Patents Assigned to The Nielsen Company (US)
  • Publication number: 20240039810
    Abstract: Example apparatus disclosed herein are to send a request to a media provider that is to cause the media provider to initiate transmission of a transport stream that is to provide streaming media to a media presentation device. Disclosed example apparatus are also to extract metering metadata from a data file to be received by the media presentation device after the transmission of the transport stream is initiated by the media provider but before receipt by the media presentation device of the transport stream that is to provide the streaming media to the media presentation device, the data file associated with the transport stream. Disclosed example apparatus are further to report the metering metadata to a server in response to a detected event, and access an identification of secondary media responsive to the report of the metering metadata, the secondary media to be presented by the media presentation device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 9, 2023
    Publication date: February 1, 2024
    Applicant: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Arun Ramaswamy, Jan Besehanic
  • Patent number: 11889136
    Abstract: Example methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture (e.g., physical storage media) to assign respondents to geographic locations for audience measurement are disclosed. Example apparatus disclosed herein are to determine a set of constraints based on aggregate values of demographic features associated with respective ones of the geographic locations. Disclosed example apparatus are also to construct a model to return probabilities that respective ones the respondents are associated with the respective ones of the geographic locations, the model to have a set of parameters, respective ones of the parameters to be associated with respective ones of the constraints. Disclosed example apparatus are further to evaluate the model based on values of the set of parameters and values of the demographic features for a first one of the respondents to determine a set of probabilities that the first respondent is to be assigned to respective ones of the geographic locations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Michael Sheppard, Edward Murphy, Chris Samuel Redino, Michael D. Morgan, Jonathan Sullivan
  • Patent number: 11889151
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus to model on/off states of media presentation devices based on return path data are disclosed. An apparatus includes a memory and processor circuitry to execute instructions stored in the memory to: generate a probability distribution of actual durations of first tuning segments, the first tuning segments representative of lengths of time during which panelists accessed first media; modify the lengths associated with ones of the first tuning segments to generate second tuning segments having second durations; and estimate a time when a media device associated with a return path data (RPD) device is powered on based on (i) the probability distribution, (ii) the second tuning segments, and (iii) a third tuning segment during which the RPD device accessed second media, the third tuning segment reported from the RPD device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Jonathan Sullivan, Katya Sotiris, Neung Soo Ha, Balachander Shankar
  • Patent number: 11886483
    Abstract: Techniques for recommending media are described. A character preference function comprising a plurality of preference coefficients is accessed. A first character model comprises a first set of attribute values for the plurality of attributes of a first character. The first and second characters are associated with a first and second salience value, respectively. A second character model comprises a second set of attribute values for the plurality of attributes of a second character of the plurality of characters. A first character rating is calculated using the plurality of preference coefficients and the first set of attribute values. A second character rating of the second character is calculated using the plurality of preference coefficients with the second set of attribute values. A media rating is calculated based on the first and second salience values and the first and second character ratings. A media is recommended based on the media rating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Rachel Payne, Meghana Bhatt, Natasha Mohanty
  • Patent number: 11887132
    Abstract: Processor systems to estimate audience sizes and impression counts for different frequency intervals are disclosed. An example processor system includes a memory management unit (MMU) to assign requests from computing devices indicative of accesses to media to a first block of memory and to assign user-identified impression data corresponding to user-identified impressions to a second block of memory. The processor system including an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) to determine multipliers relating a first probability distribution for the user-identified impressions to a second probability distribution for census impressions. The multipliers based on probability constraints defined by weighted probabilities associated with the second probability distribution, where different ones of the probabilities weighted based on estimated populations for corresponding ones of the different demographics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Michael Sheppard, Ludo Daemen, PengFei Yi, Jonathan Sullivan, Rachel Worth Olson
  • Patent number: 11887133
    Abstract: An example apparatus includes at least one memory, instructions, and at least one processor to execute the instructions to generate electronic mobile measurement data based on network communications received from first client devices, select attributes associated with the electronic mobile measurement data to include in a model, generate the model based on the attributes and a first portion of the electronic mobile measurement data, determine a percentage of a second portion of the electronic mobile measurement data that the model correctly associates with corresponding first users of the first client devices, and when the percentage satisfies a threshold determine: (a) when a second user operating a second client device is a primary user, and (b) when the user operating the second client device is a third user, and associate demographic information of the second user with the electronic mobile measurement data to reduce a misattribution error.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Kumar Nagaraja Rao, Tianjue Luo, Albert Ronald Perez, Stephen S. Bell
