METHODS AND APPARATUS TO MEASURE MARKET STATISTICS

• US 20100191723A1
• Filed: 01/28/2010
• Published: 07/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nielsen Company (US) LLC (RR Donnelley & Sons Company)
• Original Assignee: Nielsen Company (US) LLC (RR Donnelley & Sons Company)
• Inventors: Perez, Albert, Younge, Michael F., Lu, Shi
• Granted Patent: US 9,129,293 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/173 using an interconnection network, e.g. matrix, shuffle, pyramid, star, snowflake
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• 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 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/557 Error correction, e.g. fault recovery or fault tolerance

Abstract

Example methods and apparatus to measure market statistics are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes retrieving a service penetration value from a managed data source, retrieving an Internet protocol (IP) address from a convenience data source, and identifying a household identification number associated with the retrieved IP address. The example method also includes retrieving household data associated with the household identification number, verifying a service provider name provided by the convenience data source, and adjusting a weight value of the retrieved household data when the service provider name provided by the convenience data source is different than a current service provider name. Additionally, the example method includes calculating service provider flow share based on the adjusted weight value and the service penetration value, and generating a report including the calculated service provider flow share.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method to calculate flow share of a service provider, comprising:

retrieving a service penetration value from a managed data source;

retrieving an Internet protocol (IP) address from a convenience data source;

identifying a household identification number associated with the retrieved IP address;

retrieving household data associated with the household identification number;

verifying a service provider name provided by the convenience data source;

adjusting a weight value of the retrieved household data when the service provider name provided by the convenience data source is different than a current service provider name;

calculating service provider flow share based on the adjusted weight value and the service penetration value; and

generating a report including the calculated service provider flow share.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein retrieving the service penetration value further comprises retrieving at least one of dial-up service penetration, broadband service penetration, video service penetration, or fiber-based service penetration.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising identifying a household service provider change by comparing a service provider name at a first time with a service provider name associated with the household identification number at a second time.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein verifying the service provider name further comprises initiating a ping command to the retrieved IP address to identify an active status of the IP address.

6. A method as defined in claim 5, further comprising initiating a port scan when the ping command is unsuccessful, the port scan to identify the active status of the IP address.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein verifying the service provider name further comprises querying a registry database with the retrieved IP address to obtain the service provider name.

8. A method as defined in claim 7, further comprising performing a reverse resolve on the retrieved IP address to retrieve an associated host name.

9. A method as defined in claim 8, further comprising comparing at least one portion of the associated host name to a plurality of resolution keywords to confirm the service provider name.

10. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein adjusting the weight value further comprises applying weighting factors indicative of census benchmarks.

11. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein calculating service provider flow share further comprises retrieving indications of IP address status from the convenience data source.

12. A method as defined in claim 11, wherein the indications of IP address status comprises at least one of a new subscriber ISP, an unchanged ISP with a new address, or an alternate service type.

14. A method as defined in claim 11, further comprising retrieving survey response data from the convenience data source.

15. A method as defined in claim 14, wherein the survey response data comprises at least one of a prior Internet service provider name, a subscriber move date, or a service type.

3. (canceled)

13. (canceled)

16-22. -22. (canceled)

23. An apparatus to calculate service provider flow share, comprising:

a registry manager to retrieve a service penetration value from a managed data source;

a data source locator to identify a convenience data source associated with a household identification number and obtain an Internet protocol (IP) address associated with the household identification number;

a network interface to retrieve data from the convenience data source associated with the household identification number;

a data source combiner to generate a verified service provider name based on a service provider name retrieved from the convenience data source and associated with the IP address;

a data source weight calculator to adjust a weight value of the retrieved data from the convenience data source when the service provider name retrieved from the convenience data source is different than the verified service provider name; and

a test manager to calculate service provider flow share based on the adjusted weight value from the convenience data source and a calculated market share based on the service penetration value.

24. An apparatus as defined in claim 23, wherein the convenience data source further comprises at least one of a survey pool or diary data.

25. An apparatus as defined in claim 23, further comprising a ping manager invoked by the data source combiner to initiate a ping command to the IP address associated with the household identification number to verify an active status of the IP address.

26. An apparatus as defined in claim 25, further comprising a port scan manager invoked by the ping manager when the ping command is unsuccessful, the port scan manager to initiate a port scan to identify the activity status.

27. An apparatus as defined in claim 23, wherein the data source weight calculator invokes a census database to apply weighting benchmarks to the convenience data source.

28. An article of manufacture storing machine accessible instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to:

identify a managed data source and a convenience data source, the managed and convenience data sources associated with market service activity;

identify a first geographic scope associated with the managed data source and a second geographic scope associated with the convenience data source;

combine the managed data source and the convenience data source based on a comparison of the first and second geographic scopes;

calculate service provider market statistics based on the market service activity of the managed data source and the convenience data source; and

generate a report including the calculated service provider market statistics.

29. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 28, wherein the machine accessible instructions, when executed, cause the machine to identify an additional data source when a number of data samples in the managed and convenience data sources are below a threshold value.

30-41. -41. (canceled)