Methods and apparatus to collect distributed user information for media impressions and search terms

• US 9,912,482 B2
• Filed: 12/04/2015
• Issued: 03/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Burbank, John R., Alla, Madhusudhan Reddy
• Primary Examiner(s): McNally, Michael S
• Application Number:
  US14/959,990
• Publication Number:
  US 20160087799A1
• Time in Patent Office: 823 Days
• Field of Search: 713176
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2107 File encryption
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2135 Metering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/00 Information and communication technology [ICT] specially adapted for implementation of business processes of specific business sectors, e.g. utilities or tourism healthcare informatics G16H
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0414 during transmission, i.e. party's identity is protected against eavesdropping, e.g. by using temporary identifiers, but is known to the other party or parties involved in the communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/32 including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system or for message authentication, e.g. authorization, entity authentication, data integrity or data verification, non-repudiation, key authentication or verification of credentials
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/71 Hardware identity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/72 Subscriber identity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/75 Temporary identity

Abstract

Disclosed examples involve obtaining encrypted identifiers identifying at least one of a device or a user of the device, sending respective ones of the encrypted identifiers to corresponding database proprietors, receiving user information corresponding to the respective ones of the encrypted identifiers from the corresponding database proprietors, and associating the user information with at least one of a search term collected at the device or a media impression logged for media presented at the device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining, at a server, encrypted identifiers identifying at least one of a device or a user of the device, the device being separate from the server;

sending, from the server, respective ones of the encrypted identifiers to corresponding database proprietors;

receiving, at the server, user information corresponding to the respective ones of the encrypted identifiers from the corresponding database proprietors; and

associating the user information with at least one of a search term collected at the device or a media impression logged for media presented at the device.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the associating of the user information with the at least one of the search term or the media impression is performed at the server.

3. The method as defined in claim 1, further including decoding information from the device to obtain the respective ones of the encrypted identifiers.

7. The method as defined in claim 1, further including sending the encrypted identifiers to the corresponding database proprietors based on respective database proprietor identifiers received in association with corresponding ones of the encrypted identifiers, the respective database proprietor identifiers identifying corresponding ones of the database proprietors.

8. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the device is a mobile device.

9. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the encrypted identifiers are received in a single network communication.

4. A method comprising:

obtaining encrypted identifiers identifying at least one of a device or a user of the device;

sending respective ones of the encrypted identifiers to corresponding database proprietors, the database proprietors including a social network service and a wireless service provider, a first one of the encrypted identifiers including a username of the user registered with the social network service, and a second one of the encrypted identifiers including a device identifier used by the wireless service provider to identify the device;

receiving user information corresponding to the respective ones of the encrypted identifiers from the corresponding database proprietors; and

associating the user information with at least one of a search term collected at the device or a media impression logged for media presented at the device.

5. The method as defined in claim 4, wherein the user information includes first demographic information of the user stored by the social network service, and second demographic information of the user stored by the wireless service provider.

6. A method comprising:

obtaining encrypted identifiers identifying at least one of a device or a user of the device;

sending respective ones of the encrypted identifiers to corresponding database proprietors;

receiving user information corresponding to the respective ones of the encrypted identifiers from the corresponding database proprietors; and

associating the user information with at least one of a search term collected at the device or a media impression logged for media presented at the device, the media is an advertisement, and the search term corresponds to a search performed at the device to at least one of search information on the Internet, search for a product, search for a website, or search a website.

10. An apparatus comprising:

a memory including machine executable instructions; and

a processor to execute the instructions to;

obtain encrypted identifiers identifying at least one of a device or a user of the device, the device being separate from the processor;

send respective ones of the encrypted identifiers to corresponding database proprietors;

receive user information corresponding to the respective ones of the encrypted identifiers from the corresponding database proprietors; and

associate the user information with at least one of a search term collected at the device or a media impression logged for media presented at the device.

11. The apparatus as defined in claim 10, wherein the processor is located in a server separate from the device and in communication with the device.

15. The apparatus as defined in claim 10, wherein the processor is to execute the instructions to send the encrypted identifiers to the corresponding database proprietors based on respective database proprietor identifiers received in association with corresponding ones of the encrypted identifiers, the respective database proprietor identifiers identifying corresponding ones of the database proprietors.

16. The apparatus as defined in claim 10, wherein the encrypted identifiers are received in a single network communication.

12. An apparatus comprising:

a memory including machine executable instructions; and

a processor to execute the instructions to;

obtain encrypted identifiers identifying at least one of a device or a user of the device;

send respective ones of the encrypted identifiers to corresponding database proprietors, the database proprietors including a social network service and a wireless service provider, a first one of the encrypted identifiers including a username of the user registered with the social network service, and a second one of the encrypted identifiers including a device identifier used by the wireless service provider to identify the device;

receive user information corresponding to the respective ones of the encrypted identifiers from the corresponding database proprietors; and

associate the user information with at least one of a search term collected at the device or a media impression logged for media presented at the device.

13. The apparatus as defined in claim 12, wherein the user information includes first demographic information of the user stored by the social network service, and second demographic information of the user stored by the wireless service provider.

14. An apparatus comprising:

a memory including machine executable instructions; and

a processor to execute the instructions to;

obtain encrypted identifiers identifying at least one of a device or a user of the device;

send respective ones of the encrypted identifiers to corresponding database proprietors;

receive user information corresponding to the respective ones of the encrypted identifiers from the corresponding database proprietors; and

associate the user information with at least one of a search term collected at the device or a media impression logged for media presented at the device, the media is an advertisement, and the search term corresponds to a search performed at the device to at least one of search information on the Internet, search for a product, search for a website, or search a website.

17. A tangible machine readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

obtain encrypted identifiers identifying at least one of a device or a user of the device, the machine being separate from the device;

send respective ones of the encrypted identifiers to corresponding database proprietors;

receive user information corresponding to the respective ones of the encrypted identifiers from the corresponding database proprietors; and

associate the user information with at least one of a search term collected at the device or a media impression logged for media presented at the device.

18. The tangible machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 17, wherein the machine is a server separate from the device and in communication with the device.

22. The tangible machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 17, wherein the instructions cause the machine to send the encrypted identifiers to the corresponding database proprietors based on respective database proprietor identifiers received in association with corresponding ones of the encrypted identifiers, the respective database proprietor identifiers identifying corresponding ones of the database proprietors.

23. The tangible machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 17, wherein the encrypted identifiers are received in a single network communication.

19. A tangible machine readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

obtain encrypted identifiers identifying at least one of a device or a user of the device;

send respective ones of the encrypted identifiers to corresponding database proprietors, the database proprietors including a social network service and a wireless service provider, a first one of the encrypted identifiers including a username of the user registered with the social network service, and a second one of the encrypted identifiers including a device identifier used by the wireless service provider to identify the device;

receive user information corresponding to the respective ones of the encrypted identifiers from the corresponding database proprietors; and

associate the user information with at least one of a search term collected at the device or a social media impression logged for media presented at the device.

20. The tangible machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 19, wherein the user information includes first demographic information of the user stored by the social network service, and second demographic information of the user stored by the wireless service provider.

21. A tangible machine readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

obtain encrypted identifiers identifying at least one of a device or a user of the device;

send respective ones of the encrypted identifiers to corresponding database proprietors;

receive user information corresponding to the respective ones of the encrypted identifiers from the corresponding database proprietors; and

associate the user information with at least one of a search term collected at the device or a media impression logged for media presented at the device, the media is an advertisement, and the search term corresponds to a search performed at the device to at least one of search information on the Internet, search for a product, search for a website, or search a website.