Methods and apparatus to obtain anonymous audience measurement data from network server data for particular demographic and usage profiles

• US 8,903,864 B2
• Filed: 10/11/2012
• Issued: 12/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Hannan, Kevin Michael, Papakostas, Achilleas, Perez, Albert Ronald, Yonker, Michael Andrew, Albino, Austin William
• Primary Examiner(s): Woo, Isaac M
• Application Number:
  US13/649,794
• Publication Number:
  US 20130036435A1
• Time in Patent Office: 782 Days
• Field of Search: 707600-899
• US Class Current: 707/791
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to obtain anonymous audience measurement data from network server data for particular demographic and usage profiles are disclosed. An example method to provide anonymous audience measurement data to an audience measurement entity disclosed herein comprises obtaining a demographic profile and a network usage profile, sampling customer data stored in a customer database not accessible by the audience measurement entity to generate a customer sample representative of the demographic profile and the network usage profile without customer intervention, the customer sample including customer identification information, processing log data obtained from a network server not accessible by the audience measurement entity using the customer identification information to determine audience measurement data associated with customers in the customer sample, and removing the customer identification information from the audience measurement data to prepare the anonymous audience measurement data for the audience measurement entity.

Claims

1. A method to provide anonymous audience measurement data to a recipient, the method comprising:

sampling, with a processor, customer data stored in a customer database to generate a first customer ample representative of a demographic profile, the first customer sample including first customer identification information for a first subset of customers represented in the first customer sample;

processing, with the processor, log data obtained from a network server using the first customer identification information to determine first audience measurement data associated with the first subset of customers in the first customer sample, the first audience measurement data including the first customer identification information; and

in response to verifying, based on the log data, that the first customer sample is also representative of a network usage profile in addition to the demographic profile, removing, with the processor, the first customer identification information from the first audience measurement data to determine the anonymous audience measurement data to send to the recipient.

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

retaining demographic information in the anonymous audience measurement data, the demographic information to permit classification of the anonymous audience measurement data according to the demographic profile without having access to the first customer identification information; and

sending the anonymous audience measurement data to the recipient to permit the recipient to perform audience measurement operations using the anonymous audience measurement data without having access to the customer database and the network server.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising obtaining at least one of the demographic profile or the network usage profile from the recipient.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein sampling the customer data stored in the customer database comprises:

indexing the customer data into data groups associated with different possible combinations of target demographic segments specified in the demographic profile; and

sampling data from respective ones of the data groups according to target population percentages associated with the respective ones of the data groups, the target population percentages determined from the demographic profile.

5. A method as defined in claim 4, wherein the demographic profile specifies a first demographic category divided into a first plurality of target demographic segments and a second demographic category divided into a second plurality of target demographic segments, and sampling the customer data stored in the customer database further comprises determining the different possible combinations of target demographic segments to correspond to different possible permutations of the first plurality of target demographic segments and the second plurality of target demographic segments.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first customer identification information includes device identification information associated with a first customer in the first customer sample, and processing the log data obtained from the network server further comprises:

retrieving first log data associated with the first customer from the network server using the device identification information;

determining a first demographic category to which the first customer belongs, the first demographic category included in a plurality of demographic categories specified in the demographic profile; and

classifying the first log data into the first demographic category.

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

processing the log data to determine actual network usage for the first subset of customers included in the first customer sample; and

determining that the first customer sample is representative of the network usage profile when the actual network usage is determined to substantially match the network usage profile.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising, in response to the log data indicating that the first customer sample is not representative of the network usage profile:

updating the first customer sample to determine a second customer sample representative of the demographic profile, the second customer sample including second customer identification information for a second subset of customers represented in the second customer sample;

processing the log data obtained from the network server using the second customer identification information to determine second audience measurement data associated with the second subset of customers in the second customer sample, the second audience measurement data including the second customer identification information; and

in response to the log data indicating that the second customer sample is also representative of the network usage profile, removing the second customer identification information from the second audience measurement data to determine the anonymous audience measurement data to send to the recipient.

9. A tangible machine readable storage device or storage disk comprising machine readable instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

sample customer data stored in a customer database to generate a first customer sample representative of a demographic profile, the first customer sample including first customer identification information for a first subset of customers represented in the first customer sample;

process log data obtained from a network server using the first customer identification information to determine first audience measurement data associated with the first subset of customers in the first customer sample, the first audience measurement data including the first customer identification information;

verify, based on the log data, whether the first customer sample is also representative of a network usage profile in addition to the demographic profile; and

in response to the first customer sample being verified to be representative of the network usage profile in addition to the demographic profile, remove the first customer identification information from the first audience measurement data to determine anonymous audience measurement data to send to a recipient.

10. A storage device or storage disk as defined in claim 9, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to obtain at least one of the demographic profile or the network usage profile from the recipient.

11. A storage device or storage disk as defined in claim 9, wherein to sample the customer data stored in the customer database, the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to:

index the customer data into data groups associated with different possible combinations of target demographic segments specified in the demographic profile; and

sample data from respective ones of the data groups according to target population percentages associated with the respective ones of the data groups, the target population percentages determined from the demographic profile.

