Monitoring user consumption of content

• US 8,700,464 B1
• Filed: 09/09/2010
• Issued: 04/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: McAllister, Ian A., Blakey, Sean W., Lifson, David M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Weiss, John G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Anderson, Scott C
• Application Number:
  US12/878,917
• Time in Patent Office: 1,314 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.43
• US Class Current: 705/14.43
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0244 Optimization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0271 Personalized advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0272 Period of advertisement exposure

Abstract

Activity monitoring techniques monitor user consumption of content. To perform one of the techniques, event data from users that reflects the consumption of content is collected. The collected event data is analyzed to infer a feature within the content that the users are presumed to have consumed. Based on the analysis, an estimated actual impression measurement that reflects aggregate consumption of the feature within the content by the users is determined.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, from a plurality of user devices, event data that reflects consumption of content by a collection of users;

receiving, from the plurality of user devices, layout data that indicates positioning of a plurality of non-advertising features within the content and positioning of a plurality of advertising features within the content;

analyzing, by one or more processors, the event data and the layout data to identify at least one non-advertising feature from the plurality of non-advertising features within the content that at least some of the collection of users are presumed to have consumed; and

determining, based at least in part on the analyzing, a measurement that reflects aggregate consumption of the at least one non-advertising feature within the content by the at least some of the collection of users.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1:

wherein the event data comprises scrolling event data that reflects scrolling activity performed by the collection of users;

further comprising determining locations within the content that the collection of users access based at least in part on the scrolling activity; and

wherein the analyzing further includes analyzing the locations to determine the at least one non-advertising feature.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1:

wherein the event data comprises dimension-modifying event data that reflects modification to dimensions of user interface panels that present the content to the collection of users;

further comprising determining locations associated with the dimension-modifying event data; and

wherein the analyzing further includes analyzing the locations to determine the at least one non-advertising feature.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1:

wherein the event data comprises graphical position-modifying event data that reflects movement of graphical positioning devices by the collection of users;

further comprising determining locations interacted with using the graphical position-modifying event data; and

wherein the analyzing further includes analyzing the locations to determine the at least one non-advertising feature.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1:

wherein the event data comprises focus-modifying event data that reflects changes in focus away from a content portion or back to the content portion by the collection of users;

further comprising determining locations viewed using the focus-modifying event data; and

wherein the analyzing further includes analyzing the locations to determine the at least one non-advertising feature.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising modifying the content based at least on the measurement.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the modifying the content includes increasing a size of the at least one non-advertising feature in a webpage and eliminating, from the webpage, another feature having another measurement that is lower than the measurement.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising evaluating a price to be charged for presentation of the at least one non-advertising feature based at least on the measurement.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising increasing the price by an offset in response to the measurement indicating that an actual popularity of the at least one non-advertising feature is greater than an estimated popularity of the at least one non-advertising feature.

10. A system comprising:

a data store configured to store event data stored in response to consumption of content by a collection of users and layout data that indicates positioning of a plurality of non-interactive features within the content and positioning of a plurality of interactive features within the content; and

one or more processors in communication with the data store, the one or more processors configured to at least;

access the event data and the layout data; and

analyze the event data and the layout data to determine at least one non-interactive feature of the plurality of non-interactive features in the content that the one or more users are presumed to have consumed.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the data store stores the event data in response to at least one of:

scrolling activity performed by a user;

at least one change in a dimension of a user interface panel that presents the content;

a change in position of a graphical mark provided by a graphical positioning device;

or

a change in focus away from a portion of the content or back to the portion of the content.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determine an estimated actual impression measurement for individual ones of the plurality of non-interactive features by aggregating the event data and the layout data for a plurality of users.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to modify the content based at least on the estimated actual impression measurements for one or more of the plurality of non-interactive features.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to modify the content by increasing a first display size of a first non-interactive feature having a first estimated actual impression measurement and decreasing a second display size of a second non-interactive feature having a second estimated actual impression measurement that is lower than the first estimated actual impression measurement.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to evaluate a price to be charged for presentation of an interactive feature based at least on the estimated actual impression measurement of a non-interactive feature.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to increase the price by an offset when the estimated actual impression measurement indicates that an actual popularity of the non-interactive feature is greater than an estimated popularity of the non-interactive feature from which the price was established.

17. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to:

access layout data that indicates positioning of a plurality of features within a document;

capture event data associated with consumption of the document by a user; and

analyze the event data and the layout data to determine at least one feature in the document that the user is presumed to have consumed.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 17, wherein the capture of the event data comprises at least one of:

capture of scrolling activity performed by the user;

capture of at least one change in a dimension of a display panel that presents the document;

capture of a change in position of a graphical mark provided by a graphical positioning device;

or

capture of a change in focus away from a portion of the document or back to the portion of the document.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 18, wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to transmit an indication of the at least one feature to a remote computing device.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 18, wherein the document is made accessible, via a network, to the user.