Method and system for estimating usage of computer resources
First Claim
1. A method in a computer system for estimating usage of a specified computer resource that is used by multiple users, the method comprising:
- identifying a first group of users using computers having access to the specified computer resource;
receiving demographic information about the first group of users;
selecting some of the first group of users to be a second group of users that is an approximately representative sample of the first group of users based on the received demographic information;
for each user of the second group of users, identifying a user'"'"'s computer used by the user of the second group; and
notifying the user'"'"'s computer to initiate monitoring of usage of the specified computer resource by the user of the second group and to send information about the monitored usage by the user of the second group to the computer system; and
estimating the total usage of the specified computer resource by the first group of users based on the information about the monitored usage by the second group of users and the received demographic information about the first group of users.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for estimating the total usage of computer system resources by all users with access to those resources, performed in such a way that desired demographic information is available and computer users are not deterred from using the resource by the usage estimation techniques. The system selects a computer system resource of interest, receives demographic information on various computer users with access to the resource, uses the demographic information to select some of the computer users to be a representative sample of all computer users with access to the resource, loads a copy of a monitoring program onto each of the computer systems used by the selected users, executes the loaded copies of the monitoring program so that usage of various computer system resources by the selected users is recorded, transfers the recorded information to a central analyzing facility, estimates the total usage of the computer system resource of interest by all the users based on the usage of the representative sample users, and rates the resource relative to other resources based on a resource characteristic that depends on the amount of usage. In one embodiment, the computer system resource of interest is a computer document or a computer website on the World Wide Web, and the document or website includes advertising information that is displayed when the resource is accessed and used. In this embodiment, the document or website is rated on the basis of its ability to attract computer users with demographic information of interest.
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Citations
34 Claims
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1. A method in a computer system for estimating usage of a specified computer resource that is used by multiple users, the method comprising:
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identifying a first group of users using computers having access to the specified computer resource;
receiving demographic information about the first group of users;
selecting some of the first group of users to be a second group of users that is an approximately representative sample of the first group of users based on the received demographic information;
for each user of the second group of users, identifying a user'"'"'s computer used by the user of the second group; and
notifying the user'"'"'s computer to initiate monitoring of usage of the specified computer resource by the user of the second group and to send information about the monitored usage by the user of the second group to the computer system; and
estimating the total usage of the specified computer resource by the first group of users based on the information about the monitored usage by the second group of users and the received demographic information about the first group of users. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A computer-based method for estimating total usage of a computer resource by a group of client computer systems with access to the computer resource, the method comprising:
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identifying a first subset of the group of client computer systems that is an approximately representative sample of the group of client computer systems;
for each client computer system of the first subset, initiating execution of a monitoring program on the client computer system; and
under control of the executing monitoring program, collecting information about usage of the computer resource by the client computer system; and
estimating the total usage of the computer resource by the group of client computer systems based on the collected information. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for estimating total usage of a computer resource that is used by multiple users, the method comprising:
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selecting a computer resource;
identifying a first group of users with access to the selected computer resource;
selecting a second group of users as an approximately representative sample of the first group of users based on information describing the first group of users;
for each user of the second group of users, initiating execution of a monitoring component on a computer used by the user of the second group; and
under control of the executing monitoring component, monitoring usage of the selected computer resource by the user of the second group; and
under control of an analyzing component, receiving information related to the monitored usage of the selected computer resource by the second group of users; and
estimating usage of the selected computer resource by other users of the first group who are not users of the second group based on the received monitored usage information and the information describing the first group of users. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A computer system for estimating total usage of a computer resource that is used by a group of computer systems, comprising:
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a monitoring component that executes on a member computer system of the group of computer systems and monitors usage of a specified computer resource by the member computer system; and
an analyzer component that identifies a subset of the group of computer systems with access to the specified computer resource, that initiates execution of a monitoring component on each of the computer systems of the subset, that receives monitored usage information from the computer systems of the subset, and that estimates total usage of the specified computer resource by the group of computer systems based on the received monitored usage information of the subset. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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21. A computer system for estimating usage of a computer resource that is used by multiple users, comprising:
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a monitoring component that executes on a computer and monitors usage of a computer resource by a user of the computer; and
an analyzer component that selects a computer resource, that receives information about a plurality of users with access to the selected computer resource, that uses the received user information to select a subset of the plurality of users as an approximately representative sample of the plurality of users, that for each user of the subset initiates execution of a monitoring component on a computer used by the user of the subset, that receives monitored usage information from executing monitoring components, and that uses the received monitored usage information and the received user information to estimate usage of the selected computer resource by other users of the plurality of users who are not users of the subset. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system to estimate total usage of a computer resource that is used by a plurality of computer systems, by:
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identifying a subset of client computer systems with access to a computer resource, the subset being an approximately representative sample of the plurality of computer systems;
for each of the identified client computer systems of the subset, initiating execution of a monitoring program on the identified client computer system; and
under control of the executing monitoring program, monitoring usage of the computer resource by the identified client computer system; and
estimating the total usage of the computer resource by the plurality of client computer systems based on the monitored usage information of the subset. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29)
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30. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system to estimate total usage of a computer resource that is used by multiple users, by:
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selecting a computer resource;
identifying a first group of users with access to the selected computer resource;
selecting a second group of users as an approximately representative sample of the first group of users based on information describing the first group of users;
for each user of the second group of users, initiating execution of a monitoring component on a computer used by the user of the second group; and
under control of the executing monitoring component, monitoring usage of computer resources by the user of the second group; and
under control of an analyzing component, receiving information related to the monitored usage of computer resources by the second group of users; and
estimating the total usage of the selected computer resource by the first group of users based on the received monitored usage information and the information describing the first group of users. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34)
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Specification