IP Library Granted Patent US 10,834,449
Granted Patent B2
US 10,834,449 · App. 15/821,507 · Granted Nov 10, 2020

Methods and apparatus to associate audience members with over-the-top device media impressions

Inventors: Steven J. Splaine (Tampa, FL); Harith Gandhi (Tampa, FL); Kevin K. Gaynor (Sunnyvale, CA); Gangadhar Jakkula (Tampa, FL); Narasimha Reddy Goli (Tampa, FL); Chris Nicotra (Holiday, FL); Kumar Rao (Fremont, CA)
Assignee: THE NIELSEN COMPANY (US), LLC
H04N21/25883G06F16/78H04N21/25841H04N21/44213G06Q30/0204G06Q30/0241G06Q30/0246H04N21/812
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,834,449
App. No.
15/821,507
Granted
Nov 10, 2020
Kind
B2
Abstract

Methods and apparatus to associate audience members with over-the-top device media impressions. An example audience measurement apparatus includes an impression monitoring system to monitor and log media impressions based on impression requests received via network communications from over the top devices. A linkage database system is to implement the impression monitoring system. A processor in circuit with the impression monitoring system is to: generate Internet protocol (IP) address-to-cookie mappings; associate household identifiers of households with ones of the IP address-to-cookie mappings; and associate ones of the household identifiers to the logged media impressions based on IP addresses associated with the media impressions and based on the household identifiers associated with the ones of the IP address-to-cookie mappings.

Claims (63)

1. An audience measurement apparatus comprising:

an impression monitoring system to monitor and log media impressions based on impression requests received via network communications from over-the-top devices;

a linkage database system to implement the impression monitoring system;

a processor in circuit with the impression monitoring system, the processor to:

access first cookie reporting messages received at an audience measurement entity (AME) based on beacon instructions executed at client devices associated with households through residential gateways associated with households, the first cookie reporting messages including AME cookies;

identify Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the residential gateways provided in the first cookie reporting messages;

associate ones of the AME cookies of the first cookie reporting messages with respective ones of the IP addresses identified in the first cookie reporting messages;

send second cookie reporting messages to a database proprietor (DP) via first redirect instructions provided to respective ones of the client devices;

access third cookie reporting messages received at the audience measurement entity based on second redirect responses provided to ones of the client devices by the database proprietor, the third cookie reporting messages including the IP addresses and DP cookies associated with household identifiers of the households, the household identifiers generated by the database proprietor, the database proprietor being separate from a media delivery service that provides media associated with the media impressions;

generate IP address-to-cookie mappings based on the IP address, the AME cookies, and the DP cookies;

associate the household identifiers of the households with ones of the IP address-to-cookie mappings; and

associate ones of the household identifiers to the logged media impressions based on IP addresses associated with the media impressions and based on the household identifiers associated with the ones of the IP address-to-cookie mappings.

2. The apparatus as defined by claim 1 , further including a harmonization system to associate the IP addresses corresponding to the households with at least one of the AME cookies or the DP cookies corresponding to media accesses from the households to generate the IP address-to-cookie mappings.

3. The apparatus as defined by claim 1 , wherein the database proprietor is in a first Internet domain separate from a second Internet domain of the audience measurement entity that generates the IP address-to-cookie mappings.

4. The apparatus as defined in claim 3 , wherein the client devices are different from the over-the-top devices.

5. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 , further including a demographic retriever to associate demographic information with the logged media impressions based on the household identifiers.

6. The apparatus as defined in claim 5 , further including accessing the demographic information from a database based on the household identifiers, the demographic information stored in the database in association with the household identifiers.

7. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein the processor is to:

identify a characteristic of a first IP address assigned to a first household without a database proprietor household identification;

identify second IP addresses of the IP address-to-cookie mappings, the second IP addresses identified based on having the same characteristic of the first IP address;

retrieve known household composition information corresponding to second households associated with the second IP addresses; and

estimate a household composition of the first household associated with the first IP address based on the known household composition information associated with the second IP addresses.

8. The apparatus as defined in claim 7 , wherein the processor is to assign the estimated household composition to each IP address that is within a same IP address range as the second IP addresses.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to at least:

access first cookie reporting messages received at an audience measurement entity (AME) based on beacon instructions executed at client devices associated with households through residential gateways associated with households, the first cookie reporting messages including AME cookies;

identify Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the residential gateways provided in the first cookie reporting messages;

associate ones of the AME cookies of the first cookie reporting messages with respective ones of the IP addresses identified in the first cookie reporting messages;

send second cookie reporting messages to a database proprietor (DP) via first redirect instructions provided to respective ones of the client devices;

access third cookie reporting messages received at the audience measurement entity based on second redirect responses provided to ones of the client devices by the database proprietor, the third cookie reporting messages including the IP addresses and DP cookies associated with household identifiers of the households, the household identifiers generated by the database proprietor, the database proprietor being separate from a media delivery service that provides media associated with the media impressions;

generate IP address-to-cookie mappings based on the IP address, the AME cookies, and the DP cookies;

associate the household identifiers of the households with ones of the IP address-to-cookie mappings; and