12. A storage device or storage disk as defined in claim 11, wherein the demographic profile specifies a first demographic category divided into a first plurality of target demographic segments and a second demographic category divided into a second plurality of target demographic segments, and the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to determine the different possible combinations of target demographic segments to correspond to different possible permutations of the first plurality of target demographic segments and the second plurality of target demographic segments.

13. A storage device or storage disk as defined in claim 9, wherein the first customer identification information includes device identification information associated with a first customer in the first customer sample, and, to process the log data obtained from the network server, the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to:

access first log data associated with the first customer from the network server using the device identification information;

determine a first demographic category to which the first customer belongs, the first demographic category included in a plurality of demographic categories specified in in the demographic profile; and

classify the first log data into the first demographic category.

14. A storage device or storage disk as defined in claim 9, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to:

process the log data to determine actual network usage for the first subset of customers included in the first customer sample; and

determine that the first customer sample is representative of the network usage profile when the actual network usage is determined to substantially match the network usage profile.

15. A storage device or storage disk as defined in claim 9, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to, in response to the log data indicating that the first customer sample is not representative of the network usage profile:

update the first customer sample to determine a second customer sample representative of the demographic profile, the second customer sample including second customer identification information for a second subset of customers represented in the second customer sample;

process the log data obtained from the network server using the second customer identification information to determine second audience measurement data associated with the second subset of customers in the second customer sample, the second audience measurement data including the second customer identification information; and

in response to the log data indicating that the second customer sample is also representative of the network usage profile, remove the second customer identification information from the second audience measurement data to determine the anonymous audience measurement data to send to the recipient.

16. A storage device or storage disk as defined in claim 9, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to:

retain demographic information in the anonymous audience measurement data, the demographic information to permit classification of the anonymous audience measurement data according to the demographic profile without having access to the first customer identification information; and

send the anonymous audience measurement data to the recipient to permit the recipient to perform audience measurement operations using the anonymous audience measurement data without having access to the customer database and the network server.

17. An apparatus to provide anonymous audience measurement data, the apparatus comprising:

a customer sample generator to sample customer data stored in a customer database to generate a first customer sample representative of a demographic profile, the first customer sample including first customer identification information for a first subset of customers represented in the first customer sample;

a measurement data sampler to process log data obtained from a network server using the first customer identification information to determine first audience measurement data associated with the first subset of customers in the first customer sample, the first audience measurement data including the first customer identification information; and

a privacy unit to remove the first customer identification information from the first audience measurement data to determine the anonymous audience measurement data to send to a recipient in response to the first customer sample being verified, based on the log data, to also be representative of a network usage profile in addition to the demographic profile.

18. An apparatus as defined in claim 17, wherein to sample the customer data stored in the customer database, the customer sample generator is further to:

index the customer data into data groups associated with different possible combinations of target demographic segments specified in the demographic profile; and

sample data from respective ones of the data groups according to target population percentages associated with the respective ones of the data groups, the target population percentages determined from the demographic profile.

19. An apparatus as defined in claim 18, wherein the demographic profile specifies a first demographic category divided into a first plurality of target demographic segments and a second demographic category divided into a second plurality of target demographic segments, and the customer sample generator is further to determine the different possible combinations of target demographic segments to correspond to different possible permutations of the first plurality of target demographic segments and the second plurality of target demographic segments.

20. An apparatus as defined in claim 17, wherein the first customer identification information includes device identification information associated with a first customer in the first customer sample, and to process the log data obtained from the network server, the measurement data sampler is further to:

retrieve first log data associated with the first customer from the network server using the device identification information;

determine a first demographic category to which the first customer belongs, the first demographic category included in a plurality of demographic categories specified in in the demographic profile; and

classify the first log data into the first demographic category.

21. An apparatus as defined in claim 17, wherein the measurement data sampler is further to:

process the log data to determine actual network usage for the first subset of customers included in the first customer sample; and

determine that the first customer sample is representative of the network usage profile when the actual network usage is determined to substantially match the network usage profile.

22. An apparatus as defined in claim 17, wherein in response to the log data indicating that the first customer sample is not representative of the network usage profile:

the customer sample generator is further to update the first customer sample to determine a second customer sample representative of the demographic profile, the second customer sample including second customer identification information for a second subset of customers represented in the second customer sample;

the measurement data sampler is further to process the log data obtained from the network server using the second customer identification information to determine second audience measurement data associated with the second subset of customers in the second customer sample, the second audience measurement data including the second customer identification information; and

the privacy unit is further to remove the second customer identification information from the second audience measurement data to determine the anonymous audience measurement data to send to the recipient in response to the log data indicating that the second customer sample is also representative of the network usage profile.

23. An apparatus as defined in claim 17, further comprising a data transmission unit to:

retain demographic information in the anonymous audience measurement data, the demographic information to permit classification of the anonymous audience measurement data according to the demographic profile without having access to the first customer identification information; and

send the anonymous audience measurement data to the recipient to permit the recipient to perform audience measurement operations using the anonymous audience measurement data without having access to the customer database and the network server.