Method for counting without the use of unique identifiers

• US 8,954,566 B1
• Filed: 02/10/2011
• Issued: 02/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Nygaard, Carl, Carr, Dudley
• Primary Examiner(s): Srivastava, Vivek
• Assistant Examiner(s): Asres, Hermon
• Application Number:
  US13/025,023
• Time in Patent Office: 1,461 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709/223, 709/224, 709/201, 709/248
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]

Abstract

Embodiments relate to determining the number of unique users of computer software without individually identifying users with a unique identification. In an embodiment, data elements are communicated from clients to a server. Each data element contains the number of days that have elapsed since the last communication from the client to the server. Based on the communicated data elements and the time and date at which each data element is received, the server can determine a count of unique users over a specified time period.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of counting a number of unique clients over a specified time span without reliance on unique client identifiers, comprising:

receiving, from one or more clients, one or more data elements, wherein each data element comprises a length of time that has elapsed since a previous communication of a data element from the client;

determining a timestamp of each received data element; and

determining from the received data elements and associated timestamps a count of unique clients over a received time span, wherein the count determining is implemented on a processing device and comprises;

determining a start time of aggregation from the received time span, and

for each received data element;

subtracting the length of time since the previous communication from the associated timestamp of the communication to determine a resultant time and

incrementing the count of unique clients when the resultant time is earlier than the start time of aggregation.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein each data element comprises a length of time that has elapsed since the previous communication for an active check.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein each data element comprises a length of time that has elapsed since the previous communication for a roll call check.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the received time span is seven days.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, from a server, to a plurality of clients, the number of seconds since the start of the current day on the server.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the steps of determining the timestamp of each received data element and determining a count of unique clients are performed by a server.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the data elements are in XML format.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein data elements having a length of time that has elapsed since the previous communication equal to zero are discarded.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising incrementing the count of unique clients when the length of time that has elapsed since the previous communication is a negative number.

19. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the receiving comprises:

receiving the one or more data elements from the one or more clients without an identifier associated with the client from which the data elements are received.

10. A client counter system for counting the number of unique clients over a specified time span without reliance on identifying information for any client, comprising:

a data element receiver that receives data elements from a plurality of clients, wherein each data element comprises a length of time that has elapsed since a previous communication from the client, and that further associates each data element with a timestamp;

a time selection interface that receives a time span to count unique clients over; and

a unique client counter implemented on a processor which causes the processor to for each received data element;

subtract the length of time since the previous communication from the timestamp of the communication to determine a resultant time; and

increment the count of unique clients when the resultant time is earlier than the start time of aggregation.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a clock that determines the number of seconds from the start of the current day; and

a time synchronization interface that sends the number of seconds from the start of the current day to a plurality of clients.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising an XML interface that parses XML structured data received from a plurality of clients.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the XML interface generates XML-structured data containing the number of seconds from the start of the current day.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the data element receiver further discards data elements having a length of time that has elapsed since the previous communication from the client equal to zero.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the unique client counter further increments the count of unique clients when a data element is received having a length of time that has elapsed since the previous communication from the client equal to a negative number.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein each data element comprises a length of time that has elapsed since the previous communication for an active check.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein each data element comprises a length of time that has elapsed since the previous communication for a roll call check.

18. A computer implemented method of counting unique users, comprising:

receiving one or more data elements indicating a length of time that has elapsed since a previous communication;

subtracting the length of time since the previous communication from the current time to determine a timestamp;

associating the received data elements with the timestamp;

determining a count of unique users over a time span, wherein the count determining is implemented on a processing device and comprises;

incrementing a count of unique users when a time determined by the received data element and associated timestamp is prior to a start time of the time span.