Internet connected household identification for online measurement and dynamic content delivery

• US 9,331,921 B2
• Filed: 05/16/2013
• Issued: 05/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ti Newco LLC
• Original Assignee: Vindico LLC
• Inventors: DeFrancesco, Brian C., Vanderhook, Timothy C., Vanderhook, Christopher J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Zarni
• Application Number:
  US13/895,587
• Publication Number:
  US 20130311649A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,083 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709223-229, 709/250, 709/245
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2514 between local and global IP addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5007 Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5046 Resolving address allocation conflicts; Testing of addresses testing when self-assigning an address H04L61/5092
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

A method, apparatus, system, and computer readable storage medium provide the ability to identify an internet connected household (ICH). An Internet Protocol (IP) address is received at an Internet entity. Determinations are made regarding whether the IP address belongs to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) that provides residential internet service, whether device activity from the IP address does not exceed a defined activity threshold, and whether an IP assignment age for the IP address is greater than a defined threshold age. Based on the determinations, the IP address can be identified as belonging to an ICH or not.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for identifying an internet connected household (ICH), comprising:

receiving an Internet Protocol (IP) address at an Internet entity;

determining a residential internet service status based on whether the IP address belongs to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) that provides residential internet service;

determining a device activity status based on whether device activity from the IP address does not exceed a defined activity threshold;

determining an IP assignment age status based on whether an IP assignment age for the IP address is greater than a defined threshold age; and

based on the residential internet service status, the device activity status, and the IP assignment age status, determining whether the IP address is associated with an ICH.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

the IP address is attached to a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request received by the Internet entity; and

the Internet entity has a web server.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the determining the residential internet service status comprises:

determining, based on information obtained from a regional internet registry (RIR), the ISP that has been assigned an IP range block that includes the IP address; and

classifying the ISP as providing residential internet service based on publicly available information regarding the ISP.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the determining the residential internet service status further comprises:

receiving an additional IP address at the Internet entity;

determining whether the additional IP address belongs to a second ISP that does not provide residential internet service; and

filtering out the additional IP address from further processing.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the determining the device activity status comprises:

monitoring activity from the IP address over a defined period of time;

determining the defined activity threshold for a level of activity for internet connected households; and

determining that the level of activity from the IP address does not exceed the defined activity threshold.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the determining the device activity status comprises:

receiving an additional IP address at the Internet entity; and

determining that device activity from the additional IP address is below the defined activity threshold;

determining that the additional IP address is associated with a non-household based on the device activity; and

filtering out the non-household and the additional IP address from further processing.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the determining the IP assignment age status comprises:

observing a number of connecting IP addresses from the ISP over a defined period of time;

calculating the IP assignment age for the IP address by monitoring the number of connecting IP addresses to identify if and when the IP has been reassigned; and

determining that the IP assignment age is greater than the defined threshold age.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein two IP addresses belonging to the ISP are connected when a user has generated activity from both of the two IP addresses.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the defined threshold age is forty-five (45) days.

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

based on the determining steps, measuring the ICH'"'"'s exposure to content from a specific content owner.

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

creating a data store based on the device activity from the ICH, wherein the data store comprises interests, activity, and actions from a device; and

based on the data store, dynamically selecting content to be delivered to the device.

12. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium encoded with computer program instructions which when accessed by a computer cause the computer to load the program instructions to a memory therein creating a special purpose data structure causing the computer to operate as a specially programmed computer, executing a method of identifying an internet connected household (ICH), comprising:

receiving, in the specially programmed computer at an Internet entity, an Internet Protocol (IP) address;

determining, in the specially programmed computer, a residential internet service status based on whether the IP address belongs to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) that provides residential internet service;

determining, in the specially programmed computer, a device activity status based on whether device activity from the IP address does not exceed a defined activity threshold;

determining, in the specially programmed computer, an IP assignment age status based on whether an IP assignment age for the IP address is greater than a defined threshold age; and

based on the residential internet service status, the device activity status, and the IP assignment age status, determining, in the specially programmed computer, whether the IP address is associated with an ICH.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein:

the IP address is attached to a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request received by the Internet entity; and

the Internet entity has a web server.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the determining the residential internet service status comprises:

determining, based on information obtained from a regional internet registry (RIR), the ISP that has been assigned an IP range block that includes the IP address; and

classifying the ISP as providing residential internet service based on publicly available information regarding the ISP.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the determining the residential internet service status further comprises:

receiving an additional IP address at the Internet entity;

determining whether the additional IP address belongs to a second ISP that does not provide residential internet service; and

filtering out the additional IP address from further processing.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the determining the device activity status comprises:

monitoring activity from the IP address over a defined period of time;

determining the defined activity threshold for a level of activity for internet connected households; and

determining that the level of activity from the IP address does not exceed the defined activity threshold.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the determining the device activity status comprises:

receiving an additional IP address at the Internet entity; and

determining that device activity from the additional IP address is below the defined activity threshold;

determining that the additional IP address is associated with a non-household based on the device activity; and

filtering out the non-household and the additional IP address from further processing.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the determining the IP assignment age status comprises:

observing a number of connecting IP addresses from the ISP over a defined period of time;

calculating the IP assignment age for the IP address by monitoring the number of connecting IP addresses to identify if and when the IP has been reassigned; and

determining that the IP assignment age is greater than the defined threshold age.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein two IP addresses belonging to the ISP are connected when a user has generated activity from both of the two IP addresses.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the defined threshold age is forty-five (45) days.

21. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising:

based on the determining steps, measuring the ICH'"'"'s exposure to content from a specific content owner.

22. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising:

creating a data store based on the device activity from the ICH, wherein the data store comprises interests, activity, and actions from a device; and

based on the data store, dynamically selecting content to be delivered to the device.