Systems for and methods of user demographic reporting usable for identifying users and collecting usage data

• US 8,751,461 B2
• Filed: 04/01/2011
• Issued: 06/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: comScore, Inc.
• Original Assignee: comScore, Inc.
• Inventors: Abraham, Magid, Carnes, Jeffrey, Disch, Jason, Larrison, James
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cindy
• Application Number:
  US13/078,667
• Publication Number:
  US 20110270971A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,166 Days
• Field of Search: 707/688, 707/706, 709/229, 705/10, 705/51
• US Class Current: 707/688
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0204 Market segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level

Abstract

Several ways of identifying users and collecting demographic information and market information are disclosed, including branding a browser with a unique identification in each user request, identifying a user by his key strokes or mouse clicks, gathering demographic information using multiple data sets and by monitoring network traffic. Additionally, user requested content is distinguished from other, non-user content, and the performance of a server can be monitor and analyzed from a client a client perspective. Further, an Internet user'"'"'s Internet data is routed to a known domain on the Internet, from which it is routed on to the intended recipient. The domain includes proxy servers which proxy the user'"'"'s data requests to the domain, and database servers, which filter and build a database of the user'"'"'s Internet usage. Particular data concerning certain behaviors of interest, such as purchasing data, is filtered into the database, and can form the basis for numerous market measures.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

establishing a connection between a computing device and a network, the computing device having an address on the network;

receiving data sets sent from the computing device, the data sets being sent during an online session of a user of the computing device;

matching the online session of the user to a specific demographic classification by;

identifying demographic characteristics of the user of the computing device, wherein identifying demographic characteristics of the user includes;

utilizing a plurality of data sources of data that include several user demographic indicators;

processing data from the plurality of data sources using logic that matches user demographic indicators to a specific user within a predefined group of users; and

identifying the user among other users in a predefined group of users; and

maintaining demographic information about the identified user related to data on network activity behavior of the identified user;

readdressing the received data sets with an address associated with a particular domain;

storing an association between at least part of the received data sets and the specific demographic classification; and

sending the readdressed data onto the network.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising configuring software running on the computing device to address all data sets to a proxy server in the particular domain.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein storing an association between at least part of the received data sets and the specific demographic classification comprises building a database including at least part of the received data sets, wherein the database includes at least one field selected from the group consisting of user age, user income level, user education level, household size, time of transmission of the data set, location of computing device, date of transmission of the data set, currency paid, type of product purchased, type of service purchased, network address of the intended recipient of a data set, click-through address, banner advertisement impression, and permission e-mail received, and combinations thereof.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

negotiating a first encryption key with the computing device; and

negotiating a second encryption key with an intended recipient of a data set sent by the computing device.

5. The method in accordance with claim 4, further comprising:

decoding an encrypted data set from the computing device with the first encryption key;

encrypting the decoded data set with the second encryption key; and

transmitting the data set encrypted with the second encryption key to the intended recipient via the network.

6. A method of reporting user demographics, comprising:

receiving data sets sent from a computing device, the data sets being sent during an online session of a user of the computing device; and

matching the online session of the user to a specific demographic classification by;

identifying demographic characteristics of the user of the computing device by;

utilizing a plurality of data sources of data that include several user demographic indicators, the plurality of data sources including;

(1) a registration database storing data received during a user service registration process, (2) transaction data detected during online sessions of users of the computing device, and (3) a personal information data source collected when a user enters personal information into a site during an online session;

building a master dictionary that contains demographic information for each member within a user group based on said primary data sources;

processing data from the plurality of data sources using logic that matches user demographic indicators to a specific user within a predefined group of users; and

identifying the user among other users in a predefined group of users; and

maintaining demographic information about the identified user related to data on network activity behavior of the identified user.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the user demographic indicators include:

first name, last name, email, login/screen name, gender, and birth year.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein processing data from the plurality of data sources includes matching a first name of a user in the predefined user group to other demographic indicators.

9. The method according to claim 6, further comprising the step of supplementing data in the data sources with data from one or more secondary sources of data in look-up tables.

10. A method of reporting user demographics, comprising:

receiving data sets sent from a computing device, the data sets being sent during an online session of a user of the computing device; and

matching the online session of the user to a specific demographic classification by;

identifying demographic characteristics of the user of the computing device by;

utilizing a plurality of data sources of data that include several user demographic indicators;

supplementing the data sources with data from a name-pseudonym lookup table and a name-gender lookup table, the name-pseudonym lookup table matching pseudonyms to a registered first name and the name-gender lookup table identifying the gender of a user;

processing data from the plurality of data sources using logic that matches user demographic indicators to a specific user within a predefined group of users; and

identifying the user among other users in a predefined group of users; and

maintaining demographic information about the identified user related to data on network activity behavior of the identified user.

11. A computer-implemented method comprising:

obtaining identifying information from a user during an initial registration process that solicits the identifying information from the user, wherein obtaining identifying information from a user includes;

receiving an indication from the user of that the total number of users in a household is greater than one, and

obtaining, during the initial registration process, identifying information from the user regarding each of the multiple users in the household including the user, the identifying information distinguishing the multiple users in the household from each other;

creating a source of indicators related to an identity of each of the multiple users including the user from the obtained identifying information;

accessing information included in multiple requests for data made during an online session of the user, the multiple requests for data being configured to retrieve information from multiple, different websites specified by the user over a period of time and the multiple requests including multiple indicators related to the identity of the user;

accessing one or more sources of indicators related to the identities of the multiple users in the household, the one or more sources of indicators including the source of indicators related to the identity of the user created from the obtained identifying information;

analyzing, after the online session of the user, the multiple requests to identify the multiple indicators related to the identity of the user;

comparing the identified indicators to the indicators in the one or more accessed sources of indicators to determine which of the multiple users in the household initiated the requests for data during the online session;

identifying the user, from among other users in the household, as the user that initiated the requests for data during the online session based on the comparison; and

associating the online session with at least one demographic characteristic of the identified user in response to identifying the user from among the multiple users in the household as the user that initiated the requests for data.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

readdressing the requests for data to indicate that the requests for data originated in an intermediary domain;

recording information related to at least part of the requests for data; and

sending the readdressed requests for data onto the network.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising configuring software running on a computing device used by the identified user to address at least some of the requests for data to a known proxy server in the intermediary domain.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the sources of indicators include a registration database that receives data during the registration process, transaction data which is collected during the online session and a personal information data source, which comes from monitoring sites for when a user enters personal information.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising building a master dictionary that includes demographic information for each member within a the household based on the sources of indicators.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising supplementing data in the sources of indicators with data from at least one secondary source of data in look-up tables.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one secondary source is a name-pseudonym and name-gender lookup table that may allow several pseudonyms to match one registered first name and to identify the gender of a user.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising supplementing data in the sources with data from at least one secondary source of data scraped from user logon process steps.