Methods and apparatus to redirect internet clients for media monitoring

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12200602-B2
Application number	US-202318480001-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 3, 2023
Priority date	May 19, 2021
Publication date	Jan 14, 2025
Grant date	Jan 14, 2025

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to redirect internet clients for media monitoring. An example apparatus disclosed herein includes memory, instructions, and processor circuitry to execute the instructions to detect connections between client devices and a first WI-FI connection point, the client devices connected to the first WI-FI connection point via a second WI-FI connection point, when a first number of the connections is less than a second number of possible connections to the first WI-FI connection point, generate an additional connection to the first WI-FI connection point, the additional connection corresponding to at least one of the client devices, and route the client devices to the first WI-FI connection point via the first number of connections and the additional connection.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon program instructions that, upon execution by a processor, cause performance of operations comprising:
detecting connections between client devices and a first wireless network connection point;
determining that a first number of the connections is less than a second number of connections to the first wireless network connection point;
based on the determination that the first number of the connections is less than the second number of connections to the first wireless network connection point, generating an additional connection to the first wireless network connection point, the additional connection corresponding to at least one of the client devices; and
routing the client devices to the first wireless network connection point via the first number of connections and the additional connection.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
identifying a media request transmitted from at least one of the client devices;
extracting media identifying information from the media request; and
transmitting the media identifying information to a computing system associated with an audience measurement entity.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 2 , wherein the media request comprises a request to stream media from a streaming media service.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the client devices are connected to the first wireless network connection point via a second wireless network connection point.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 4 , wherein the first wireless network connection point has the same network credentials as the second wireless network connection point.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 5 , wherein the network credentials include a service set identifier (SSID) and a password.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
querying the first wireless network connection point to determine the second number of connections.

8. A system comprising:
a processor; and
a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon program instructions that, upon execution by the processor, cause performance of operations comprising:
detecting connections between client devices and a first wireless network connection point;
determining that a first number of the connections is less than a second number of connections to the first wireless network connection point;
based on the determination that the first number of the connections is less than the second number of connections to the first wireless network connection point, generating an additional connection to the first wireless network connection point, the additional connection corresponding to at least one of the client devices; and
routing the client devices to the first wireless network connection point via the first number of connections and the additional connection.

9. The system of claim 8 , the operations further comprising:
identifying a media request transmitted from at least one of the client devices;
extracting media identifying information from the media request; and
transmitting the media identifying information to a computing system associated with an audience measurement entity.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the media request comprises a request to stream media from a streaming media service.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein:
the system comprises a second wireless network connection point, and
the client devices are connected to the first wireless network connection point via the second wireless network connection point.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the first wireless network connection point has the same network credentials as the second wireless network connection point.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the system is a streaming meter.

14. The system of claim 8 , the operations further comprising:
querying the first wireless network connection point to determine the second number of connections.

15. A method comprising:
detecting connections between client devices and a first wireless network connection point;
determining that a first number of the connections is less than a second number of connections to the first wireless network connection point;
based on the determination that the first number of the connections is less than the second number of connections to the first wireless network connection point, generating an additional connection to the first wireless network connection point, the additional connection corresponding to at least one of the client devices; and
routing the client devices to the first wireless network connection point via the first number of connections and the additional connection.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
identifying a media request transmitted from at least one of the client devices;
extracting media identifying information from the media request; and
transmitting the media identifying information to a computing system associated with an audience measurement entity.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the media request comprises a request to stream media from a streaming media service.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the client devices are connected to the first wireless network connection point via a second wireless network connection point.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the first wireless network connection point has the same network credentials as the second wireless network connection point.

20. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
querying the first wireless network connection point to determine the second number of connections.

Assignees

• Nielsen Co Us Llc

Inventors

• Panger Marko
• Barbis Andrej
• Usaj Marko
• Kerkes Joseph
• Quadri Mohd Afwaan Ahmed

Classifications

• H04L67/535

  Tracking the activity of the user (network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34) · CPC title

• H04W76/15

  Setup of multiple wireless link connections · CPC title

• H04W24/06

  Testing, {supervising or monitoring} using simulated traffic · CPC title

• H04W12/73

  Access point logical identity · CPC title

• H04W12/04

  Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA] · CPC title