Mobile device activity detection

1. A system, comprising:

one or more servers; and

a memory storage apparatus in data communication with the one or more servers, the memory storage apparatus storing instructions executable by the one or more servers and that upon such execution cause the one or more servers to perform operations comprising:

receiving display data specifying display states of web pages in viewports of client devices, each web page including a content item for display;

identifying display instances from the display data, a display instance being a display of at least a portion of the content item in one of the viewports;

identifying selection instances of the content item from the display data, a selection instance being a selection of the content item;

determining whether each selection of the content item occurred at a client device during a display of at least a portion of the content item in the viewport of the client device based on the display instances and the selection instances;

defining a first subset of the selections of the content item as legitimate selections in response to determining that each selection in the first subset occurred at a respective first client device during a display of at least a portion of the content item in the viewport of the respective first client device; and

defining a second subset of the selections of the content item as illegitimate selections in response to determining that each selection in the second subset occurred at a respective second client device when the content item was not displayed in the viewport of the respective second client device; and

preventing a performance measure for the content item from being skewed by the illegitimate selections by determining the performance measure for the content item (i) based on the legitimate selections and (ii) independent of the illegitimate selections.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein identifying display instances from the display data comprises determining that the display of the at least a portion of the content item satisfies one or more display thresholds.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein determining that the display of the at least a portion of the content item satisfies one or more display thresholds comprises:

determining a proportional measurement from the display data, the proportional measurement being a measure of an area of a first portion of the content item displayed in the viewport at a particular time relative to an area of a second portion of the content item that is not displayed in the viewport at the particular time;

determining a zoom level measurement from the display data, the zoom level measurement being a measure of a zoom level of the viewport; and

identifying a display instance for the content item based on the zoom level measurement, a zoom level threshold for the zoom level measurement, the proportional measurement and a proportional measurement threshold for the proportional measurement.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the operations comprise:

determining the proportional measurement threshold based at least in part on the zoom level measurement, the proportional measurement threshold varying based on changes to the zoom level measurement; and

determining the zoom level threshold based at least in part on the proportional measurement, the zoom level threshold varying based on changes to the proportional measurement.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein determining whether each selection of the content item occurred at the client device during a display of at least a portion of the content item in the viewport of the client device based on the display instances and the selection instances comprises determining whether time data indicates that a given selection instance occurred at a time that overlaps with a time at which the content item was displayed in the viewport.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations comprise charging an advertiser associated with the content item for a given selection of the content item only if the given selection is defined as a legitimate selection.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations comprise precluding an advertiser associated with the content item from being charged for a given selection of the content item if the given selection is defined as an illegitimate selection.

8. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, at a data processing apparatus, display data specifying display states of web pages in viewports of client devices, each web page including a content item for display;

identifying, by the data processing apparatus, display instances from the display data, a display instance being a display of at least a portion of the content item in one of the viewports;

identifying, by the data processing apparatus, selection instances of the content item from the display data, a selection instance being a selection of the content item;

determining, by the data processing apparatus, whether each selection of the content item occurred at a client device during a display of at least a portion of the content item in the viewport of the client device based on the display instances and the selection instances;

defining a first subset of the selections of the content item as legitimate selections in response to determining that each selection in the first subset occurred at a respective first client device during a display of at least a portion of the content item in the viewport of the respective first client device; and

defining a second subset of the selections of the content item as illegitimate selections in response to determining that each selection in the second subset occurred at a respective second client device when the content item was not displayed in the viewport of the respective second client device; and

preventing a performance measure for the content item from being skewed by the illegitimate selections by determining the performance measure for the content item (i) based on the legitimate selections and (ii) independent of the illegitimate selections.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein identifying display instances from the display data comprises determining that the display of the at least a portion of the content item satisfies one or more display thresholds.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein determining that the display of the at least a portion of the content item satisfies one or more display thresholds comprises:

determining, by the data processing apparatus, a proportional measurement from the display data, the proportional measurement being a measure of an area of a first portion of the content item displayed in the viewport at a particular time relative to an area of a second portion of the content item that is not displayed in the viewport at the particular time;

determining, by the data processing apparatus, a zoom level measurement from the display data, the zoom level measurement being a measure of a zoom level of the viewport; and

identifying, by the data processing apparatus, a display instance for the content item based on the zoom level measurement, a zoom level threshold for the zoom level measurement, the proportional measurement and a proportional measurement threshold for the proportional measurement.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

determining the proportional measurement threshold based at least in part on the zoom level measurement, the proportional measurement threshold varying based on changes to the zoom level measurement; and

determining the zoom level threshold based at least in part on the proportional measurement, the zoom level threshold varying based on changes to the proportional measurement.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein determining, by the data processing apparatus, whether each selection of the content item occurred at the client device during a display of at least a portion of the content item in the viewport of the client device based on the display instances and the selection instances comprises determining whether time data indicates that a given selection instance occurred at a time that overlaps with a time at which the content item was displayed in the viewport.

13. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

charging an advertiser associated with the content item for a given selection of the content item only if the given selection is defined as a legitimate selection.

14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising precluding an advertiser associated with the content item from being charged for a given selection of the content item if the given selection is defined as an illegitimate selection.

15. A non-transitory computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by a data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving display data specifying display states of web pages in viewports of client devices, each web page including a content item for display;

identifying display instances from the display data, a display instance being a display of at least a portion of the content item in one of the viewports;

identifying selection instances of the content item from the display data, a selection instance being a selection of the content item;

determining whether each selection of the content item occurred at a client device during a display of at least a portion of the content item in the viewport of the client device based on the display instances and the selection instances;

defining a first subset of the selections of the content item as legitimate selections in response to determining that each selection in the first subset occurred at a respective first client device during a display of at least a portion of the content item in the viewport of the respective first client device; and

defining a second subset of the selections of the content item as illegitimate selections in response to determining that each selection in the second subset occurred at a respective second client device when the content item was not displayed in the viewport of the respective second client device; and

preventing a performance measure for the content item from being skewed by the illegitimate selections by determining the performance measure for the content item (i) based on the legitimate selections and (ii) independent of the illegitimate selections.

16. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 15 , wherein identifying display instances from the display data comprises determining that the display of the at least a portion of the content item satisfies one or more display thresholds.

17. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 16 , wherein determining that the display of the at least a portion of the content item satisfies one or more display thresholds comprises:

determining a proportional measurement from the display data, the proportional measurement being a measure of an area of a first portion of the content item displayed in the viewport at a particular time relative to an area of a second portion of the content item that is not displayed in the viewport at the particular time;

determining a zoom level measurement from the display data, the zoom level measurement being a measure of a zoom level of the viewport; and

identifying a display instance for the content item based on the zoom level measurement, a zoom level threshold for the zoom level measurement, the proportional measurement and a proportional measurement threshold for the proportional measurement.

18. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the operations comprise:

determining the proportional measurement threshold based at least in part on the zoom level measurement, the proportional measurement threshold varying based on changes to the zoom level measurement; and

determining the zoom level threshold based at least in part on the proportional measurement, the zoom level threshold varying based on changes to the proportional measurement.

19. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 15 , wherein determining whether each selection of the content item occurred at the client device during a display of at least a portion of the content item in the viewport of the client device based on the display instances and the selection instances comprises determining whether time data indicates that a given selection instance occurred at a time that overlaps with a time at which the content item was displayed in the viewport.

20. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the operations comprise charging an advertiser associated with the content item for a given selection of the content item only if the given selection is defined as a legitimate selection.