Methods and apparatus to monitor WI-FI media streaming using an alternate access point

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12309625-B2
Application number	US-202418636226-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 15, 2024
Priority date	Mar 15, 2019
Publication date	May 20, 2025
Grant date	May 20, 2025

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to monitor wireless traffic. An example apparatus disclosed herein includes at least one memory, instructions in the apparatus, and processor circuitry to execute the instructions to: establish, via a first wireless interface, a wireless connection with first network credentials to match second network credentials of a primary access point; monitor traffic via a second wireless interface, the second wireless interface different than the first wireless interface; identify, via the traffic monitored via the second wireless interface, a connection of a client to the primary access point; capture, via an alternate access point, a management frame transmitted from the primary access point to the client; insert a change channel announcement into the captured management frame; and re-transmit, via the first wireless interface, the captured management frame including the change channel announcement.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
transmitting a channel change communication from a first wireles cess point to a client device to cause the client device to establish a wireless connection with the first wireless access point, wherein the first wireless access point has first network credentials that match second network credentials of a second wireless access point to which the client device is communicatively coupled,
rerouting traffic, at the first wireless access point, from the second wireless access point based on the channel change communication and based on the wireless connection between the first wireless access point and the client device;
detecting, at the first wireless access point, a media request in the traffic, the media request about media for presentation on the client device; and
transmitting media identifying information about the media request to an audience measurement entity (AME).

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
disconnecting the client device from the second wireless access point based on the channel change communication; and
exchanging communications including the traffic between the first wireless access point and the client device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting, at the first wireless access point, the media request in the traffic, the media request about the media for presentation on the client device comprises:
detecting a request transmitted to a streaming service via the first wireless access point as the media request.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
extracting the media identifying information from the media request.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein extracting the media identifying information from the media request comprises:
extracting, from the media request, demographic information associated with a user of the client device and a timestamp.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the media request is transmitted to a server associated with a streaming service.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the media for presentation on the client device is streaming media.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon program instructions that, upon execution by a processor, cause performance of operations comprising:
transmitting a channel change communication from a first wireless point to a client device to cause the client device to establish a wireless connection with the first wireless access point, wherein the first wireless access point has first network credentials that match second network credentials of a second wireless access point to which the client device is communicatively coupled;
rerouting traffic, at the first wireless access point, from the second wireless access point based on the channel communication and based on the wireless connection between the first wireless access point and the client device;
detecting, at the first wireless access point, a media request in the traffic, the media request about media for presentation on the client device; and
transmitting media identifying information about the media request to an audience measurement entity (AME).

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein detecting, at the first wireless access point, the media request in the traffic, the media request about the media for presentation on the client device comprises:
detecting a request transmitted to a streaming service via the first wireless access point as the media request.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , the operations further comprising:
extracting the media identifying information from the media request.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein extracting the media identifying information from the media request comprises extracting, from the media request, demographic information associated with a user of the client device.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein transmitting the media identifying information about the media request to the AME comprises:
transmitting, via an ethernet switch of the first wireless access point, the media identifying information to the AME.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , further comprising:
storing, at the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or a memory associated with the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the media identifying information for transmission to the AME or for retrieval by a technician associated with the AME.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the media for presentation on the client device is streaming media.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein streaming media includes transmission of a media file, wherein presentation of the media file at the client device begins before the entirety of the media file is received by the client device.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , the operations further comprising:
disconnecting the client device from the second wireless access point based on the channel change communication; and
exchanging communications including the traffic between the first wireless access point and the client device.

17. A computing system comprising:
a smartphone configured to present media;
at least one processor; and
a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon program instructions that, upon execution by the at least one processor, cause performance of operations comprising:
transmitting channel change communication from a first wireless access point to a client device to cause the smartphone to establish a wireless conection with the first wireles access point, wherein the first wireless access point has first network credentials that match second network credentials of a second wireless access point to which the smartphone is communicatively coupled,
rerouting traffic, at the first wireless access point, from the second wireless access point based on the channel change communication and based on the wireless connection between the first wireless access point and the smartphone;

detecting, at the first wireless access point, a media request in the traffic, the media request about the media for presentation on the smartphone; and
transmitting media identifying information about the media request to an audience measurement entity (AME).

18. The computing system of claim 17 , wherein detecting, at the first wireless access point, the media request in the traffic, the media request about the media for presentation on the smartphone comprises:
detecting a request transmitted to a streaming service via the first wireless access point as the media request.

19. The computing system of claim 17 , the operations further comprising:
extracting, from the media request, media identifying information about the media request and demographic information associated with a user of the smartphone.

20. The computing system of claim 17 , wherein the media for presentation on the smartphone is streaming media.

Assignees

• Nielsen Co Us Llc

Inventors

• Usaj Marko
• Barbis Andrej
• Panger Marko
• Arh Joze

Classifications

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04N21/44227

  Monitoring of local network, e.g. connection or bandwidth variations; Detecting new devices in the local network (configuring of peripheral devices in general G06F9/4411; monitoring connectivity in data switched networks H04L43/0811) · CPC title

• H04W24/08 Primary

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

• H04N21/44222 Primary

  Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programmes or purchase activity (monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33) · CPC title