Methods and apparatus to monitor mobile devices

• US 8,503,991 B2
• Filed: 04/03/2009
• Issued: 08/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Swift, Roderick D., Simon, Gregory R., Chatterjee, Manjirnath
• Primary Examiner(s): Daniel, Jr., Willie J
• Application Number:
  US12/418,266
• Publication Number:
  US 20090305680A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,586 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/106 using time related information in packets, e.g. by adding timestamps
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/611 for multicast or broadcast systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/22 Arrangements for supervision, monitoring or testing

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to monitor mobile devices are disclosed. A disclosed example method involves operating first and second wireless telephone device terminals. In the example method, the first wireless telephone device terminal includes a first media decoder configured to decode a first media encoding format and the second wireless telephone device terminal includes a second media decoder configured to decode a second media encoding format. The example method also involves receiving a first media presentation via the first wireless telephone device terminal and a second media presentation via the second wireless telephone device terminal. The first media presentation is encoded using the first media encoding format and the second media presentation is encoded using the second media encoding format. The first and second media presentations include substantially similar media content. The example method also involves generating a first reference signature of the first media presentation and a second reference signature of the second media presentation. The first reference signature is stored in association with first device identifier information indicative of the first wireless telephone device terminal. The second reference signature is stored in association with second device identifier information indicative of the second wireless telephone device terminal.

Claims

1. A method to monitor media delivered over wireless communication networks, comprising:

emulating first and second wireless devices being at least one of from different manufacturers or of different models, the first emulated wireless device to decode a first media encoding format associated with at least one of a first manufacturer or a first model of the first emulated wireless device, and the second emulated wireless device to decode a second media encoding format different from the first media encoding format and associated with at least one of a second manufacturer or a second model of the second emulated wireless device;

receiving first media via the first emulated wireless device and second media via the second emulated wireless device, the first media encoded using the first media encoding format, the second media encoded using the second media encoding format, and the first and second media corresponding to the same media content;

storing a first reference exact signature of a portion of the first media received at the first emulated wireless device and a first reference similarity signature of the same portion of the first media to monitor exposure to the media content via a third wireless device being at least one of from the same first manufacturer or of the same first model as the first emulated wireless device, the first reference exact signature to confirm exposure to the media content via the third wireless device when a panel metering signature from the third wireless device matches the first reference exact signature within a threshold, and the first reference similarity signature to confirm exposure to the media content via the third wireless device when the panel metering signature is relatively more similar to the first reference similarity signature than to another reference similarity signature unrelated to the first media; and

storing a second reference exact signature and a second reference similarity signature of a portion of the second media received at the second emulated wireless device to monitor exposure to the media content via a fourth wireless device being at least one of from the same second manufacturer or of the same second model as the second emulated wireless device.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first media encoding format is associated with a first media encoding standard, and wherein the second media encoding format is associated with a second media encoding standard different from the first media encoding standard.

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

retrieving device information corresponding to the third wireless device of a panel member;

comparing the device information to at least one of the manufacturers or the models of the first and second emulated wireless devices; and

comparing the panel metering signature to one of the first reference signatures or the second reference signatures based on the comparison of the device information to the at least one of the manufacturers or the models of the first and second emulated wireless devices.

4. A method as defined in claim 3, further comprising crediting the media content with an instance of a presentation based on the comparison of the panel metering signature to the one of the first reference signatures or the second reference signatures.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first and second media encoding formats are associated with at least one of different display resolutions, different transport protocols, or different compression algorithms.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first and second media encoding formats are associated with at least one of different video encoding industry standards or different audio encoding industry standards.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising registering the first emulated wireless device with a communication network as being at least one of from the first manufacturer or of the first model, and registering the second emulated wireless device with the communication network as being at least one of from the second manufacturer or of the second model.

8. A method as defined in claim 7, wherein the first media encoding format is associated with a first display resolution based on the first emulated wireless device being registered with the communication network as being at least one of from the first manufacturer or the second model, and the second media encoding format being associated with a second display resolution different from the first display resolution based on the second emulated wireless device being registered with the communication network as being at least one of from the second manufacturer or the second model.

9. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first reference similarity signature is generated by hashing a global feature of an overall image of the first media in connection with a specific feature of the portion of the image.

