Methods and systems to meter media content presented on a wireless communication device

• US 9,942,584 B2
• Filed: 07/29/2016
• Issued: 04/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Wright, David H., Nasser, Kamal, Herrmann, Jeff L., Ramaswamy, Arun, Mello, Brian Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Dsouza, Adolf
• Application Number:
  US15/224,039
• Publication Number:
  US 20160337678A1
• Time in Patent Office: 620 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/90 characterised by the use of signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/32 Arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations, e.g. malfunction or breakdown of receiving stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/37 for identifying segments of broadcast information, e.g. scenes or extracting programme ID
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/40 for identifying broadcast time
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/43 for identifying broadcast channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/44 for identifying broadcast stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/50 of broadcast or relay stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/51 of receiving stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/58 of audio determination or detection of speech characteristics in general G10L25/00; speech recognition in general G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/59 of video recognising characters or patterns in general G06F18/00, G06V20/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/64 for providing detail information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/66 for using the result on distributors' side
• 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: H04N 21/24 Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. monitoring of server load, available bandwidth, upstream requests monitoring of server performance or load G06F11/34; arrangements for observation, testing or troubleshooting for broadcast or for distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2407 Monitoring of transmitted content, e.g. distribution time, number of downloads arrangements for monitoring programmes for broadcast or for distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25883 being end-user demographical data, e.g. age, family status or address arrangements for identifying locations of users in broadcast systems H04H60/52
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42684 Client identification by a unique number or address, e.g. serial number, MAC address, socket ID network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming H04L61/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44209 Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 : Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4424 : Monitoring of the internal components or processes of the client device, e.g. CPU or memory load, processing speed, timer, counter or percentage of the hard disk space used error monitoring in general G06F11/30; arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/32; diagnosis, testing or measuring for television receivers H04N17/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/845 : Structuring of content, e.g. decomposing content into time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 : Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 : Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services

Abstract

An example apparatus to generate media monitoring information includes a processor to collect a first data record corresponding to a first media presentation session, and collect a second data record corresponding to a second media presentation. The example apparatus also includes a memory in circuit with the processor, the memory to: store a first end timestamp in the first data record indicative of a first time at which the first media presentation session ended; store a second end timestamp in the second data record indicative of a second time at which the second media presentation session ended; and store the first end timestamp in the second data record.

Claims

1. An apparatus to generate media monitoring information, comprising:

a processor to collect a first data record corresponding to a first media presentation session, and collect a second data record corresponding to a second media presentation session; and

a memory in circuit with the processor, the memory to;

store a first end timestamp in the first data record indicative of a first time at which the first media presentation session ended;

store a second end timestamp in the second data record indicative of a second time at which the second media presentation session ended; and

store the first end timestamp in the second data record.

2. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, further including a validator to:

access the first end timestamp from the second data record;

access the first end timestamp from the first data record; and

compare the first end timestamp from the second data record with the first end timestamp from the first data record to determine whether another data record is missing between the first and second data records.

3. The apparatus as defined in claim 2, wherein the validator is further to generate information indicative of a missing data record when the first end timestamp from the second data record does not match the first end timestamp from the first data record.

4. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the first and second media presentation sessions are performed by a wireless communication device.

5. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the first media presentation session corresponds to presenting at least one of first audio or first video, and the second media presentation session corresponds to presenting at least one of second audio or second video.

6. An article of manufacture comprising computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to at least:

collect a first data record corresponding to a first media presentation session;

store a first end timestamp in the first data record indicative of a first time at which the first media presentation session ended;

collect a second data record corresponding to a second media presentation session;

store a second end timestamp in the second data record indicative of a second time at which the second media presentation session ended; and

store the first end timestamp in the second data record.

7. The article of manufacture as defined in claim 6, wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to:

access the first end timestamp from the second data record;

access the first end timestamp from the first data record; and

compare the first end timestamp from the second data record with the first end timestamp from the first data record to determine whether another data record is missing between the first and second data records.

8. The article of manufacture as defined in claim 7, wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to generate information indicative of a missing data record when the first end timestamp from the second data record does not match the first end timestamp from the first data record.

9. The article of manufacture as defined in claim 6, wherein the first and second media presentation sessions are performed by a wireless communication device.

