Methods and apparatus to collect distributed user information for media impressions and search terms
View Patent ↗An example apparatus to collect distributed user information for media impressions and search terms includes means for collecting first and second identifiers based on use of an application that does not employ cookies, the first identifier identifying at least one of a device or a user of the device to a first database proprietor that stores first user information associated with the first identifier, and the second identifier identifying the at least one of the device or the user of the device to a second database proprietor that stores second user information associated with the second identifier, and means for sending identifiers to: send the first identifier to a first server associated with the first database proprietor, send the second identifier to a second server associated with the second database proprietor, and send to a data collection server at least one of a media identifier indicative of media accessed via the application at the device or a search term used via the application at the device.
1. An apparatus, comprising:
means for collecting first and second identifiers based on use of an application that does not employ cookies, the first identifier identifying at least one of a device or a user of the device to a first database proprietor that stores first user information associated with the first identifier, and the second identifier identifying the at least one of the device or the user of the device to a second database proprietor that stores second user information associated with the second identifier; and
means for sending identifiers to:
send the first identifier to a first server associated with the first database proprietor;
send the second identifier to a second server associated with the second database proprietor; and
send to a data collection server at least one of a media identifier indicative of media accessed via the application at the device or a search term used via the application at the device.
2. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 , further including:
means for encrypting identifiers to:
encrypt the first identifier for access by the first database proprietor; and
encrypt the second identifier for access by the second database proprietor, the sending of the first identifier to the first server including sending the encrypted first identifier to the first server, and the sending of the second identifier to the second server including sending the encrypted second identifier to the second server.
3. The apparatus as defined in claim 2 , further including means for encoding to encode the encrypted first identifier and the encrypted second identifier in a single identifier, the sending of the encrypted first identifier including sending the single identifier to the first server and the sending of the encrypted second identifier including sending the single identifier to the second server.
4. The apparatus as defined in claim 2 , wherein the means for encrypting identifiers is further to:
associate a first database proprietor identifier with the encrypted first identifier; and
associate a second database proprietor identifier with the encrypted second identifier, the first database proprietor identifier indicative of the encrypted first identifier corresponding to the first database proprietor, and the second database proprietor identifier indicative of the encrypted second identifier corresponding to the second database proprietor.
5. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein the first user information includes first demographic information collected from the user of the device by the first database proprietor, and the second user information includes second demographic information collected from the user of the device by the second database proprietor.
6. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein the first database proprietor is a social network service, and the second database proprietor is a wireless service provider, the first identifier including a username of the user registered with the social network service, and the second identifier including a device identifier used by the wireless service provider to identify the device.
7. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein the means for sending the identifiers is further to:
send an impression identifier in association with the first identifier to the first server;
send the impression identifier in association with the second identifier to the second server; and
send the impression identifier in association with the at least one of the media identifier or the search term to the data collection server, the impression identifier to facilitate associating the first and second user information from corresponding ones of the first and second database proprietors with the at least one of the media identifier or the search term collected by the data collection server.
8. An apparatus, comprising:
means for communicating to instruct a media provider to associate executable instructions with media;
the means for communicating further to access data from a media device, the data sent in response to the media device executing the instructions, the instructions to cause the media device to:
collect a media identifier indicative of media presented at the media device;
encrypt a user identifier that identifies a user of the media device, the encrypting of the user identifier based on a first encryption key corresponding to a first database proprietor having first user information associated with the user identifier; and
encrypt a device identifier that identifies the media device, the encrypting of the device identifier based on a second encryption key corresponding to a second database proprietor having second user information associated with the device identifier; and
means for sending identifiers to:
send the media identifier in association with an impression identifier to the means for communicating;
send the encrypted user identifier and the impression identifier to a first server associated with the first database proprietor; and
send the encrypted device identifier and the impression identifier to a second server associated with the second database proprietor.
9. The apparatus as defined in claim 8 , wherein the data received from the media device includes the media identifier and the impression identifier.
10. The apparatus as defined in claim 9 , wherein the means for communicating is further to associate the data received from the media device with a media impression based on the impression identifier.
11. The apparatus as defined in claim 8 , wherein the means for communicating is further to:
access the first user information from the first database proprietor;
access the second user information from the second database proprietor; and
identify the first user information and the second user information as associated with a same user based on the impression identifier.
12. The apparatus as defined in claim 11 , wherein the means for communicating is further to associate the first user information and the second user information with the media identifier based on the identifying of the first user information and the second user information as associated with the same user based on the impression identifier.
13. The apparatus as defined in claim 8 , further including:
means for encoding the encrypted user identifier and the encrypted device identifier in a single identifier;
the means for communicating further to:
send the encrypted user identifier by sending the single identifier to the first server; and
send the encrypted device identifier by sending the single identifier to the second server.
14. An apparatus, comprising:
means for accessing a media identifier and an impression identifier received from a media device, the media identifier being indicative of media presented at the media device;
means for accessing first user information and second user information:
the first user information received in association with the impression identifier from a first database proprietor as a result of the first database proprietor obtaining a first identifier encrypted with a first encryption key by the media device and sent from the media device, the first identifier identifying at least one of the media device or a user of the media device, and
the second user information received in association with the impression identifier from a second database proprietor based on the second database proprietor obtaining a second identifier encrypted with a second encryption key by the media device and sent from the media device, the second identifier identifying at least one of the media device or the user of the media device, the second identifier being different than the first identifier;
means for identifying the first user information and the second user information as associated with a same user based on the impression identifier; and
means for associating the first user information and the second user information with the media identifier.
15. The apparatus as defined in claim 14 , wherein the first database proprietor includes a social network service and the second database proprietor includes a wireless service provider, the first identifier including a username of the user registered with the social network service, and the second identifier including a device identifier used by the wireless service provider to identify the media device.
16. The apparatus as defined in claim 15 , wherein the first user information includes first demographic information of the user stored by the social network service, and the second user information includes second demographic information of the user stored by the wireless service provider.