Methods and apparatus for associating media devices with a demographic composition of a geographic area

• US 8,812,012 B2
• Filed: 12/16/2008
• Issued: 08/19/2014
• 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, Luff, Robert, Ramaswamy, Arun, Wright, David Howell, Milavasky, Joseph G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bost, Dwayne
• Assistant Examiner(s): MUMMALANENI, MRUNALINI YERNENI
• Application Number:
  US12/336,338
• Publication Number:
  US 20100151816A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,072 Days
• Field of Search: 455/67.11, 455/456, 455/414, 455/435, 455405-409, 705/14.4
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• 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 of associating media devices with a demographic composition of a geographic area, the method comprising:

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

determining, using a processor, a most used Internet Protocol address from the plurality of Internet Protocol addresses assigned to the media device;

accessing geographic information and determining a first geographic location corresponding to the most used Internet Protocol address by;

matching the most used Internet Protocol address to a first range of a first level of Internet Protocol address prefixes,

identifying a first geographic region based on the first range of the first level of Internet Protocol address prefixes,

matching the most used Internet Protocol address to a first range of a second level of Internet Protocol address prefixes, the second level more specific than the first level, and

identifying a second geographic region based on the first range of the second level of Internet Protocol address prefixes, the second geographic region within the first geographic region, the first geographic location within the second geographic region;

in response to determining the first geographic location corresponds to a location of an internet service provider, associating a geographic area with the media device, wherein the size of the geographic area corresponds to an average distance between locations of a plurality of media devices and the first geographic location, the geographic area within or coextensive with the second geographic region;

accessing demographic information and determining a demographic profile associated with the geographic area; and

associating the demographic profile with the media device.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein determining the most used Internet Protocol address includes calculating which of the plurality of Internet Protocol addresses was assigned to the media device for a longer period of time.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein determining the most used Internet Protocol address includes calculating which of the plurality of Internet Protocol addresses the media device used to access the Internet for a longer period of time.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein determining the most used Internet Protocol address includes calculating for which of the plurality of Internet Protocol addresses the media device utilized the most bandwidth.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising reporting at least one of a type of the media device, the demographic profile, the geographic area or the first geographic location to a marketing entity.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving usage information from the media device;

associating at least one of the geographic area, the first geographic location or the demographic profile with at least one of the usage information or the panel member; and

reporting at least one of a type of the media device, the usage information, the panel member, the demographic profile, the geographic area or the first geographic location to a marketing entity.

7. A method as defined in claim 6, wherein reporting the panel member includes reporting at least one of an identifier of the panel member or an identity of the panel member.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising registering the media device prior to receiving the plurality of Internet Protocol addresses and storing associated registration information.

9. A method as defined in claim 8, wherein registering the media device includes storing at least one of an address corresponding to the media device or a media device identifier corresponding to the media device.

10. A method as defined in claim 8, wherein associating the geographic area or the demographic profile with the media device includes associating at least one of the geographic area or the demographic profile with the registration information.

11. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the demographic profile includes at least one of a race, an age, an income, a disability, a mobility, an educational level, a home ownership, a religion, or an employment status.

12. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first geographic location includes at least one of an address, a zip code, a city, a street, a neighborhood, a county, a state, a region, or a country.

13. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the plurality of Internet Protocol addresses are assigned to a hardware identifier requested from the corresponding media device.

14. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the second geographic region includes a geographic location of at least a router, a switch or a border controller associated with the internet service provider.

15. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein determining that the first geographic location corresponds to a location of the internet service provider includes determining that the first geographic location is associated with a threshold number of Internet Protocol addresses.

16. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an Internet Protocol address assigned to the media device;

accessing the geographic information and determining the Internet Protocol address corresponds to a third geographic location;

accessing the demographic information and determining a second demographic profile associated with the third geographic location; and

reporting the demographic profile or the second demographic profile to a marketing entity, wherein the reported demographic profile is associated with a most used Internet Protocol address.

17. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the demographic profile includes a plurality of demographic sub-profiles based on percentage of representation in the geographic area.

18. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein determining the first geographic location further comprises:

matching the most used Internet Protocol address to a second range of the first level of Internet Protocol address prefixes; and

identifying a third geographic region based on the second range of the first level of Internet Protocol address prefixes, the third geographic region within the first geographic region and the second geographic region within the third geographic region.