10. The article of manufacture as defined in claim 6, wherein the first media presentation session corresponds to presenting at least one of first audio or first video, and the second media presentation session corresponds to presenting at least one of second audio or second video.

11. An article of manufacture comprising computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to at least:

generate first information indicative of a media presentation mode of a media presentation application executed by a wireless communication device during a presentation of media received and presented via the wireless communication device, the media including scheduled programming that is broadcasted or multicasted simultaneously to a plurality of other wireless communication devices during a pre-scheduled time;

generate second information indicative of the media presented via the wireless communication device;

store the first information in association with the second information in the wireless communication device; and

store third information in association with the first and second information, the third information to be indicative of at least one of a location of a cell tower used to transmit the media to the wireless communication device, an identifier of the cell tower, or an identifier of a wireless network access point used to transmit the media.

12. The article of manufacture as defined in claim 11, wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to extract identification information associated with the media from a data packet associated with receiving the media.

13. The article of manufacture as defined in claim 11, wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to:

extract at least one of an audio code or a video code from the media, the extracted code to identify at least one of the media, a media provider, or a media programming provider channel number used to communicate the media; and

generate the second information based on the extracted code.

14. The article of manufacture as defined in claim 11, wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to:

generate a signature based on the media, the signature being at least one of an audio signature or a video signature; and

generate the second information based on the signature.

15. The article of manufacture as defined in claim 11, wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to store location information in association with the second information, the location information indicative of a location of the wireless communication device.

16. The article of manufacture as defined in claim 11, wherein the media presentation mode is at least one of a pause mode, a play mode, a stop mode, a fast forward mode, or a rewind mode.

17. The article of manufacture in claim 11, wherein the instructions are to be executed by the processor in a wireless communication device.

18. An article of manufacture comprising computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to at least:

store a first data structure including reference metering information generated by a first wireless communication device and indicative of a plurality of media received at the first wireless communication device from a transmitting entity;

store a second data structure including panel metering information generated by a second wireless communication device and indicative of at least some of the media received by the second wireless communication device; and

determine the validity of the panel metering information based on the reference metering information.

19. The article of manufacture as defined in claim 18, wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to determine the validity of the panel metering information by comparing first data in the panel metering information to second data in the reference metering information.

20. The article of manufacture as defined in claim 19, wherein the first data is associated with a first timestamp, and the instructions are further to cause the processor to select the second data based on a second timestamp of the second data corresponding to the first timestamp.

21. The article of manufacture as defined in claim 19, wherein the first data and the second data include channel information, date information, and time information.

22. The article of manufacture as defined in claim 18, wherein the panel metering information is representative of the second wireless communication device switching between a plurality of channels and obtaining at least some of the media provided via each channel.

23. The article of manufacture as defined in claim 18, wherein the panel metering information includes at least one of a service provider identifier, a content type identifier, a program identifier, or a channel identifier.

24. The article of manufacture as defined in claim 18, wherein the plurality of media is received at the first wireless communication device from the transmitting entity via a cellular network.

25. An article of manufacture comprising computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to at least:

obtain first information indicative of media presented via a wireless communication device;

generate second information indicative of a technical issue corresponding to the operability of the wireless communication device that affects user-consumption of the media during a presentation of the media;

store the first information in association with the second information; and

store timestamp information in association with the first information and the second information, the timestamp information to include a first timestamp stored in association with the first information and a second timestamp stored in association with the second information, and a substantial match between the first and second timestamps to indicate that the technical issue occurred during a presentation of the media.

26. The article of manufacture as defined in claim 25, wherein the technical issue is indicative of a problem with at least one of hardware, software, or communications.

27. The article of manufacture as defined in claim 25, wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to generate the second information by tagging the first information as suspect and providing a reason for tagging the first information as suspect.

28. The article of manufacture as defined in claim 25, wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to use the second information to determine the amount of media exposure credit or media consumption credit to attribute to a media presentation indicated by the first information.

29. The article of manufacture as defined in claim 25, wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to store time information indicative of a duration for which the media was presented via the wireless communication device.

30. The article of manufacture as defined in claim 25, wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to correlate the user-consumption of the media with data transmission quality.