associate ones of the household identifiers to logged media impressions based on IP addresses associated with the media impressions and based on the household identifiers associated with the ones of the IP address-to-cookie mappings.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium as defined in claim 9 , wherein the instructions are further to cause the at least one processor to, associate the IP addresses corresponding to the households with at least one of the AME cookies or the DP cookies corresponding to media accesses from the households to generate the IP address-to-cookie mappings.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium as defined in claim 9 , wherein the database proprietor is in a first Internet domain separate from a second Internet domain of an audience measurement entity that generates the IP address-to-cookie mappings.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium as defined in claim 11 , wherein the client devices are different from over-the-top devices.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium as defined in claim 9 , wherein the instructions are further to cause the at least one processor to, associate demographic information with the logged media impressions based on the household identifiers.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium as defined in claim 13 , wherein the instructions are further to cause the at least one processor to, access the demographic information from a database based on the household identifiers, the demographic information stored in the database in association with the household identifiers.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium as defined in claim 9 , wherein the instructions are further to cause the at least one processor to,

identify a characteristic of a first IP address assigned to a first household without a database proprietor household identification;

identify second IP addresses of the IP address-to-cookie mappings, the second IP addresses identified based on having the same characteristic of the first IP address;

retrieve known household composition information corresponding to second households associated with the second IP addresses; and

estimate a household composition of the first household associated with the first IP address based on the known household composition information associated with the second IP addresses.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium as defined in claim 15 , wherein the instructions are further to cause the at least one processor to, assign the estimated household composition to each IP address that is within a same IP address range as the second IP addresses.

17. A method comprising:

accessing, by executing an instruction with a processor, first cookie reporting messages received at an audience measurement entity (AME) based on beacon instructions executed at client devices associated with households through residential gateways associated with households, the first cookie reporting messages including AME cookies;

identifying, by executing an instruction with the processor, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the residential gateways provided in the first cookie reporting messages;

associating, by executing an instruction with the processor, ones of the AME cookies of the first cookie reporting messages with respective ones of the IP addresses identified in the first cookie reporting messages;

sending, by executing an instruction with the processor, second cookie reporting messages to a database proprietor (DP) via first redirect instructions provided to respective ones of the client devices;

accessing, by executing an instruction with the processor, third cookie reporting messages received at the audience measurement entity based on second redirect responses provided to ones of the client devices by the database proprietor, the third cookie reporting messages including the IP addresses and DP cookies associated with household identifiers, the household identifiers generated by the database proprietor, the database proprietor being separate from a media delivery service that provides media associated with the media impressions;

generating, by executing an instruction with the processor, IP address-to-cookie mappings based on the IP address, the AME cookies, and the DP cookies;

associating, by executing an instruction with the processor, the household identifiers of the households with ones of the IP address-to-cookie mappings; and

associating, by executing an instruction with the processor, ones of the household identifiers to logged media impressions based on IP addresses associated with the media impressions and based on the household identifiers associated with the ones of the IP address-to-cookie mappings.

18. The method as defined by claim 17 , wherein generating the IP address-to-cookie mappings includes associating the IP addresses corresponding to the households with at least one of the AME cookies or the DP cookies corresponding to media accesses from the households.

19. The method as defined by claim 17 , wherein the database proprietor is in a first Internet domain separate from a second Internet domain of an audience measurement entity that generates the IP address-to-cookie mappings.

20. The method as defined in claim 19 , wherein the client devices are different from over-the-top devices.

21. The method as defined in claim 17 , further including associating demographic information with the logged media impressions based on the household identifiers.

22. The method as defined in claim 21 , further including accessing the demographic information from a database based on the household identifiers, the demographic information to be stored in the database in association with the household identifiers.

23. A method as defined in claim 17 , further including:

identifying, by executing an instruction with the processor, a characteristic of a first IP address assigned to a first household without a database proprietor household identification;

identifying, by executing an instruction with the processor, second IP addresses of the IP address-to-cookie mappings, the second IP addresses identified based on having the same characteristic of the first IP address;

retrieving, by executing an instruction with the processor, known household composition information corresponding to second households associated with the second IP addresses; and

estimating a household composition of the first household associated with the first IP address based on the known household composition information associated with the second IP addresses.

24. The method as defined in claim 23 , further including assigning the estimated household composition to each IP address that is within a same IP address range as the second IP addresses.

