Beaconing System for Accurate Audience Measurement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for monitoring Internet resource usage, such as server logs, are prone to over-counting and under-counting due to tampering and caching issues, and audience measurement entities face challenges in accessing demographic data from external databases while maintaining user privacy and adhering to Internet protocols.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves extending the beaconing process to partner with database proprietors, redirecting client requests through partnered database proprietors to log impressions and demographic data, ensuring accurate and reliable demographic reporting by leveraging large user databases while protecting privacy and adhering to security protocols.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If server logs are used to monitor Internet resource usage, then the monitoring process is simple, but the data is prone to over-counting and under-counting due to tampering and caching issues
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a beacon system as an intermediary between the content server and the monitoring entity. Instead of relying on server logs directly, beacons are embedded in content and executed by the user's browser to report impressions to a monitoring entity, eliminating tampering and caching issues at the server level while maintaining operational simplicity.
2Loss of information
If demographic data is accessed from external databases, then extensive demographic reporting is enabled, but user privacy and Internet security protocols are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring entity acts as an intermediary that receives beacon data and matches it with demographic information from external databases. This intermediary approach enables comprehensive demographic reporting while protecting user privacy by avoiding direct access to external databases from the client side and maintaining security protocols.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the data collection process into separate components: the beacon collects impression data, the monitoring entity processes and matches demographic information, and external databases provide demographic data only when needed. This segmentation enables complete demographic reporting while maintaining privacy and security by separating data collection from data matching.
Data Source
AI summary
An example apparatus includes at least one memory, instructions in the apparatus, and processor circuitry to execute the instructions to access first cookies and a plurality of user identifiers, the first cookies and the user identifiers corresponding to devices accessing media, determine an error between a first demographic estimate based on the first cookies forming a pattern and based on a second demographic estimate corresponding to the user identifiers, obtain impression information from a database proprietor, the impression information including second cookies, identify a subset of the second cookies that are associated with a same person based on the pattern, and associate impressions corresponding to the subset with the same person.