METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR ASSOCIATING MEDIA DEVICES WITH A DEMOGRAPHIC COMPOSITION OF A GEOGRAPHIC AREA

• US 20140358640A1
• Filed: 08/18/2014
• Published: 12/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Besehanic, Jan, Mears, Paul, Milavsky, Joseph G., Luff, Robert A., Ramaswamy, Arun, Wright, David Howell
• Granted Patent: US 10,078,846 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/69 using geographic information, e.g. room number
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/695 using masks or ranges of addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5014 using dynamic host configuration protocol [DHCP] or bootstrap protocol [BOOTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/22 Bandwidth or usage-sensitve billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters

Abstract

Example methods and apparatus for associating media devices with a demographic composition of a geographic area are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes receiving a plurality of Internet Protocol addresses assigned to a media device associated with a panel member, determining a most used Internet Protocol address from the plurality of Internet Protocol addresses, accessing geographic information and determining a geographic location corresponding to the most used Internet Protocol address, accessing demographic information and determining a demographic profile associated with the geographic location, and associating at least one of the geographic location or the demographic profile with the media device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining a plurality of Internet Protocol addresses assigned to a media device associated with a panel member;

identifying a geographic area corresponding to a home location, the home location corresponding to an Internet Protocol address of the plurality of Internet Protocol addresses, the geographic area associated with a demographic profile; and

associating the demographic profile with the media device.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein associating the demographic profile with the media device comprises:

accessing demographic information including a plurality of geographic areas; and

matching the home location to the geographic area in the demographic information.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein associating the demographic profile with the media device comprises linking a reference code corresponding to the demographic profile to an identifier of the media device.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein associating the demographic profile with the media device comprises linking the demographic profile to an electronic recording including the media device.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of Internet Protocol addresses is associated with a respective home location.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein associating the home location with the media device comprises:

identifying a first geographic location corresponding to the Internet Protocol address; and

in response to determining the first geographic location corresponds to a location of an internet service provider, associating the home location with media device, the home location being larger in size than the first geographic location and including the first geographic location and a second geographic location.

7. A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising:

compiling Internet Protocol addresses assigned to media devices associated with panel members associated with the geographic area;

associating the respective ones of the media devices with corresponding identifiers; and

determining total market usage of a first type of media device for the geographic area based on a number of the identifiers associated with the first type of media device, a total number of the identifiers for the geographic area, and a population of the geographic area.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a receiver to obtain a plurality of Internet Protocol addresses assigned to a media device associated with a panel member; and

an address resolver to;

identify a geographic area corresponding to a home location, the home location corresponding to an Internet Protocol address of the plurality of Internet Protocol addresses, the geographic area associated with a demographic profile; and

associate the demographic profile with the media device.

9. An apparatus as defined in claim 8, wherein the address resolver is to associate the demographic profile with the media device by:

accessing demographic information including a plurality of geographic areas; and

matching the home location to the geographic area in the demographic information.

10. An apparatus as defined in claim 8, wherein the address resolver is to associate the demographic profile with the media device by linking a reference code corresponding to the demographic profile to an identifier of the media device.

11. An apparatus as defined in claim 8, wherein the address resolver is to associate the demographic profile with the media device by linking the demographic profile to an electronic recording including the media device.

12. An apparatus as defined in claim 8, wherein each of the plurality of Internet Protocol addresses is associated with a respective home location.

13. An apparatus as defined in claim 8, wherein the address resolver is to associate the home location with the media device by:

identifying a first geographic location corresponding to the Internet Protocol address; and

in response to determining the first geographic location corresponds to a location of an internet service provider, associating the home location with media device, the home location being larger in size than the first geographic location and including the first geographic location and a second geographic location.

14. A tangible machine accessible medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to:

obtain a plurality of Internet Protocol addresses assigned to a media device associated with a panel member;

identify a geographic area corresponding to a home location, the home location corresponding to a most used Internet Protocol address of the plurality of Internet Protocol addresses, the geographic area associated with a demographic profile; and

associate the demographic profile with the media device.

15. A tangible machine accessible medium as defined in claim 14, wherein the geographic area is associated with the demographic profile by:

accessing demographic information including a plurality of geographic areas; and

matching the home location to the geographic area in the demographic information.

16. A tangible machine accessible medium as defined in claim 14, wherein the demographic profile is associated with the media device by linking a reference code corresponding to the demographic profile to an identifier of the media device.

17. A tangible machine accessible medium as defined in claim 14, wherein the demographic profile is associated with the media device by linking the demographic profile to an electronic recording including the media device.

18. A tangible machine accessible medium as defined in claim 14, wherein each of the plurality of Internet Protocol addresses is associated with a respective home location.

19. A tangible machine accessible medium as defined in claim 14, wherein the home location is associated with the media device by:

identifying a first geographic location corresponding to the Internet Protocol address; and

in response to determining the first geographic location corresponds to a location of an internet service provider, associating the home location with media device, the home location being larger in size than the first geographic location and including the first geographic location and a second geographic location.

20. A tangible machine accessible medium as defined in claim 14, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to:

compile Internet Protocol addresses assigned to media devices associated with panel members associated with the geographic area;

associate the respective ones of the media devices with a corresponding identifier; and

determine total market usage of a first type of media device for the geographic area based on a number of the identifiers associated with the first type of media device, a total number of the identifiers for the geographic area, and a population of the geographic area.