Methods, systems and apparatus to generate market segmentation data with anonymous location data
View Patent ↗Methods and apparatus are disclosed to generate market segmentation data with anonymous location data. A disclosed example method involves receiving geographic location information associated with a mobile phone user, associating the geographic location information with an identifier unrelated to personal information associated with the mobile phone user, identifying a home location associated with the geographic location information, and associating segmentation information with the identifier based on the home location and without referencing personal information of the mobile phone user.
1. A method to generate segmentation information, comprising:
identifying, with a processor, a first set of geographic locations associated with a mobile phone user at a first time of day;
identifying a second set of geographic locations associated with a second time of day;
associating the first and second sets of geographic locations with an identifier unrelated to personal information associated with the mobile phone user;
associating, with the processor, a home location with the first set of geographic locations when the first set includes more than a threshold number of locations occurring at the first time of day; and
associating segmentation information with the identifier based on the home location and without referencing personal information of the mobile phone user.
2. A method as defined in claim 1 , further comprising associating a work location with the second set of geographic locations when the second set includes more than a second threshold number of locations occurring at the second time of day.
3. A method as defined in claim 1 , further comprising associating a third set of geographic locations with travel when the locations of the third set occur between the locations in the first and second sets of geographic locations.
4. A method as defined in claim 3 , wherein the third locations recur on a daily basis.
5. A method as defined in claim 3 , wherein the third locations are associated with an indication of game application usage by the mobile phone user.
6. A method as defined in claim 1 , further comprising identifying a third set of geographic locations in response to detecting an indication of mobile phone application use.
7. A method as defined in claim 6 , wherein the third set of geographic locations is associated with commuter travel when the indication of mobile phone application use comprises a game application.
8. A method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the identifier comprises a hash of an international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number.
9. A method as defined in claim 1 , further comprising presenting marketing content to the mobile phone user based on the segmentation information associated with the first set of geographic locations.
10. A method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the segmentation information comprises a segment defined by a potential rating index for zip markets (PRIZM).
11. A method as defined in claim 10 , wherein the PRIZM segment is associated with at least one of a block group or a zip code.
12. An apparatus to generate segmentation information, comprising:
a global positioning satellite (GPS) data analyzer to identify a first set of geographic locations of a mobile phone at a first time of day, and to identify a second set of geographic locations of the mobile phone at a second time of day;
a privacy manager to associate the first and second sets of geographic locations with an identifier unrelated to personal information associated with a user of the mobile phone, the GPS data analyzer to identify a home location associated with the first set of geographic locations when the first set includes more than a first threshold number of locations that occur at the first time of day; and
a segmentation manager to associate segmentation information with the identifier based on the home location without referencing personal information of the mobile phone user, wherein at least one of the GPS data analyzer, the privacy manager or the segmentation manager comprise a logic circuit.
13. An apparatus as defined in claim 12 , wherein the GPS data analyzer is to identify a work location associated with the second set of geographic location information when the second set includes more than a second threshold number of locations that occur at the second time of day.
14. An apparatus as defined in claim 13 , wherein the GPS data analyzer is to identify a third set of geographic locations associated with travel, the locations of the third set occurring between the home location and the work location.
15. An apparatus as defined in claim 14 , wherein the GPS data analyzer is to determine whether the third locations recur on a daily basis.
16. An apparatus as defined in claim 14 , wherein the segmentation manager is to detect whether the locations of the third set are associated with an indication of game application usage by the mobile phone user.
17. An apparatus as defined in claim 12 , wherein the segmentation manager is to identify a third set of geographic locations in response to detecting an indication of mobile phone application use.
18. An apparatus as defined in claim 17 , wherein the third set of geographic locations is to be associated with commuter travel when the indication of mobile phone application use comprises a game application.
19. An apparatus as defined in claim 12 , wherein the privacy manager is to compute a hash of an international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number.
20. A tangible machine readable storage medium comprising instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to, at least:
identify a first set of geographic locations associated with a mobile phone user at a first time of day;
identify a second set of geographic locations associated with a second time of day;
associate the first and second sets of geographic locations with an identifier unrelated to personal information associated with the mobile phone user;
associate a home location with the first set of geographic locations when the first set includes more than a first threshold number of locations occurring at the first time of day; and
associate segmentation information with the identifier based on the home location and without referencing personal information of the mobile phone user.
21. A machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 20 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to associate a work location with the second set of geographic locations when the second set includes more than a threshold number of locations occurring at the second time of day.
22. A machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 20 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to associate a third set of geographic locations with travel when the locations of a third set occur between the locations in first and second sets of geographic locations.
23. A machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 22 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to identify that the third locations recur on a daily basis.
24. A machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 20 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to identify a third set of geographic locations in response to detecting an indication of mobile phone application use.
25. A machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 24 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to associate the third set of geographic locations with commuter travel when the indication of mobile phone application use comprises a game application.
26. A machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 20 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to compute a hash of an international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number to create the identifier.