  • Publication number: 20240031269
    Abstract: Example apparatus disclosed herein are to access first data entries from a first data source based on a first media identifier, the first data entries associated with first streaming media, respective ones of the first data entries including the first media identifier and corresponding timestamps that indicate when the first streaming media was presented or accessed via a group of media devices. Disclosed example apparatus are also to access second data entries from a second data source based on a keyword or phrase, the second data entries associated with news information or weather information. Disclosed example apparatus are further to align, based on the timestamps, the second data entries with values of a time varying audience of the first streaming media determined based on the first data entries to determine ratings data that correlates changes in the time varying audience with the news information or the weather information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 24, 2023
    Publication date: January 25, 2024
    Applicant: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Arun Ramaswamy, Jan Besehanic
  • Publication number: 20240031617
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed for identification of streaming activity and source for cached media on streaming devices. An example system stores, in a content identification information library, first content identification information of a first media presentation, wherein the first media presentation is a streamed media presentation; inspects a network connection of a media streaming device for network activity associated with a second media presentation; determine, in response to an absence of the network activity, the second media presentation is a cached media presentation; infers a streaming source of the second media presentation by matching second content identification information of the second media presentation with the first content identification information of the first media presentation; and generates a second media credit for the second media presentation that includes an inferred streaming source identifier.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 3, 2023
    Publication date: January 25, 2024
    Applicant: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: James Petro, Daniel Nelson, Sandeep Tapse
  • Publication number: 20240029190
    Abstract: Example apparatus disclosed herein include a watermark detector to detect watermarks in a media signal. Disclosed example apparatus also include a controller to operate the watermark detector to (1) detect a first watermark in the media signal, and (2) cycle between sleep intervals and active intervals based on a repetition rate of the watermarks in the media signal to perform a detection operation for a second watermark at a second location in the media signal relative to a first location of the first watermark in the media signal. In some examples, the controller is to search a buffer of prior detected watermark symbols to detect a third watermark at a third location prior to the second location in the media signal in response to the second watermark not being detected at the second location in the media signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 14, 2023
    Publication date: January 25, 2024
    Applicant: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: David Gish, Sadhana Gupta, Vladimir Kuznetsov, Wendell D. Lynch, Alan R. Neuhauser
  • Patent number: 11882333
    Abstract: Example methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture for media metering are disclosed. An example apparatus disclosed herein includes at least one memory, instructions in the apparatus, and at least one processor installed in a media presentation device to execute the instructions to at least: cause a video decoder to generate video display rasterizing information, present the video display rasterizing information via an output device of the media presentation device, and in response to monitoring being enabled, generate metering information corresponding to media presented in association with the video display rasterizing information presented via the output device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Perry Joseph Fisch, Seth Alan Pelletier
  • Patent number: 11880780
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems to determine a conditional probability based on audience member probability distributions for media audience measurement are disclosed. Disclosed example methods for media audience measurement include determining a first audience probability distribution for a first member of a household and determining a second audience probability distribution for a second member of the household. Disclosed example methods also include calculating probabilities for audience combinations of the first member and the second member of the household based on the first audience probability distribution and the second audience probability distribution. Disclosed example methods further include determining a household audience characteristic probability based on the calculated probabilities of the audience combinations of the household. The household audience characteristic indicates likelihoods of different possible audience compositions of the household for a media event.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Michael Sheppard, Paul Donato, Peter C. Doe
  • Patent number: 11877039
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture to extend a time range supported by a watermark are disclosed. Example watermark encoding apparatus disclosed herein determine which one of a plurality of timestamp cycles is to be represented by a timestamp of a watermark, the timestamp including a set of timestamp symbols, a first subset of data symbols and a second subset of data symbols. Disclosed example apparatus also modify the first subset of data symbols of the watermark based on a further timestamp symbol not included in the set of timestamp symbols of the timestamp, but not modify the second subset of data symbols based on the further timestamp symbol, the further timestamp symbol to identify the one of the plurality of timestamp cycles to be represented by the timestamp of the watermark. Disclosed example apparatus further embed the watermark in a piece of media.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Alexander Topchy, Vladimir Kuznetsov