Assignments (9)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 20, 2025
From: SPLAINE, STEVEN J.; GANDHI, HARITH; GAYNOR, KEVIN K.; JAKKULA, GANGADHAR; GOLI, NARASIMHA REDDY; NICOTRA, CHRIS; RAO, KUMAR
To: THE NIELSEN COMPANY (US), LLC
Reel/Frame 072603/0128 →
RELEASE (REEL 054066 / FRAME 0064) Recorded May 11, 2023
From: CITIBANK, N.A.
To: A. C. NIELSEN COMPANY, LLC; EXELATE, INC.; GRACENOTE, INC.; GRACENOTE MEDIA SERVICES, LLC; THE NIELSEN COMPANY (US), LLC; NETRATINGS, LLC
Reel/Frame 063605/0001 →
RELEASE (REEL 053473 / FRAME 0001) Recorded May 11, 2023
From: CITIBANK, N.A.
To: A. C. NIELSEN COMPANY, LLC; EXELATE, INC.; GRACENOTE, INC.; GRACENOTE MEDIA SERVICES, LLC; THE NIELSEN COMPANY (US), LLC; NETRATINGS, LLC
Reel/Frame 063603/0001 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded May 8, 2023
From: GRACENOTE DIGITAL VENTURES, LLC; GRACENOTE MEDIA SERVICES, LLC; GRACENOTE, INC.; TNC (US) HOLDINGS, INC.; THE NIELSEN COMPANY (US), LLC
To: ARES CAPITAL CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 063574/0632 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Apr 28, 2023
From: GRACENOTE DIGITAL VENTURES, LLC; GRACENOTE MEDIA SERVICES, LLC; GRACENOTE, INC.; TNC (US) HOLDINGS, INC.; THE NIELSEN COMPANY (US), LLC
To: CITIBANK, N.A.
Reel/Frame 063561/0381 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Jan 31, 2023
From: GRACENOTE DIGITAL VENTURES, LLC; GRACENOTE MEDIA SERVICES, LLC; GRACENOTE, INC.; TNC (US) HOLDINGS, INC.; THE NIELSEN COMPANY (US), LLC
To: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A.
Reel/Frame 063560/0547 →
CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE PATENTS LISTED ON SCHEDULE 1 RECORDED ON 6-9-2020 PREVIOUSLY RECORDED ON REEL 053473 FRAME 0001. ASSIGNOR(S) HEREBY CONFIRMS THE SUPPLEMENTAL IP SECURITY AGREEMENT. Recorded Oct 7, 2020
From: A.C. NIELSEN (ARGENTINA) S.A.; A.C. NIELSEN COMPANY, LLC; ACN HOLDINGS INC.; ACNIELSEN CORPORATION; ACNIELSEN ERATINGS.COM; AFFINNOVA, INC.; ART HOLDING, L.L.C.; ATHENIAN LEASING CORPORATION; CZT/ACN TRADEMARKS, L.L.C.; EXELATE, INC.; GRACENOTE, INC.; GRACENOTE DIGITAL VENTURES, LLC; GRACENOTE MEDIA SERVICES, LLC; NETRATINGS, LLC; NIELSEN AUDIO, INC.; NIELSEN CONSUMER INSIGHTS, INC.; NIELSEN CONSUMER NEUROSCIENCE, INC.; NIELSEN FINANCE CO.; NIELSEN FINANCE LLC; NIELSEN INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS, INC.; NIELSEN MOBILE, LLC; NMR INVESTING I, INC.; TCG DIVESTITURE INC.; TNC (US) HOLDINGS, INC.; THE NIELSEN COMPANY (US), LLC; VIZU CORPORATION; VNU MARKETING INFORMATION, INC.; NMR LICENSING ASSOCIATES, L.P.; NIELSEN HOLDING AND FINANCE B.V.; THE NIELSEN COMPANY B.V.; VNU INTERNATIONAL B.V.
To: CITIBANK, N.A
Reel/Frame 054066/0064 →
SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Jun 9, 2020
From: A. C. NIELSEN COMPANY, LLC; ACN HOLDINGS INC.; ACNIELSEN CORPORATION; ACNIELSEN ERATINGS.COM; AFFINNOVA, INC.; ART HOLDING, L.L.C.; ATHENIAN LEASING CORPORATION; CZT/ACN TRADEMARKS, L.L.C.; EXELATE, INC.; GRACENOTE, INC.; GRACENOTE DIGITAL VENTURES, LLC; GRACENOTE MEDIA SERVICES, LLC; NETRATINGS, LLC; NIELSEN AUDIO, INC.; NIELSEN CONSUMER INSIGHTS, INC.; NIELSEN CONSUMER NEUROSCIENCE, INC.; NIELSEN FINANCE CO.; NIELSEN FINANCE LLC; NIELSEN INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS, INC.; NIELSEN MOBILE, LLC; NIELSEN UK FINANCE I, LLC; NMR INVESTING I, INC.; TCG DIVESTITURE INC.; TNC (US) HOLDINGS, INC.; THE NIELSEN COMPANY (US), LLC; VIZU CORPORATION; VNU MARKETING INFORMATION, INC.; NMR LICENSING ASSOCIATES, L.P.; NIELSEN HOLDING AND FINANCE B.V.; THE NIELSEN COMPANY B.V.; VNU INTERNATIONAL B.V.
To: CITIBANK, N.A.
Reel/Frame 053473/0001 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 27, 2018
From: SPLAINE, STEVEN J.; GANDHI, HARITH; GAYNOR, KEVIN K.; JAKKULA, GANGADHAR; GOLI, NARASIMHA REDDY; NICOTRA, CHRIS; RAO, KUMAR
To: THE NIELSEN COMPANY (US), LLC
Reel/Frame 047862/0790 →
Continuity (3)
Provisional Application 62441238 · Dec 31, 2016
Provisional Application 62455406 · Feb 6, 2017
Related Publication 20180192104A1 · Jul 5, 2018