a device used to perform the transaction and an online activity performed;

assigning each transaction in the plurality of the online tractions to a set in a plurality of sets based on one or more characteristics of the transaction information;

performing an iterative process comprising at least one of;

analyzing transactions assigned to a set to determine whether the transactions are attributable to more than one audience member based on the transaction information of the transactions assigned to the set, and modifying assignment of one or more transactions in the set to a new set based on the analyzing to obtain at least one set indicative of activities performed by a single audience member; and

analyzing first transaction information associated with a first set and second transaction associated with a second set to determine whether the first set and the second set contain reciprocal transaction information based on a comparison of characteristics between the first transaction information and the second transaction information, and associating the first set and the second set based on the analyzing to obtain a collection of sets indicative of activities performed by a single audience member; and

associating each of the plurality of sets with an audience identifier representing ones of the plurality of audience members that performed the transactions assigned to each set.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein transaction information further comprises characteristics describing one or more of a physical location of a device, an electronic address associated with a device, and active online accounts associated with a transaction.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning each transaction in the plurality of the online tractions to a set in a plurality of sets based one or more characteristics of the transaction information comprises determining a combination of initial filtering parameters from the transaction information to assign transactions to a set.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the combination of initial filtering parameters comprises one or more of a user account with the device, media access control address, Internet protocol (IP) address, a cookie value, registered user account names and passwords with an online entity, email address, credit card or bank account number, shipping or billing address and online payment account information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the iterative process further comprises analyzing the collection of sets indicative of activities performed by a single audience member to determine whether the collection of sets normalizes under constraints indicative of behavior of a single, legitimate audience member.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the iterative process further comprises analyzing a first collection of sets indicative of activities performed by a first audience member and a second collection of sets indicative of activities performed by a second audience member to determine a correlation between the first audience member and the second audience member.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the correlation describes a relationship between two or more audience members.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the correlation indicates the first collection of sets and the second collection of sets are attributable to a single audience member.

9. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising performing an iterative process comprising an analysis of transactions and sets associated with an audience identifier to determine whether the audience identifier represents a legitimate audience member.

10. The method of claim 9, the method further comprising tabulating a number of legitimate audience members that performed an activity based on an analysis of transactions associated with legitimate audience members.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the activity comprises a response to an advertisement.

12. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

performing an iterative process comprising an analysis of transactions and sets associated with an audience identifier to determine whether the audience identifier represents an illegitimate audience member; and

monitoring transactions assigned to illegitimate audience members to flag illegitimate activities.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein monitoring transactions assigned to illegitimate audience members comprises identifying information associated with a legitimate audience member.

14. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a plurality of online transactions representing online activities of a plurality of audience members, each transaction in the plurality of transactions having associated transaction information comprising characteristics describing a device used to perform the transaction and an online activity performed;

assigning each transaction in the plurality of the online fractions to a set in a plurality of sets;

performing an iterative process for modifying assignments of one or more transactions comprising at least one of;

a step for obtaining at least one set indicative of activities performed by a single audience member; and

a step for obtaining a collection of sets indicative of activities performed by a single audience member; and

a step for obtaining representations of respective ones of the plurality of audience members, a representation of an audience member substantially comprising each transaction performed by the audience member.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the assignment of each transaction in the plurality of the online tractions to a set in a plurality of sets comprises determining a combination of initial filtering parameters from the transaction information to assign transactions to a set.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the combination of initial filtering parameters comprises one or more of a user account with the device, media access control address, Internet protocol (IP) address, a cookie value, registered user account names and passwords with an online entity, email address, credit card or bank account number, shipping or billing address and online payment account information.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein performing an iterative process for modifying assignments of one or more transactions further comprises:

a step for obtaining a collection of sets that normalize under constraints indicative of behavior of a single, legitimate audience member.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein performing an iterative process for modifying assignments of one or more transactions further comprises:

a step for obtaining an indication of a first audience member and a second audience member having a combination of shared transaction information and storing the combination as a legitimate relationship between the first audience member and the second audience member.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein performing an iterative process for modifying assignments of one or more transactions further comprises:

a step for obtaining an indication of a number of legitimate audience members having performed an activity based on an analysis of transactions associated with the legitimate audience members.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising computer program instructions that when executed by one or more processors perform steps to:

receive a plurality of online transactions representing online activities of a plurality of audience members, each transaction in the plurality of transactions having associated transaction information comprising characteristics describing a device used to perform the transaction and an online activity performed;

assign each transaction in the plurality of the online tractions to a set in a plurality of sets based on a one or more characteristics of the transaction information;

iterate one or more audience analysis processes over the plurality of transactions, a first audience analysis processes comprising at least one step to;

analyze transactions assigned to a set to determine whether the transactions are attributable to more than one audience member based on the transaction information of the transactions assigned to the set, and modify assignment of one or more transactions in the set to a new set based on the analyzing to obtain at least one set indicative of activities performed by a single audience member;

or

analyze first transaction information associated with a first set and second transaction associated with a second set to determine whether the first set and the second set contain reciprocal transaction information based on a comparison of characteristics between the first transaction information and the second transaction information, and associate the first set and the second set based on the analyzing to obtain a collection of sets indicative of activities performed by a single audience member; and

associate the online transactions in one or more sets with one of the plurality of audience members.

21. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a plurality of online transactions representing online activities of a plurality of audience members, each transaction in the plurality of transactions having associated transaction information comprising at least one of;

contextual information describing an online activity performed; and

unique identifiers describing irreducible characteristics of the transaction;

assigning each transaction in the plurality of the online fractions to a set in a plurality of sets based on one or more characteristics of the transaction information;

performing an iterative process for modifying assignments of one or more transactions comprising at least one of;

a step for obtaining at least one set indicative of activities performed by a single audience member; and

a step for obtaining a collection of sets indicative of activities performed by a single audience member; and

a step for obtaining representations of respective ones of a plurality of illegitimate audience members within the plurality of audience members, a representation of an illegitimate audience member comprising at least one transaction or set indicating the use of one or more of;

a hijacked account;

a fake identity;

stolen financial information; and

an automated computer program.