Methods and apparatus to collect distributed user information for media impressions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10205994-B2
Application number	US-201615251954-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 30, 2016
Priority date	Dec 17, 2015
Publication date	Feb 12, 2019
Grant date	Feb 12, 2019

Abstract

A disclosed example method involves obtaining a third-party device identifier or user identifier corresponding to a client device; obtaining an opt-out flag indicative of whether a user of the client device has elected not to participate in third-party tracking corresponding to online activities; sending the third-party device identifier or user identifier, the opt-out flag, and a media identifier to an audience measurement entity, the media identifier corresponding to media accessed via the Internet; and receiving, from the audience measurement entity, an impression report corresponding to the media.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
obtaining, by executing an instruction with a processor, a third-party device identifier or a user identifier corresponding to a client device;
obtaining, by executing an instruction with a processor, an opt-out flag indicative of whether a user of the client device has elected not to participate in third-party tracking corresponding to online activities;
sending, by executing an instruction with a processor, the third-party device identifier or the user identifier, the opt-out flag, and a media identifier from a first server to a second server associated with an audience measurement entity, the media identifier corresponding to media accessed via the Internet; and
obtaining, by executing an instruction with a processor, an impression report in a network communication from the second server associated with the audience measurement entity, the impression report including demographic information corresponding to a logged impression of the media.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the client device is an over-the-top device or a smart television.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the third-party device identifier or the user identifier is at least one of an Ad-ID, an Identifier for Advertisers, a GOOGLE Advertising ID, or a ROKU ID.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the third-party tracking corresponding to the online activities is third-party tracking corresponding to activities at a webpage of an Internet media provider.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the media identifier corresponds to the media accessed via the webpage of the Internet media provider.

6. The method of claim 1 , further including obtaining a subscriber identifier corresponding to a registered user of an Internet media provider.

7. The method of claim 6 , further including determining the third-party device identifier or the user identifier based on the subscriber identifier.

8. An apparatus, comprising:
a processor to:
access a third-party device identifier or a user identifier corresponding to a client device; and
access an opt-out flag indicative of whether a user of the client device has elected not to participate in third-party tracking corresponding to online activities;

a server-to-server communicator to send the third-party device identifier or the user identifier, the opt-out flag, and a media identifier from a first server to a second server associated with an audience measurement entity, the media identifier corresponding to media accessed via the Internet; and
a communication interface to receive an impression report in a network communication from the second server associated with the audience measurement entity, the impression report including demographic information corresponding to a logged impression of the media.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the client device is an over-the-top device or a smart television.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the third-party device identifier or the user identifier is at least one of an Ad-ID, an Identifier for Advertisers, a GOOGLE Advertising ID, or a ROKU ID.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the third-party tracking corresponding to the online activities is third-party tracking corresponding to activities at a webpage of an Internet media provider.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the media identifier corresponds to the media accessed via the webpage of the Internet media provider.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further to access a subscriber identifier corresponding to a registered user of an Internet media provider.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further to determine the third-party device identifier or the user identifier based on the subscriber identifier.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising machine-readable instructions that, when executed, cause a first server to at least:
access a third-party device identifier or a user identifier corresponding to a client device;
access an opt-out flag indicative of whether a user of the client device has elected not to participate in third-party tracking corresponding to online activities;
send the third-party device identifier or the user identifier, the opt-out flag, and a media identifier to a second server associated with an audience measurement entity, the media identifier corresponding to media accessed via the Internet; and
receive an impression report in a network communication from the second server associated with the audience measurement entity, the impression report including demographic information corresponding to a logged impression of the media.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the client device is an over-the-top device or a smart television.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the third-party device identifier or the user identifier is at least one of an Ad-ID, an Identifier for Advertisers, a GOOGLE Advertising ID, or a ROKU ID.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the third-party tracking corresponding to the online activities is third-party tracking corresponding to activities at a webpage of an Internet media provider.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the media identifier corresponds to the media accessed via the webpage of the Internet media provider.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions are to further cause the server to access a subscriber identifier corresponding to a registered user of an Internet media provider.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20 , wherein the instructions are further to cause the server to determine the third-party device identifier or the user identifier based on the subscriber identifier.

Assignees

• Nielsen Co Us Llc

Inventors

• Splaine Steven J
• Swift Adrian

Classifications

• H04N21/4782

  Web browsing {, e.g. WebTV} · CPC title

• H04N21/6175

  involving transmission via Internet (broadcast-related systems characterised by the transmission system being the Internet H04H60/82) · CPC title

• G06Q30/0201

  Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data · CPC title

• H04N21/6125

  involving transmission via Internet (transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82) · CPC title

• H04L67/02

  based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP] · CPC title