Granted Patent B2

US 9,430,746 · App. 13/481,474 · Granted Aug 30, 2016

Abstract

Claims (62)

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

accessing usage data representing the access of a set of resources on a network, the usage data based at least in part on information received from client systems sent as a result of beacon instructions included with the set of resources;

determining, based on the accessed usage data, a first set of usage data representing access by client systems classified as a first type;

determining a count of unique visitors accessing the network resources from the first type of client systems based on the first set of usage data;

determining, based on the accessed usage data, a second set of usage data representing access by client systems classified as a second type;

determining a count of unique visitors accessing the network resources from the second type of client systems based on the second set of usage data, wherein determining the count of unique visitors accessing the network resources from the second type of client systems comprises:

determining, based on the second set of usage data, a first subset of data representing information about accesses to the resources by the client systems classified as the second type associated with persistent beacon identifiers, wherein the persistent beacon identifiers are associated usage data collected over a duration that exceeds a persistence threshold,

determining, based on the second set of usage data, a second subset of data representing information about accesses to the resources by the client systems classified as the second type with non-persistent beacon identifiers, wherein the non-persistent beacon identifiers are associated usage data collected over a duration that does not exceed a persistence threshold,

determining one or more adjustment factors based on the first subset of data, and

determining a count of unique visitors accessing the set of resources from the client systems classified as the second type based, at least in part, on a count of accesses by the client systems classified as the second type and associated with persistent identifiers, a count of accesses by the client systems classified as the second type and associated with non-persistent beacon identifiers, and the determined adjustment factors; and

determining a total count of unique visitors accessing the network resources from the first and second types of client systems based on data representing a usage overlap of devices of the first type with devices of the second type.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first type of client system is a non-mobile, non-shared use personal computing device type.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the second type of client system is a mobile computing device type.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

determining, based on the accessed usage data, a third set of usage data representing access by client systems classified as a third type; and

determining a count of unique visitors accessing the network resources from the third type of client systems based on the third set of usage data;

wherein determining the total count of unique visitors accessing the network resources comprises determining a total count of unique visitors accessing the network resources from the first, second, and third types of client systems based on data representing the usage overlap of devices of the first, second, and third types.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the third type of client system is a shared use computing device type.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the second type of client system is a shared use computing device type.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the first type of client system is a shared use computing device type, and

determining a count of unique visitors accessing the network resources from the first type of client systems comprises:

determining, based on the second set of usage data, a subset of shared use data representing access of the network resources by shared use devices sharing a common location;

estimating a number of shared use devices and a number of persons at the common location based on the subset of shared use data; and

determining a count of unique visitors to the network resources from shared use devices at the common location based on the estimated number of shared use devices and number of persons at the common location.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

accessing sample data representing the access of the network resources, the sample data including information about an overlap in use of client systems classified as the first type and client systems classified as the second type; and

generating an overlap factor based on the accessed sample data, the overlap factor representing the overlap in use of client systems classified as the first type and client systems classified as the second type;

wherein determining the total count comprises determining the total count of unique visitors accessing the network resources based on the generated overlap factor.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the sample data represents survey data for users accessing one or more of the network resources, the survey data classifying each user's current client system used to access one or more of the network resources and further classifying one or more other client systems regularly used by the user.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the sample data is panel data.

11. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processing devices, cause the one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:

accessing usage data representing the access of a set of resources on a network, the usage data based at least in part on information received from client systems sent as a result of beacon instructions included with the set of resources;

determining, based on the accessed usage data, a first set of usage data representing access by client systems classified as a first type;

determining a count of unique visitors accessing the network resources from the first type of client systems based on the first set of usage data;

determining, based on the accessed usage data, a second set of usage data representing access by client systems classified as a second type;

determining a count of unique visitors accessing the network resources from the second type of client systems based on the second set of usage data, wherein determining the count of unique visitors accessing the network resources from the second type of client systems comprises:

determining, based on the second set of usage data, a first subset of data representing information about accesses to the resources by the client systems classified as the second type associated with persistent beacon identifiers, wherein the persistent beacon identifiers are associated usage data collected over a duration that exceeds a persistence threshold,

determining, based on the second set of usage data, a second subset of data representing information about accesses to the resources by the client systems classified as the second type with non-persistent beacon identifiers, wherein the non-persistent beacon identifiers are associated usage data collected over a duration that does not exceed a persistence threshold,

determining one or more adjustment factors based on the first subset of data, and

determining a count of unique visitors accessing the set of resources from the client systems classified as the second type based, at least in part, on a count of accesses by the client systems classified as the second type and associated with persistent identifiers, a count of accesses by the client systems classified as the second type and associated with non-persistent beacon identifiers, and the determined adjustment factors; and

determining a total count of unique visitors accessing the network resources from the first and second types of client systems based on data representing a usage overlap of devices of the first type with devices of the second type.

12. The medium of claim 11 , wherein the first type of client system is a non-mobile, non-shared use personal computing device type.

13. The medium of claim 12 , wherein the second type of client system is a mobile computing device type.

14. The medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions include instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processing devices to perform the following operations:

determining, based on the accessed usage data, a third set of usage data representing access by client systems classified as a third type; and

determining a count of unique visitors accessing the network resources from the third type of client systems based on the third set of usage data;

wherein determining the total count of unique visitors accessing the network resources comprises determining a total count of unique visitors accessing the network resources from the first, second, and third types of client systems based on data representing the usage overlap of devices of the first, second, and third types.

15. The medium of claim 14 , wherein the third type of client system is a shared use computing device type.

16. The medium of claim 12 , wherein the second type of client system is a shared use computing device type.

17. The medium of claim 11 , wherein:

the first type of client system is a shared use computing device type, and

to determine a count of unique visitors accessing the network resources from the first type of client systems, the instructions include instructions that cause the one or more processing devices to perform the following operations:

determining, based on the second set of usage data, a subset of shared use data representing access of the network resources by shared use devices sharing a common location;

estimating a number of shared use devices and a number of persons at the common location based on the subset of shared use data; and

determining a count of unique visitors to the network resources from shared use devices at the common location based on the estimated number of shared use devices and number of persons at the common location.

18. The medium of claim 11 , wherein the instructions include instructions that cause the one or more processing devices to perform the following operations:

accessing sample data representing the access of the network resources, the sample data including information about the overlap in use of client systems classified as the first type and client systems classified as the second type; and

generating an overlap factor based on the accessed sample data, the overlap factor representing the usage overlap of devices of the first type with devices of the second type;

wherein determining the total count comprises determining the total count of unique visitors accessing the network resources based on the generated overlap factor.

19. The medium of claim 18 , wherein the sample data represents survey data for users accessing one or more of the network resources, the survey data classifying each user's current client system used to access one or more of the network resources and further classifying one or more other client systems regularly used by the user.

20. The medium of claim 18 , wherein the sample data is panel data.

Assignments (10)