Systems, methods, and apparatus to monitor mobile internet activity

• US 8,886,773 B2
• Filed: 08/14/2010
• Issued: 11/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Papakostas, Achilleas, Yonker, Michael Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Dharia, Rupal
• Assistant Examiner(s): MCADAMS, BRAD
• Application Number:
  US12/856,651
• Publication Number:
  US 20120042005A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,550 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/224, 709/230, 709/245, 709/202, 709/220, 709/225, 726/22
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/00 Indexing scheme associated with group H04L61/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/663 Transport layer addresses, e.g. aspects of transmission control protocol [TCP] or user datagram protocol [UDP] ports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/10 of different types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0281 Proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0815 providing single-sign-on or federations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1408 by monitoring network traffic monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• 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 3/2254 in networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/72 Subscriber identity

Abstract

Systems, methods, and apparatus to monitor mobile Internet activity are disclosed. An example method comprises receiving a request for Internet content on a port of a proxy, the request originating from a mobile device transmitting requests via a cellular wireless access point; associating the request for Internet content with a mobile device based on the first port; requesting content from an Internet content provider identified in the request for Internet content, the Internet content provider being different than the proxy; and transmitting the content.

Claims

1. A method to monitor Internet activity comprising:

assigning a first port of a proxy to a mobile device associated with a panelist based on registration information received from the panelist;

transmitting a property list file to the panelist, the property list file instructing the mobile device to transmit future requests for Internet content to the first port of the proxy, the future requests to originate with at least one of a browser or an application separate from the browser;

receiving a first request for Internet content on the first port of the proxy, the first request originating from the mobile device, the mobile device transmitting the first request via a cellular wireless access point;

not servicing the first request for Internet content if the first request originated from an Internet Protocol address outside of an IP address range representing devices on a cellular network;

if the first request originated from an Internet Protocol address inside the IP address range representing devices on the cellular network;

associating the first request for Internet content with a demographic of the panelist associated with the mobile device based on an identifier of the first port;

requesting content from an Internet content provider identified in the first request, the Internet content provider being different than the proxy; and

transmitting the content.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein transmitting the content comprises transmitting the content via the first port.

3. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising storing the first request for Internet content in a database.

4. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising storing the requested Internet content in a database.

5. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the first port is within a range of at least one of dynamic and private ports.

6. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the request for Internet content is un-authenticated.

7. A method to monitor Internet activity, the method comprising:

transmitting a first property list file to a first client device, the first property list file instructing the first client device to transmit future content requests via a first port of a proxy;

transmitting a second property list file to a second client device, the second property list file instructing the second client device to transmit future content requests via a second port of the proxy, the second port being different from the first port;

receiving a first content request on the first port from the first client device;

receiving a second content request on the second port from the second client;

not servicing the first content request if the first content request originated from an Internet Protocol address outside of an IP address range representing devices on a cellular network;

transmitting first content identified by the first content request to the first client device if the first content request originated from an Internet Protocol address inside the IP address range representing devices on the cellular network;

transmitting second content identified by the second content request to the second client device; and

storing an identifier of the first content requested by the first content request in association with the first client device based on an identity of the first port.

8. The method as described in claim 7, further comprising storing a portion of the first content in association with the first client device.

9. The method as described in claim 7, wherein storing the identifier of the first content requested by the first content request further comprises associating a first panelist identifier associated with the first client device with the identifier of the first content.

10. The method as described in claim 9, wherein the first panelist identifier is an identifier of the first port.

11. A method to monitor Internet activity, the method comprising:

assigning a number of different mobile devices to communicate with respective ones of a number of different ports of a proxy server based on registration information received from panelists in a panel, the panelists each being associated with a respective mobile device, the number of mobile devices and number of ports assigned corresponding to a number of panelists in the panel;

transmitting property list files to respective ones of the mobile devices, each of the property list files instructing a corresponding one of the mobile devices to transmit future requests for Internet content to the respective ones of the ports of the proxy server, the future requests to originate with at least one of a browser or an application separate from the browser;

receiving an un-authenticated request for Internet content via one of the number of mobile devices based on the number of ports;

not servicing the request if the request originated from an Internet Protocol address outside of an IP address range representing devices on a cellular network; and

using the one of the number of ports to identify the mobile device associated with the request.

12. The method as described in claim 11, wherein the panel comprises at least sixty panelists.

13. The method as described in claim 11, wherein the panel comprises at least fifteen hundred panelists.

14. The method as described in claim 11, wherein the number of ports are within a range from port 49152 to port 65535.

15. The method as described in claim 11, further comprising storing an identification of the content requested by the request in association with the identified mobile device.