19. An apparatus for associating media devices with a demographic composition of a geographic area, the apparatus comprising:

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

an address resolver to;

determine a most used Internet Protocol address from the plurality of Internet Protocol addresses assigned to the media device,

access geographic information,

access demographic information,

determine a first geographic location corresponding to the most used Internet Protocol address by;

matching the most used Internet Protocol address to a first range of a first level of Internet Protocol address prefixes,

identifying a first geographic region based on the first range of the first level of Internet Protocol address prefixes,

matching the most used Internet Protocol address to a first range of a second level of Internet Protocol address prefixes, the second level more specific than the first level, and

identifying a second geographic region based on the first range of the second level of Internet Protocol address prefixes, the second geographic region within the first geographic region, the first geographic location within the second geographic region,

in response to determining the first geographic location corresponds to a location of an internet service provider, associate a geographic area with the media device, wherein the size of the geographic area corresponds to an average distance between locations of a plurality of media devices and the first geographic location, the geographic area within or coextensive with the second geographic region,

determine a demographic profile associated with the geographic area, and

associate the demographic profile with the media device.

20. An apparatus as defined in claim 19, wherein the address resolver is to determine the most used Internet Protocol address by calculating which of the plurality of Internet Protocol addresses was assigned to the media device for a longer period of time.

21. An apparatus as defined in claim 19, wherein the address resolver is to determine the most used Internet Protocol address by calculating which of the plurality of Internet Protocol addresses the media device used to access the Internet for a longer period of time.

22. An apparatus as defined in claim 19, wherein the address resolver is to determine the most used Internet Protocol address by calculating for which of the plurality of Internet Protocol addresses the media device utilized the most bandwidth.

23. An apparatus as defined in claim 19, further comprising a media device demographic database to report at least one of a type of the media device, the demographic profile, the geographic area or the first geographic location to a third party.

24. An apparatus as defined in claim 23, wherein the receiver is to receive usage information from the media device.

25. An apparatus as defined in claim 24, wherein the address resolver is to associate at least one of the geographic area, the first geographic location or the demographic profile with at least one of the usage information or the panel member.

26. An apparatus as defined in claim 25, wherein the media device demographic database is to report at least one of the type of the media device, the usage information, the panel member, the demographic profile, the geographic area or the first geographic location to a marketing entity.

27. An apparatus as defined in claim 19, wherein the receiver is to receive registration information from the media device and store the registration information in an address memory.

28. An apparatus as defined in claim 27, wherein the address memory is to store the plurality of Internet Protocol addresses upon the receiver receiving each of the Internet Protocol addresses.

29. An apparatus as defined in claim 27, wherein the registration information includes at least one of an address corresponding to the media device or a media device identifier corresponding to the media device.

30. An apparatus as defined in claim 29, wherein the address resolver is to associate the geographic area or the demographic profile with the media device by associating at least one of the geographic area or the demographic profile with the registration information.

31. An apparatus as defined in claim 19, further comprising:

a demographic database to store demographic profiles by geographic location; and

a geographic database to store geographic locations by Internet Protocol addresses.

32. An apparatus as defined in claim 19, wherein the receiver, in response to receiving an Internet Protocol address of the plurality of Internet Protocol addresses, uses the Internet Protocol address to request a hardware identifier from the corresponding media device.

33. A tangible machine accessible storage device or storage disk having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to:

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

determine a most used Internet Protocol address from the plurality of Internet Protocol addresses assigned to the media device;

access geographic information and determine a first geographic location corresponding to the most used Internet Protocol address by;

matching the most used Internet Protocol address to a first range of a first level of Internet Protocol address prefixes,

identifying a first geographic region based on the first range of the first level of Internet Protocol address prefixes,

matching the most used Internet Protocol address to a first range of a second level of Internet Protocol address prefixes, the second level more specific than the first level, and

identifying a second geographic region based on the first range of the second level of Internet Protocol address prefixes, the second geographic region within the first geographic region, the first geographic location within the second geographic region;

in response to determining the first geographic location corresponds to a location of an internet service provider, associate a geographic area with the media device, wherein the size of the geographic area corresponds to an average distance between locations of a plurality of media devices and the first geographic location, the geographic area within or coextensive with the second geographic region;

access demographic information and determine a demographic profile associated with the geographic area; and

associate the demographic profile with the media device.