Methods and apparatus to credit background applications

1. An apparatus comprising:

means for comparing bandwidth usage of an application executing in a background of a device to a threshold to determine a state of the application as one of active or inactive, the threshold based on a bandwidth usage pattern of the application;

means for logging event records associated with the application, the event records including the state of the application; and

means for crediting a duration of background execution of the application, the means for crediting to:

determine whether the bandwidth usage pattern is spiked or continuous based on a first event record representative of background execution of the application being started;

access a second event record associated with the application;

update the second event record to be representative of the background execution of the application being stopped when the bandwidth usage pattern is spiked and a timestamp of the second event record exceeds a temporal activity window; and

determine the duration of the background execution of the application based on the first event record and the second event record.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the means for crediting is to update the second event record to be representative of the background execution of the application being stopped when the bandwidth usage pattern is continuous and the second event record associated with the application indicates application inactivity.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the means for crediting is to reference a table listing applications and associated bandwidth usage patterns when information indicating whether the bandwidth usage pattern is spiked or continuous is not included in the first event record.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the means for comparing is to:

identify the bandwidth usage pattern as spiked when data processed by the application is downloaded in increments for future presentation to a user; and

identify the bandwidth usage pattern as continuous when the data processed by the application is downloaded continuously while the application is presenting to the user in real-time.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the means for comparing is to use the temporal activity window to determine whether the application is active during a time period when the bandwidth usage of the application is below the threshold, the temporal activity window to occur after the time period.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein when the timestamp of the second event record exceeds the temporal activity window, the means for crediting is to update the second event record to indicate the background execution of the application stopped at an end of the temporal activity window.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein when the timestamp of the second event record does not exceed the temporal activity window, the means for crediting is to reset the temporal activity window to a timestamp of a subsequent third event record associated with the application.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein when the bandwidth usage pattern is spiked and the timestamp of the second event record does not exceed the temporal activity window, the means for crediting is to iterate through subsequent ones of the event records associated with the application until a timestamp of a first one of the subsequent ones of the event records exceeds the temporal activity window.

9. An audience measurement apparatus to monitor panelist media exposure, the apparatus comprising:

means for comparing bandwidth usage of a first media presentation application executing in a background of a consumer device to a first threshold for bandwidth activity associated with the first media presentation application to determine a state of the first media presentation application during a first time period as one of active or inactive, the first threshold based on a first bandwidth usage pattern of the first media presentation application, wherein to compare the bandwidth usage to the first threshold for bandwidth activity, the means for comparing to:

detect a first period during which the bandwidth usage is above the first threshold for bandwidth activity;

detect a second period during which the bandwidth usage is below the first threshold for bandwidth activity;

determine that the first media presentation application is active during the second period when the bandwidth usage exceeds the first threshold during a temporal activity window after the first period; and

determine that the first media presentation application is inactive after the second period when the bandwidth usage does not exceed the first threshold during the temporal activity window after the first period;

means for determining a state of a second media presentation application executing in a foreground of the consumer device during the first time period as one of active or inactive based on whether a special event associated with the second media presentation application is detected during the first time period; and

means for logging application event information including an identification of the first media presentation application, an identification of the second media presentation application, a context of the first media presentation application, a context of the second media presentation application, the state of the first media presentation application and the state of the second media presentation application.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the special event associated with the second media presentation application corresponds to at least one of an output by the second media presentation application, a change of location of the second media presentation application, an opening of the second media presentation application or a closing of the second media presentation application.

11. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the means for determining is further to determine the state of the first media presentation application executing in the background of the consumer device during the first time period as one of active or inactive based on whether a special event associated with the first media presentation application is detected during the first time period.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the special event associated with the first media presentation application corresponds to at least one of an output by the first media presentation application, a change of location of the first media presentation application, an opening of the first media presentation application or a closing of the first media presentation application.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the audience measurement apparatus is further to transmit the application event information to an audience measurement entity.

14. An audience measurement apparatus to monitor panelist media exposure, the apparatus comprising:

means for monitoring media presentation applications, the means for monitoring to:

set a first threshold for bandwidth activity associated with a first media presentation application executing in a background of a consumer device based on a first bandwidth usage pattern of the first media presentation application, wherein the first threshold is different from a second threshold associated with a second application; and

compare a bandwidth usage of the first media presentation application executing in the background to the first threshold for bandwidth activity associated with the first media presentation application to determine a state of the first media presentation application executing in the background as one of active or inactive; and

means for generating a measurement of media exposure including panelist identification data, an identification of the first media presentation application, a timestamp, and the state of the first media presentation application.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14 , further including means for detecting that a special event, which is associated with the first media presentation application executing in the background, has occurred.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the special event includes at least one of an output by the first media presentation application, a change of location of the first media presentation application, an opening of the first media presentation application or a closing of the first media presentation application.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein the special event designates activity or inactivity.

18. The apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein the means for generating is further to transmit the measurement of media exposure to an audience measurement entity.

19. The apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the means for monitoring is further to, in response to the bandwidth usage pattern being identified as peaked, detect a first period during which the bandwidth usage is above the first threshold for bandwidth activity and detect a second period during which the bandwidth usage is below the first threshold for bandwidth activity.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the means for monitoring is further to determine that the first media presentation application is active during the second period when the bandwidth usage exceeds the first threshold within a temporal activity window after the first period and determine that the first media presentation application is inactive after the second period when the bandwidth usage does not exceed the first threshold within the temporal activity window after the first period.