Granted Patent B2

US 9,621,446 · App. 13/799,874 · Granted Apr 11, 2017

Abstract

Claims (70)

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

accessing, by a reporting server, site-centric usage data representing resource accesses on a network by client devices in a plurality of households, wherein the site-centric usage data results from beacon instructions executed by content-presenting applications on the client devices from which the resource accesses originate, wherein the beacon instructions are configured to cause an executing client device to send a message to a collection server, and wherein the content-presenting applications on the client devices that execute the beacon instructions are otherwise unaffiliated with the collection server;

based on the accessed site-centric usage data, determining, by the reporting server, candidate households that the site-centric usage data indicates are associated with resource accesses from one or more persistent IP addresses, wherein an IP address is a persistent IP address when the IP address has been assigned to and associated with resources accesses from only one of the households in the set of households for at least a threshold period of time;

based on the accessed site-centric usage data, determining, by the reporting server, a set of the candidate households that the site-centric usage data indicates are at least associated with a first specified number of a first type of client device and a second specified number of a second type of client device;

extracting, by the reporting server, a subset of the site-centric usage data, the subset corresponding to resource accesses by client devices associated with the set of candidate households; and

based on the extracted subset of the site-centric usage data, determining, by the reporting server, a measure of overlap that estimates an amount of users that have accessed the same resource using a first type of client device and a second type of client device.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the site-centric usage data indicates that the set of households is associated with exactly one client device of a first client device type and exactly one client device of a second client device type.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 wherein the first client device type is a personal computer type and the second client device type is a mobile device type.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein:

determining, based on the accessed site-centric usage data, the set of the candidate households that the usage data indicates are at least associated with a first specified number of a first type of client device and a second specified number of a second type of client device comprises:

determining a base set of beacon cookies that correspond to resource accesses by devices of a particular type;

determining a base set of usage data comprising data indicating resource accesses associated with the determined base set of beacon cookies; and

determining, based on the base set of usage data, a set of reference beacon cookies that are persistent for at least a majority of a first time period and are associated with resource accesses from a single network address during the first time period.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein determining the base set of beacon cookies comprises determining a base set of beacon cookies for which each of the beacon cookies in the set is associated with one or more resource accesses by a personal computer located in a particular geographic region within the defined period of time.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein determining the set of the candidate households comprises:

determining a set of reference network addresses by selecting one or more network addresses associated with the set of reference beacon cookies; and

determining a set of candidate network addresses by selecting, from the reference network addresses, network addresses for which all associated cookies are persistent during a majority of the first time period.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein determining, based on the accessed site-centric usage data, the set of the candidate households that the site-centric usage data indicates are at least associated with a first specified number of a first type of client device and a second specified number of a second type of client device comprises selecting network addresses, from among the set of candidate network addresses, that the site-centric usage data indicates are associated with exactly one personal computer and exactly one mobile device during the first time period.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein determining the set of the candidate households comprises:

determining, for each of the candidate network addresses, a number of client devices of a first type that are associated with the candidate network address; and

determining, for each of the candidate network addresses, a number of client devices of a second type that are associated with the candidate network address.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the first type is personal computers and determining the number of client devices of the first type that are associated with the candidate network address comprises:

determining a portion of the site-centric usage data that represents resource accesses associated with the candidate network address;

determining a number of operating systems for devices of the first type that are indicated by the portion of the site-centric usage data;

determining, for each of one or more user agent types for devices of the first type, a number of different cookies associated with the user agent type in the determined portion of the site-centric usage data; and

estimating a number of personal computers associated with the candidate network address based on the number of operating systems and the numbers of different cookies associated with the respective one or more user agent types.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the first type is mobile devices and determining the number of client devices of the first type that are associated with the candidate network address comprises:

determining a portion of the site-centric usage data that represents resource accesses associated with the candidate network address;

determining a number of user agents for devices of the first type that are indicated by the portion of the site-centric usage data;

determining, for each of one or more mobile application publishers, a number of different identifier values associated with the mobile application publisher in the portion of the site-centric usage data; and

estimating a number of mobile devices associated with the network address based on the number of user agents and the numbers of different identifier values associated with the respective mobile application publishers.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein extracting the subset of the site-centric usage data comprises, for each of one or more candidate households in the set of candidate households:

extracting, from the site-centric usage data, in-home data for the candidate household indicating resource accesses associated with a home network address corresponding to the household;

determining a set of household cookies that are associated with the in-home data; and

extracting, from the site-centric usage data, out-of-home data for the candidate household indicating resource accesses that are (i) associated with one of the household cookies and (ii) associated with a network address different from the home network address.