10. A system to monitor media delivered over wireless communication networks, comprising:

a first emulated wireless device to decode a first media encoding format associated with at least one of a first manufacturer or a first model of the first emulated wireless device, the first emulated wireless device to receive first media encoded using the first media encoding format and to generate a first reference exact signature of a portion of the first media and a first reference similarity signature of the same portion of the first media;

a second emulated wireless device to decode a second media encoding format different from the first media encoding format and associated with at least one of a second manufacturer or a second model of the second emulated wireless device, the second emulated wireless device to receive second media encoded using the second media encoding format and to generate a second reference exact signature of a portion of the second media and a second reference similarity signature of the same portion of the second media, the first and second media corresponding to the same media content; and

a database to store the first reference exact signature and the first reference similarity signature from the first emulated wireless device to monitor exposure to the media content via a third wireless device being at least one of from the same first manufacturer or of the same first model as the first emulated wireless device, and to store the second reference exact signature and the second reference similarity signature from the second emulated wireless device to monitor exposure to the media content via a fourth wireless device being at least one of from the same second manufacturer or of the same second model as the second emulated wireless device, the first reference exact signature to confirm exposure to the media content via the third wireless device when a panel metering signature from the third wireless device matches the first reference exact signature within a threshold, and the first reference similarity signature to confirm exposure to the media content via the third wireless device when the panel metering signature is relatively more similar to the first reference similarity signature than to another reference similarity signature unrelated to the first media.

11. A system as defined in claim 10, wherein the first media encoding format is associated with a first display resolution of the first emulated wireless device, and wherein the second media encoding format is associated with a second display resolution of the second emulated wireless device and different from the first display resolution.

12. A system as defined in claim 10 further comprising an analyzer to:

retrieve device information corresponding to the third wireless device of a panel member;

compare the device information to at least one of the manufacturers or the models of the first and second emulated wireless devices; and

compare the panel metering signature to one of the first reference signatures or the second reference signatures based on the comparison of the device information to the at least one of the manufacturers or the models of the first and second emulated wireless devices.

13. A system as defined in claim 10, wherein the first and second media encoding formats are associated with at least one of different display resolutions, different transport protocols, or different compression algorithms.

14. A system as defined in claim 10, wherein the first emulated wireless device is to register with a communication network as being at least one of from the first manufacturer or of the first model, and the second emulated wireless device is to register with the communication network as being at least one of from the second manufacturer or of the second model.

15. A system as defined in claim 14, wherein the first media encoding format is associated with a first display resolution based on the first emulated wireless device being registered with the communication network as being at least one of from the first manufacturer or the second model, and the second media encoding format being associated with a second display resolution different from the first display resolution based on the second emulated wireless device being registered with the communication network as being at least one of from the second manufacturer or the second model.

16. A computer readable storage device or storage disk having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

emulate first and second wireless devices being at least one of from different manufacturers or of different models, the first emulated wireless device to decode a first media encoding format associated with at least one of a first manufacturer or a first model of the first emulated wireless device, and the second emulated wireless device to decode a second media encoding format different from the first media encoding format and associated with at least one of a second manufacturer or a second model of the second emulated wireless device;

receive first media via the first emulated wireless device and second media via the second emulated wireless device, the first media encoded using the first media encoding format, the second media encoded using the second media encoding format, and the first and second media corresponding to the same media content;

store a first reference exact signature of a portion of the first media received at the first emulated wireless device and a first reference similarity signature of the same portion of the first media to monitor exposure to the media content via a third wireless device being at least one of from the same first manufacturer or of the same first model as the first emulated wireless device, the first reference exact signature to confirm exposure to the media content via the third wireless device when a panel metering signature from the third wireless device matches the first reference exact signature within a threshold, and the first reference similarity signature to confirm exposure to the media content via the third wireless device when the panel metering signature is relatively more similar to the first reference similarity signature than to another reference similarity signature unrelated to the first media; and

store a second reference exact signature and a second reference similarity signature of a portion of the second media received at the second emulated wireless device to monitor exposure to the media content via a fourth wireless device being at least one of from the same second manufacturer or of the same second model as the second emulated wireless device.

17. A computer readable storage device or storage disk as defined in claim 16 having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause the machine to:

retrieve device information corresponding to the third wireless device of a panel member;

compare the device information to at least one of the manufacturers or the models of the first and second emulated wireless devices; and

compare the panel metering signature to one of the first reference signatures or the second reference signatures based on the comparison of the device information to the at least one of the manufacturers or the models of the first and second emulated wireless devices.

18. A computer readable storage device or storage disk as defined in claim 16, wherein the first and second media encoding formats are associated with at least one of different display resolutions, different transport protocols, or different compression algorithms.

19. A computer readable storage device or storage disk as defined in claim 16 having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause the machine to register the first emulated wireless device with a communication network as being at least one of from the first manufacturer or of the first model, and register the second emulated wireless device with the communication network as being at least one of from the second manufacturer or of the second model.

20. A computer readable storage device or storage disk as defined in claim 19, wherein the first media encoding format is associated with a first display resolution based on the first emulated wireless device being registered with the communication network as being at least one of from the first manufacturer or the second model, and the second media encoding format being associated with a second display resolution different from the first display resolution based on the second emulated wireless device being registered with the communication network as being at least one of from the second manufacturer or the second model.