Methods and apparatus to distinguish between parent and child webpage accesses and/or browser tabs in focus

• US 8,499,065 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2010
• Issued: 07/30/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Ross, Scott, Dervaux, Vianney, Low, Binlay
• Primary Examiner(s): JACOBS, LASHONDA T
• Application Number:
  US12/895,288
• Publication Number:
  US 20120084133A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,034 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/206, 709/217, 709/223, 709/224, 709/219
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3438 monitoring of user actions tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/875 Monitoring of systems including the internet
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/062 related to network traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to distinguish between parent and child webpage accesses and/or browser tabs in focus are disclosed. An example implementation includes identifying an HTTP request; retrieving Page Info data from a browser; electronically detecting if the Page Info data and the HTTP request identify a same Internet resource; electronically classifying the HTTP request as a parent call when the Page Info data and the HTTP request identify the same Internet resource; and electronically classifying the HTTP request as a child call when the Page Info data and the HTTP request identify different Internet resources.

Claims

1. A method to monitor Internet usage, the method comprising:

identifying, with a processor, an HTTP request;

retrieving, with the processor, Page Info data from a browser;

detecting if the Page Info data and the HTTP request identify a same Internet resource;

classifying the HTTP request as a parent call when the Page Info data and the HTTP request identify the same Internet resource; and

classifying the HTTP request as a child call when the Page Info data and the HTTP request identify different Internet resources.

2. The method as described in claim 1, wherein classifying the HTTP request as a parent call further comprises collecting tab data from the browser and classifying the HTTP request as a parent call when the tab data identifies an active tab of the browser.

3. The method as described in claim 1, wherein classifying the HTTP request as a parent call further comprises collecting computer interaction data and classifying the HTTP request as a parent call when the computer interaction data indicates that there was user input within a past time window associated with the HTTP request.

4. The method as described in claim 3, wherein the computer interaction data includes at least one of keyboard data, mouse data, or a focus status of the web browser.

5. The method as described in claim 3, wherein the past time window is less than 4 seconds.

6. The method as described in claim 1, wherein classifying the HTTP request as a parent call further comprises determining if the browser was the application source of the HTTP request and classifying the HTTP request as a parent call when the browser was the application source of the HTTP request.

7. The method as described in claim 1, wherein classifying the HTTP request as a parent call further comprises determining if the browser was in focus at the time of the HTTP request and classifying the HTTP request as a parent call when the browser was in focus at the time of the HTTP request.

8. The method as described in claim 1, further comprising awarding presentation credit to a website when the associated HTTP traffic is classified as a parent call.

9. The method as described in claim 8, wherein presentation credit awarded to the site is based on a time difference between the parent call and a next non-child call;

wherein the next non-child call is either a parent call or a non-browser event.

10. The method as described in claim 8, wherein the website is determined based on the Page Info data.

11. The method as described in claim 8, further comprising transmitting the awarded presentation credit to a monitoring data collection site.

12. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the collected page info data includes at least one of an address of the HTTP request, a type of HTTP request, a referring Internet resource, or metadata relating to the HTTP request.

13. An apparatus to monitor Internet traffic caused by a user, the apparatus comprising:

a browser information data gatherer to collect page info data from a web browser;

an Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) data gatherer to collect HTTP traffic data from a network interface of the computer; and

a processor to compare the gathered page info data and the HTTP traffic data to determine whether an HTTP request identified in the HTTP traffic data should be credited as a call to a parent webpage or a call to a child webpage.

14. The apparatus as described in claim 13, wherein the browser information data gatherer further collects active tab data from the web browser, and the processor further compares an application source of the HTTP request identified in the HTTP traffic data and the active tab data to determine whether the HTTP request identified in the HTTP traffic data should be credited as the call to the parent webpage or the call to the child webpage.

15. The apparatus as described in claim 13, further comprising an interaction data gatherer to collect interaction data indicative of user input to a computer, wherein the processor further compares a timestamp of the HTTP request identified in the HTTP traffic data and the interaction data to determine whether the HTTP request identified in the HTTP traffic data should be credited as a call to a parent webpage.

16. A tangible computer readable medium storing instructions which when executed cause a machine to at least:

identify an HTTP request;

retrieve Page Info data from a browser;

collect tab data from the browser;

detect if the Page Info data and the HTTP request identify a same Internet resource;

classify the HTTP request as a parent call when the Page Info data and the HTTP request identify the same Internet resource and when the tab data identifies an active tab of the browser as associated with the HTTP request; and

classify the HTTP request as a child call when either (1) the Page Info data and the HTTP request identify different Internet resources or (2) the tab data does not identify the active tab of the browser as associated with the HTTP request.

17. The tangible computer readable medium as described in claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the machine to classify the HTTP request as a parent call when computer interaction data indicates that there was user input within a past time window associated with the HTTP request.

18. The tangible computer readable medium as described in claim 17, wherein the computer interaction data includes at least one of keyboard data, mouse data, or focus status of the web browser.

19. The tangible computer readable medium as described in claim 17, wherein the past time window is less than 4 seconds.

20. The tangible computer readable medium as described in claim 16, wherein the instructions cause the machine to classify the HTTP request as a parent call when the browser was the application source of the HTTP request.

21. The tangible computer readable medium as described in claim 16, wherein the instructions cause the machine to classify the HTTP request as a parent call when the browser was in focus.

22. The tangible computer readable medium as described in claim 16, wherein the instructions cause the machine to award presentation credit to a website when the associated the associated HTTP traffic is classified as a parent call.

23. The tangible computer readable medium as described in claim 22, wherein the presentation credit awarded to the site is based on a time difference between the parent call and a next non-child call;

wherein the next non-child call is either a parent call or a non-browser event.

24. The tangible computer readable medium as described in claim 22, wherein the website is determined based on the Page Info data.

25. The tangible computer readable medium as described in claim 22, wherein the instructions further cause the machine to transmit the awarded presentation credit to a monitoring data collection site.

26. The tangible computer readable medium as described in claim 16, wherein the retrieved page info data includes at least one of an address of the HTTP request, a type of HTTP request, a referring Internet resource, or metadata relating to the HTTP request.