Client-Side Video Visibility Measurement via Transparent Pixel Grids
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for determining the visibility of online advertisements rely on download statistics, which can lead to inaccurate view-counts, especially for video content, and do not account for advertisements that are not displayed due to page-clipping, screen-clipping, or obscuration, resulting in potential fraudulent activity and inefficient advertising compensation.
Innovation Solution
A client-side code system that uses window-draw-count properties and transparent pixel images to determine if an advertisement is visible within a client application, and for video content, a measurement component that detects tracking events and measures visibility by generating and transmitting visibility information, including event callbacks and metadata analysis.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If download statistics are used to determine advertisement visibility, then the measurement process is simple, but the view-count accuracy deteriorates due to page-clipping, screen-clipping, and obscuration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the advertisement into multiple transparent pixel images arranged in a grid pattern across the ad's display area. By monitoring which individual pixel images are drawn to the screen, the system can determine the precise visible portion of the advertisement, thereby resolving the contradiction between simple measurement and accurate visibility detection.
2Measurement precision
If transparent pixel images are used to track advertisement visibility, then the view-count accuracy improves, but the device complexity increases due to multiple objects and monitoring requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces transparent pixel images as intermediary objects that serve as proxies for tracking advertisement visibility. These pixel images are drawn to the screen whenever the parent advertisement is visible, allowing the system to infer advertisement visibility through the drawing events of these simple intermediary elements, thus managing complexity while maintaining measurement precision.
3Ease of manufacture
If video content is monitored using traditional download statistics, then the implementation is straightforward, but the visibility measurement becomes inaccurate for video players with controls and overlays
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the visibility tracking functionality from the video player itself and implements it through event callback mechanisms in the surrounding webpage code. By listening for video events (play, pause, seek) and combining them with pixel image drawing monitoring, the system can accurately determine when video content is actually visible and being played, separating the measurement logic from the video playback functionality.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for measuring the visibility of video content are presented. The video content, such as a video advertisement, may be played or presented by a video player, for example as part of a web page. Initialization code may be incorporated within a video player. The initialization code may examine metadata associated with video content to determine whether to measure visibility information associated with the video content. If a measurement flag is encountered in the metadata, the initialization code may initialize measurement code designed to measure visibility information associated with the video content. The measurement code may execute to measure visibility information associated with the video content and transmit the visibility information to a measurement server.