Methods and apparatus for secondary content management and fraud prevention

1. A method of mitigating advertising viewing fraud during delivery of Internet Protocol (IP) packetized media content and advertising content to an IP-enabled client device of a subscriber within a managed content delivery network, the method comprising:

authenticating at least one of the subscriber and the IP-enabled client device to access content via the managed content delivery network;

receiving a first communication from the IP-enabled client device for delivery of the IP packetized media content;

causing generation of a unique session identifier relating to the first communication;

transmitting a manifest file containing the unique session identifier, a first information relating to a plurality of media elements, and a second information relating to at least one advertising element, to the IP-enabled client device;

receiving from the IP-enabled client device another communication, the another communication comprising at least a portion of the second information and the unique session identifier;

validating the another communication based at least on the unique session identifier contained therein;

causing counting of the validated another communication as a valid advertising request; and

causing provision of the at least one advertising element to the IP-enabled client device via an IP transport; and

wherein the validating is configured to reject a false communication not having the unique session identifier from being counted.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a communication containing the unique session identifier and at least a portion of the first information; and

causing delivery of at least a portion of the plurality of media elements to the IP-enabled client device via an IP transport.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein:

the receiving the communication containing the unique session identifier and the at least a portion of the first information, and the causing delivery of the at least the portion of the plurality of media elements to the IP-enabled client device via an IP transport, each occurs before the receiving from the IP-enabled client device of the another communication; and

the receiving the communication containing the unique session identifier and the at least a portion of the first information is a condition precedent for the validating of the another communication.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting the manifest file further comprises transmitting data relating to an indicator of one or more parameters related to consumption of the at least one advertising element.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the transmitting the data relating to the indicator comprises transmitting data relating to a percentage of a secondary content associated with the at least one advertising element consumed by the IP-enabled client device.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising causing insertion of the at least one advertising element at an advertisement insertion break within the plurality of media elements.

7. Network apparatus of a content distribution network, the network apparatus configured for mitigating advertising viewing fraud by validating an advertising content request, the advertising content request associated with delivery of packetized media content via an IP (Internet Protocol) transport, the network apparatus comprising:

processing apparatus;

network interface apparatus in data communication with the processing apparatus and configured to conduct data communications with a plurality of client devices via at least the content distribution network; and

storage apparatus in data communication with the processing apparatus and comprising a plurality of computerized instructions executable on the processing apparatus, the plurality of computerized instructions configured to, when executed:

cause generation of a shared data element for provision to a particular client device;

transmit at least the shared data element to the particular client device via the network interface apparatus and the content distribution network;

receive a request for provision of advertising content from the particular client device, the request including the shared data element;

extract the shared data element present within the request;

utilize at least a portion of the shared data element to validate the request; and

using the validation with respect to at least one fraudulent or unconsumed request to prevent the network apparatus from counting the at least one fraudulent or unconsumed request.

8. The network apparatus of claim 7 , wherein:

the shared data element comprises an identifier which is globally unique at least within the content distribution network for at least a prescribed period of time;

the transmission of the shared data element to the particular client device comprises a transmission of a host data structure of which the shared data element is part, the host data structure further comprising data indicating one or more network locations where the packetized media content may be obtained by the particular client device; and

the request specifies a universal resource locator (URL) present within the host data structure from which at least a portion of the advertising content can be obtained.

9. The network apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the host data structure comprises a manifest file comprising (i) one or more URLs corresponding to the one or more network locations where the packetized media content may be obtained; and (ii) the URL present within the host data structure from which the at least a portion of the advertising content can be obtained.

10. The network apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of computerized instructions are further configured to, when executed, verify that at least a portion of the packetized media content has been previously requested by the particular client device as part of a common session.

11. The network apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the common session is identified within the shared data element.

12. The network apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the causation of the generation of the shared data element for the provision to the particular client device is pursuant to receipt by the network apparatus of a prior request issued by the particular client device to obtain a manifest file relating to the packetized media content.

13. A method of delivering Internet Protocol (IP) packetized advertising content to an IP-enabled client device of a user within a content distribution network, the method comprising:

obtaining a unique identifier;

transmitting a data structure comprising at least the unique identifier, and first information relating to a plurality of advertising content elements, to the IP-enabled client device, the plurality of advertising content elements each comprising a portion of a complete advertisement;

receiving from the IP-enabled client device a communication, the communication comprising at least: (i) a first portion of the first information, the first portion of the first information relating to a first one of said plurality of advertising content elements, and (ii) the unique identifier or a derivative thereof;

validating the communication based at least on the unique identifier or the derivative thereof;

causing provision of the first one of said plurality of advertising content elements to the IP-enabled client device via an IP transport;

receiving from the IP-enabled client device a subsequent communication, the subsequent communication comprising: (i) a second portion of the first information, the second portion of the first information relating to a second one of said plurality of advertising content elements, (ii) the unique identifier or the derivative thereof, and (iii) consumption-related data; and

wherein the consumption-related data is indicative of at least an amount of a then-current consumption of the complete advertisement by the IP-enabled client device.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the transmitting the data structure comprises transmitting a selection of universal resource locators (URLs) relating to the plurality of advertising content elements, the selection of URLs changed periodically and configured to be used to indicate authenticity of the communication.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the validating the communication comprises validating the selection of URLs and an order of the selection of URLs.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the transmitting the data structure comprises embedding the unique identifier within a universal resource locator (URL) relating to the plurality of advertising content elements.

17. The method of claim 13 , further comprising adding the unique identifier to a list, the list configured to maintain all unique identifiers.

18. A method of delivering Internet Protocol (IP) packetized media content and advertising content to an IP-enabled client device of a user within a managed content delivery network, the method comprising:

receiving a communication from the IP-enabled client device for delivery of the IP packetized media content;

causing generation of a unique session identifier relating to the communication;

transmitting a manifest file comprising the unique session identifier, a first information relating to a plurality of advertising content elements, and a second information relating to the IP packetized media content, to the IP-enabled client device, the plurality of advertising content elements collectively comprising a complete advertisement;

receiving from the IP-enabled client device an another communication, the another communication comprising at least: (i) a first portion of the first information, the first portion of the first information relating to a first one of said plurality of advertising content elements, and (ii) the unique session identifier;

validating the another communication based at least on the unique session identifier contained therein;

causing provision of the first one of said plurality of advertising content elements to the IP-enabled client device via an IP transport;

receiving from the IP-enabled client device a subsequent communication, the subsequent communication comprising: (i) a second portion of the first information, the second portion of the first information relating to a second one of said plurality of advertising content elements, (ii) the unique session identifier, and (iii) a consumption-related value; and

wherein the consumption-related value is indicative of at least one of a quality or an amount of a then-current consumption of the complete advertisement by the IP-enabled client device.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the receiving the subsequent communication comprises receiving a value related to an ID3 tag embedded in the plurality of advertising content elements.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the receiving the another communication further comprises receiving a consumption-related value.