IP Library Granted Patent US 11,877,028
Granted Patent B2
US 11,877,028 · App. 17/959,060 · Granted Jan 16, 2024

Methods and apparatus to identify media presentations by analyzing network traffic

Inventor: Joseph Kerkes (Lutz, FL)
Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
H04N21/44224H04N21/233H04N21/23418H04N21/2402H04N21/64738H04H60/29H04L41/50H04L43/06H04L67/535
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,877,028
App. No.
17/959,060
Granted
Jan 16, 2024
Kind
B2
Abstract

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed herein to identify media presentation by analyzing network traffic. Example instructions cause a machine to generate a traffic profile to reduce a computational burden of identifying streaming media being presented on a media presentation device, the traffic profile including first network traffic data indicative of the streaming media; obtain the traffic profile and second network traffic data corresponding to the streaming media; and generate, in response to a score for the second network traffic data meeting a threshold of similarity, a network traffic analysis report identifying the streaming media being presented on the media presentation device.

Claims (56)

1. An apparatus comprising:

at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium to store machine readable instructions; and

at least one processor to execute the machine readable instructions to at least:

identify, based on first timestamps associated with identifying information of media, a first time for when streaming of the media started and a second time for when streaming of the media stopped;

associate, based on the first timestamps and second timestamps included with network traffic data, a first entry of the network traffic data with the first time;

associate, based on the first timestamps and the second timestamps, a second entry of the network traffic data with the second time; and

generate a profile for the media based on at least some entries of the network traffic data that occurred between the first entry and the second entry.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein to associate the first entry and the second entry with the first time and the second time, the at least one processor is to:

order the identifying information of the media according to the first timestamps;

order the network traffic data according to the second timestamps;

establish common timestamps between the first timestamps and the second timestamps; and

associate, based on the common timestamps, the first entry and the second entry with the first time and the second time, respectively.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the entries of the network traffic data are first entries of the network traffic data, and to generate the profile for the media, the at least one processor is to:

determine at least one entry of the first entries that is unrelated to the media;

remove the at least one entry from the first entries to generate second entries of the network traffic data; and

generate the profile for the media based on the second entries.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the at least one processor is to determine the at least one entry is unrelated to the media based on at least one of (1) an internet protocol address corresponding to the at least one entry, (2) a uniform resource locator corresponding to the at least one entry, (3) a domain name corresponding to the at least one entry, (4) a multipurpose internet mail extension type corresponding to the at least one entry, (5) a bandwidth corresponding to the at least one entry, (6) a duration of events corresponding to the at least one entry, or (7) a count of events corresponding to the at least one entry.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor to generate the profile for the media based on a relationship between (1) the media and (2) the at least some of the entries of the network traffic data that occurred between the first entry and the second entry.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the relationship includes a number of the at least some of the entries that occurred between the first entry and the second entry.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the identifying information of the media includes at least one of signatures of the media or watermarks of the media.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

identify, based on first timestamps associated with identifying information of media, a first time for when streaming of the media started and a second time for when streaming of the media stopped;

associate, based on the first timestamps and second timestamps included with network traffic data, a first entry of the network traffic data with the first time;

associate, based on the first timestamps and the second timestamps, a second entry of the network traffic data with the second time; and

generate a profile for the media based on at least some entries of the network traffic data that occurred between the first entry and the second entry.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein to associate the first entry and the second entry with the first time and the second time, the instructions cause the machine to:

order the identifying information of the media according to the first timestamps;

order the network traffic data according to the second timestamps;

establish common timestamps between the first timestamps and the second timestamps; and

associate, based on the common timestamps, the first entry and the second entry with the first time and the second time, respectively.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the entries of the network traffic data are first entries of the network traffic data, and to generate the profile for the media, the instructions cause the machine to:

determine at least one entry of the first entries that is unrelated to the media;

remove the at least one entry from the first entries to generate second entries of the network traffic data; and

generate the profile for the media based on the second entries.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions cause the machine to determine the at least one entry is unrelated to the media based on at least one of (1) an internet protocol address corresponding to the at least one entry, (2) a uniform resource locator corresponding to the at least one entry, (3) a domain name corresponding to the at least one entry, (4) a multipurpose internet mail extension type corresponding to the at least one entry, (5) a bandwidth corresponding to the at least one entry, (6) a duration of events corresponding to the at least one entry, or (7) a count of events corresponding to the at least one entry.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the instructions cause the machine to generate the profile for the media based on a relationship between (1) the media and (2) the at least some of the entries of the network traffic data that occurred between the first entry and the second entry.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the relationship includes a number of the at least some of the entries that occurred between the first entry and the second entry.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the identifying information of the media includes at least one of signatures of the media or watermarks of the media.

15. A method comprising:

based on first timestamps associated with identifying information of media, identifying, by executing an instruction with at least one processor, a first time for when streaming of the media started and a second time for when streaming of the media stopped;

based on the first timestamps and second timestamps included with network traffic data, identifying, by executing an instruction with the at least one processor, a first entry of the network traffic data with the first time;

based on the first timestamps and the second timestamps, associating, by executing an instruction with the at least one processor, a second entry of the network traffic data with the second time; and

generating, by executing an instruction with the at least one processor, a profile for the media based on at least some entries of the network traffic data that occurred between the first entry and the second entry.

16. The method of claim 15 , further including associating the first entry and the second entry with the first time and the second time by:

ordering the identifying information of the media according to the first timestamps;

ordering the network traffic data according to the second timestamps;

establishing common timestamps between the first timestamps and the second timestamps; and

based on the common timestamps, associating the first entry and the second entry with the first time and the second time, respectively.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the entries of the network traffic data are first entries of the network traffic data, and the method further including generating the profile for the media by:

determining at least one entry of the first entries that is unrelated to the media;

removing the at least one entry from the first entries to generate second entries of the network traffic data; and

generating the profile for the media based on the second entries.

18. The method of claim 17 , further including determining the at least one entry is unrelated to the media based on at least one of (1) an internet protocol address corresponding to the at least one entry, (2) a uniform resource locator corresponding to the at least one entry, (3) a domain name corresponding to the at least one entry, (4) a multipurpose internet mail extension type corresponding to the at least one entry, (5) a bandwidth corresponding to the at least one entry, (6) a duration of events corresponding to the at least one entry, or (7) a count of events corresponding to the at least one entry.

19. The method of claim 15 , further including generating the profile for the media based on a relationship between (1) the media and (2) the at least some of the entries of the network traffic data that occurred between the first entry and the second entry.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the relationship includes a number of the at least some of the entries that occurred between the first entry and the second entry.

21. The method of claim 15 , wherein the identifying information of the media includes at least one of signatures of the media or watermarks of the media.

Assignments (4)
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 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 24, 2022
From: KERKES, JOSEPH
To: THE NIELSEN COMPANY (US), LLC
Reel/Frame 062218/0843 →
Continuity (3)
Continuation 17068533 · Oct 12, 2020
Continuation 16209897 · Dec 4, 2018
Related Publication 20230095917A1 · Mar 30, 2023