Method and apparatus for remote reporting of impression data using log files

1 . A non-volatile storage medium having instruction data stored therein, the data for, when executed resulting in:

generating a log file, the log file comprising:

a public portion indicative of an identity of the log file; and,

a private portion for storing data associated with an advertisement provided to a user during execution of the instructions by the processor,

identifying a data connection to an external server, the instructions for establishing a threshold and upon overcoming the threshold, providing a copy of the log file to the external server; and,

impressing advertisements upon a gamer.

2 . A non-volatile memory of a computing device according to claim 1 , wherein the program data corresponds to a video game program.

3 . A non-volatile memory of a computing device according to claim 2 , comprising instructions for receiving an advertisement from an external advertisement server via the network connection.

4 . A non-volatile memory of a computing device according to claim 2 , comprising instructions for:

determining that an advertisement has been provided to a user;

reading a log file from the non-volatile memory;

updating log file in a manner indicative of the providing of the advertisement to the user; and,

saving the log file to the non-volatile memory.

5 . A non-volatile memory of a computing device according to claim 4 , wherein the computing device is a game console.

6 . A non-volatile memory of a computing device according to claim 4 , wherein the computing device is a personal computer.

7 . A non-volatile memory of a computing device according to claim 1 , wherein the private portion is for storing data corresponding to quality of the advertisement.

8 . A non-volatile memory of a computing device according to claim 7 , wherein the data corresponding to quality of the advertisement comprises data indicative of a duration.

9 . A non-volatile memory of a computing device according to claim 7 , wherein the data corresponding to quality of the advertisement comprises data associated with a relative size of an advertisement image.

10 . A non-volatile memory of a computing device according to claim 8 , wherein the data corresponding to quality of the advertisement comprises data associated with a relative size of an advertisement image.

11 . A non-volatile memory of a computing device according to claim 8 , wherein the program data corresponding to instructions for being executed by a processor comprises instructions for generating very large numbers of security keys.

12 . A method of recording data associated with a presentation of an advertisement on a computing device, comprising:

providing media to user of the computing device, the media comprising an advertisement;

generating a public portion of a log file in a memory of the computing device;

generating a private portion of the log file, the private portion comprising data associated with the advertisement;

storing the log file in a memory of the computing device;

determining a threshold;

upon overcoming the threshold, determining a presence of a data connection to an external server and providing a copy of the log file to the external server.

13 . A method of recording data associated with a presentation of an advertisement on a computing device according to claim 12 , wherein providing media to user comprises running video game software.

14 . A method of recording data associated with a presentation of an advertisement on a computing device according to claim 13 , comprising:

upon providing the copy of the log file to the external server erasing the log file from the memory of the computing device.

15 . A method of recording data associated with a presentation of an advertisement on a computing device according to claim 13 , wherein the memory of the computing device is a non-volatile memory.

16 . A method of recording data associated with a presentation of an advertisement on a computing device according to claim 15 , wherein the computing device is a game console.

17 . A method of recording data associated with a presentation of an advertisement on a computing device according to claim 15 , wherein the computing device is a personal computer.

18 . A method of recording data associated with a presentation of an advertisement on a computing device according to claim 13 , wherein generating the private portion of the log file comprises encrypting data associated with the advertisement and storing the log file comprises storing the encrypted data.

19 . A method of recording data associated with a presentation of an advertisement on a computing device according to claim 18 , wherein the data associated with the advertisement comprises impression quality data.

20 . A method of recording data associated with a presentation of an advertisement on a computing device according to claim 19 , wherein the impression quality data comprises data associated with a duration of the advertisement.

21 . A method of recording data associated with a presentation of an advertisement on a computing device according to claim 20 , wherein the private portion of the log file is encrypted using write once encryption.

22 . A method of recording data associated with a presentation of an advertisement on a computing device, comprising:

providing media to user of the computing device, the media comprising an advertisement;

storing data within a public portion of a log file in a memory of the computing device;

storing data within a private portion of the log file, the private portion comprising data associated with the advertisement;

storing the log file in a memory of the computing device;

determining a threshold;

upon overcoming the threshold, determining a presence of a data connection to an external server and providing a copy of the log file to the external server.

23 . A method of recording data associated with a presentation of an advertisement on a computing device according to claim 18 , comprising:

providing a second advertisement;

determining if a log file corresponding to the second advertisement is stored in the memory; and,

upon determining that suitable log file is stored in the memory:

loading the log file;

updating the private portion of the log file thereby generating a new version of the log file; and,

saving the new version of the log file to the memory.

24 . A method of recording data associated with a presentation of an advertisement on a computing device according to claim 23 , comprising:

upon storing the updated log file, incrementing a counter associated with the threshold and wherein overcoming the threshold corresponds to the counter exceeding a predetermined value.

25 . A method of recording data associated with a presentation of an advertisement on a computing device according to claim 18 , comprising:

saving the log file to a memory of the external server; and,

decrypting the private portion of the log file.

26 . A method of recording data associated with a presentation of an advertisement on a computing device according to claim 25 , comprising: recording data associated with an identifier of the private portion of the log file.

27 . A method of recording data associated with a presentation of an advertisement on, a computing device according to claim 26 , comprising:

upon decrypting the private portion of the log file, determining an identifier of the private portion;

verifying that the identifier for the private portion not consistent with any of a set of previously recorded identifiers stored in a memory accessible by the external server; and,

upon verifying that the identifier of the is consistent with a previously recorded identifier, erasing the log file from the memory of the external server.