Cookie User Identifier for Accurate Session Attribution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Household panelists' computing device usage data is often inaccurately attributed due to lack of non-invasive user identification methods, leading to erroneous demographic data when multiple users share the same device.
Innovation Solution
A method using cookie information to passively identify the current user of a computing device by analyzing persistent cookies stored on the device, employing a cookie user identifier that scans for known cookie tags, determines the most recent user through timestamp analysis, and associates subsequent activity with the correct user.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If user identification prompts are used to identify the current user, then user identification accuracy is improved, but user burden and device operation complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses automatically generated and stored cookies by the web service to identify the user without requiring any user action. The cookie user identifier automatically scans for cookies, parses them to extract user identifiers, and attributes activity without prompting the user, thus achieving accurate identification while maintaining ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces cookies as an intermediary element that carries user identification information. Instead of directly prompting users for identification, the system uses cookies as a mediator that passively contains user identifiers, which are then extracted and used for accurate user attribution without user burden.
2Measurement precision
If cookie scanning is performed to identify users, then user identification accuracy is improved, but computing device processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary scanning and identification of cookies when the computing device is first connected to the network or when a web service is accessed. By preparing and storing cookie information in advance, the system avoids time-consuming scanning during actual activity attribution, thus reducing processing time while maintaining identification accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The cookie user identifier scans only for specific known cookie tags associated with particular web services rather than performing a complete comprehensive scan of all cookies. This partial scanning approach reduces processing time while still achieving accurate user identification for the relevant services.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and apparatus are disclosed to identify session users with cookie information. An example method includes identifying a most recently used cookie based on a comparison of timestamps associated with a plurality of cookies, comparing an identifier of the most recently used cookie to a cookie table, the cookie table associating cookies with the plurality of different users, and when the identifier of the most recently used cookie is associated with one of the plurality of different users, associating subsequent usage activity of the computing device with the one of the plurality of different users.