  • Patent number: 11877028
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed herein to identify media presentation by analyzing network traffic. Example instructions cause a machine to generate a traffic profile to reduce a computational burden of identifying streaming media being presented on a media presentation device, the traffic profile including first network traffic data indicative of the streaming media; obtain the traffic profile and second network traffic data corresponding to the streaming media; and generate, in response to a score for the second network traffic data meeting a threshold of similarity, a network traffic analysis report identifying the streaming media being presented on the media presentation device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventor: Joseph Kerkes
  • Patent number: 11877027
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to determine the number of people at a location. An example apparatus includes a configuration changer to change a configuration setting of the base station to cause mobile devices to register with the base station, a registration manager to respond to registration requests received from the mobile devices after the configuration setting is changed by storing device identification information for the corresponding mobile devices, and a counter controller to identify a number of the mobile devices at a location of the base station based on the stored device identification information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Ranney Harrold Fry, Mark Richard Cave
  • Patent number: 11871090
    Abstract: Client identifier watermarks in media signals are disclosed. An example apparatus to watermark a multilayered file includes a watermark storage to store media identifiers. The example apparatus also includes an encoder to encode a first bit sequence in the media file on a first encoding layer of a multilayered watermark, the first bit sequence to include a client identifier of a client associated with the media file, and encode a second bit sequence in the media file on a second encoding layer of the multilayered watermark, the second bit sequence to include a media identifier to identify media corresponding to the media file.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventor: Khaldun Karazoun
  • Patent number: 11871058
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed to determine a duration of media presentation based on tuning session duration. Example apparatus a receiver to obtain a first tuning session duration indicative of an amount of time between channel changes of a first media presentation device at a first media presentation location, a presentation session estimator to select a model from storage, the model selected based on a match of the first tuning session duration and a second tuning session duration, the model including a relation between the second tuning session duration and a first presentation session duration of media presented on a second media presentation device at a second media presentation location, and estimate a second presentation session duration of media presented within the first tuning session duration based on the model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Michael Sheppard, Jonathan Sullivan, Peter Lipa, Alejandro Terrazas
  • Patent number: 11869024
    Abstract: A disclosed example includes accessing computer-generated impression records, the computer-generated impression records based on network communications received at a server of a database proprietor from client devices, the computer-generated impression records indicative of accesses to media at the client devices; accessing self-reported demographic data and behavioral data from a database of the database proprietor, the self-reported demographic data and the behavioral data corresponding to user accounts registered with the database proprietor and associated with the client devices; comparing the self-reported demographic data with a probability distribution of higher-accuracy demographic data; determining different adjustments for corresponding ones of self-reported demographics of the self-reported demographic data based on the comparison; adjusting the corresponding ones of the self-reported demographics based on corresponding ones of the different adjustments to generate adjusted user demographic data; a
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Albert R. Perez, Josh Gaunt
  • Patent number: 11870912
    Abstract: Disclosed examples include accessing a search term from a client device; accessing a first identifier, the first identifier corresponding to a first database proprietor, the first identifier to access first user information corresponding to a user of the client device; accessing a second identifier, the second identifier corresponding to a second database proprietor, the second identifier to access second user information corresponding to the user of the client device; providing the search term, the first identifier, and the second identifier in a message; and transmitting the message to a server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: John R. Burbank, Madhusudhan Reddy Alla
  • Patent number: 11869542
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture to perform speed-enhanced playback of recorded media are disclosed. Example apparatus to playback media disclosed herein comprise at least one memory, machine-readable instructions, and processor circuitry to execute the machine-readable instructions to parse an audio frame included in the media to determine a number of skip bytes included in the audio frame, compare the number of skip bytes to a threshold, associate the audio frame with a plurality of candidate frames identified in the media when the number of skip bytes satisfies the threshold, and calculate a speed-enhanced playback rate for the media based on the plurality of candidate frames identified in the media.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventor: Venugopal Srinivasan
  • Patent number: 11861656
    Abstract: A disclosed example apparatus to monitor a media device includes: an input to obtain a signal at a universal serial bus port of the media device; and a bit rate comparator to: determine the media device is involved in a data transfer if a bit rate of the signal exceeds a threshold; and determine the media device is not involved in the data transfer if the bit rate of the signal does not exceed the threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Mark Cave, Joseph Volpatti