12. A non-transitory 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, by a reporting server, site-centric usage data representing resource accesses on a network by client devices in a plurality of households, wherein the site-centric usage data results from beacon instructions executed by content-presenting applications on the client devices from which the resource accesses originate, wherein the beacon instructions are configured to cause an executing client device to send a message to a collection server, and wherein the content-presenting applications on the client devices that execute the beacon instructions are otherwise unaffiliated with the collection server;

based on the accessed site-centric usage data, determining, by the reporting server, candidate households that the site-centric usage data indicates are associated with resource accesses from one or more persistent IP addresses, wherein an IP address is a persistent IP address when the IP address has been assigned to and associated with resources accesses from only one of the households in the set of households for at least a threshold period of time;

based on the accessed site-centric usage data, determining, by the reporting server, a set of the candidate households that the site-centric usage data indicates are at least associated with a first specified number of a first type of client device and a second specified number of a second type of client device;

extracting, by the reporting server, a subset of the site-centric usage data, the subset corresponding to resource accesses by client devices associated with the set of candidate households; and

based on the extracted subset of the site-centric usage data, determining, by the reporting server, a measure of overlap that estimates an amount of users that have accessed the same resource using a first type of client device and a second type of client device.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 wherein the site-centric usage data indicates that the set of households is associated with exactly one client device of a first client device type and exactly one client device of a second client device type.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein the first client device type is a personal computer type and the second client device type is a mobile device type.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein:

determining, based on the accessed site-centric usage data, the set of the candidate households that the usage data indicates are at least associated with a first specified number of a first type of client device and a second specified number of a second type of client device comprises:

determining a base set of beacon cookies that correspond to resource accesses by devices of a particular type;

determining a base set of usage data comprising data indicating resource accesses associated with the determined base set of beacon cookies; and

determining, based on the base set of usage data, a set of reference beacon cookies that are persistent for at least a majority of a first time period and are associated with resource accesses from a single network address during the first time period.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein determining the base set of beacon cookies comprises determining a base set of beacon cookies for which each of the beacon cookies in the set is associated with one or more resource accesses by a personal computer located in a particular geographic region within the defined period of time.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein determining the set of the candidate households comprises:

determining a set of reference network addresses by selecting one or more network addresses associated with the set of reference beacon cookies; and

determining a set of candidate network addresses by selecting, from the reference network addresses, network addresses for which all associated cookies are persistent during a majority of the first time period.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein determining, based on the accessed site-centric usage data, the set of the candidate households that the site-centric usage data indicates are at least associated with a first specified number of a first type of client device and a second specified number of a second type of client device comprises selecting network addresses, from among the set of candidate network addresses, that the site-centric usage data indicates are associated with exactly one personal computer and exactly one mobile device during the first time period.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein determining the set of the candidate households comprises:

determining, for each of the candidate network addresses, a number of client devices of a first type that are associated with the candidate network address; and

determining, for each of the candidate network addresses, a number of client devices of a second type that are associated with the candidate network address.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the first type is personal computers and determining the number of client devices of the first type that are associated with the candidate network address comprises:

determining a portion of the site-centric usage data that represents resource accesses associated with the candidate network address;

determining a number of operating systems for devices of the first type that are indicated by the portion of the site-centric usage data;

determining, for each of one or more user agent types for devices of the first type, a number of different cookies associated with the user agent type in the determined portion of the site-centric usage data; and

estimating a number of personal computers associated with the candidate network address based on the number of operating systems and the numbers of different cookies associated with the respective one or more user agent types.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the first type is mobile devices and determining the number of client devices of the first type that are associated with the candidate network address comprises:

determining a portion of the site-centric usage data that represents resource accesses associated with the candidate network address;

determining a number of user agents for devices of the first type that are indicated by the portion of the site-centric usage data;

determining, for each of one or more mobile application publishers, a number of different identifier values associated with the mobile application publisher in the portion of the site-centric usage data; and

estimating a number of mobile devices associated with the network address based on the number of user agents and the numbers of different identifier values associated with the respective mobile application publishers.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein extracting the subset of the site-centric usage data comprises, for each of one or more candidate households in the set of candidate households:

extracting, from the site-centric usage data, in-home data for the candidate household indicating resource accesses associated with a home network address corresponding to the household;

determining a set of household cookies that are associated with the in-home data; and

extracting, from the site-centric usage data, out-of-home data for the candidate household indicating resource accesses that are (i) associated with one of the household cookies and (ii) associated with a network address different from the home network address.

Assignments (10)