Patents by Inventor Edward Murphy

Edward Murphy has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 12596714
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for efficiently estimating the number of unique elements in a collection of elements comprises generating, via hash logic, hash values for each element of the collection of elements. The method further comprises specifying, in a sketch-frequency table, a set of discrete statistical values associated with the hash values and, for each discrete statistical value of the set of discrete statistical values, information indicative of a frequency at which binary representations of the hash values are associated with the discrete statistical value. The cardinality of the collection of elements is estimated based on the sketch-frequency table.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2024
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2026
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Michael Sheppard, Edward Murphy, Jonathan Sullivan
  • Publication number: 20260067517
    Abstract: Example methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed for network-based monitoring and serving of media to in-vehicle occupants. An example method includes linking panelist data corresponding to media exposure to first telemetry data collected by a vehicle to create linked panelist-telemetry data; and training a neural network to estimate vehicle occupant demographics based on second telemetry data using a first subgroup of the linked panelist-telemetry data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2025
    Publication date: March 5, 2026
    Inventors: Edward Murphy, Kelly Dixon, Jennifer Carton, Francis C. Fasinski, III
  • Patent number: 12526476
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed to estimate population reach from marginal ratings. An example apparatus includes means for iteratively converging on an output estimate of a reach of media for a total population audience and means for outputting the estimate of the reach for the total population audience.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2024
    Date of Patent: January 13, 2026
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Michael Sheppard, Jonathan Sullivan, Edward Murphy, Michael D. Morgan, Ludo Daemen
  • Patent number: 12499468
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture to perform computer-based monitoring of audiences of network-based media using information theory to estimate intermediate level unions are disclosed. An example apparatus to determine a deduplicated, census-based audience metric of media includes panel union calculator circuitry to calculate a threshold statistic corresponding to an intermediate union of a panel hierarchy, and census union calculator circuitry to calculate a deduplicated audience value corresponding to the intermediate union of the census hierarchy based on the threshold statistic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2023
    Date of Patent: December 16, 2025
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Michael R. Sheppard, DongBo Cui, David Forteguerre, Jessica Lynn White, Edward Murphy
  • Patent number: 12450620
    Abstract: An example apparatus includes audience metrics collecting circuitry to access first audience metrics from a server, and access second audience metrics from the server, matrix building circuitry to build a matrix of the first audience metrics and the second audience metrics, missing values of the matrix corresponding to the second audience metrics, data transforming circuitry to transform the first audience metrics and the second audience metrics in the matrix, missing value calculating circuitry to determine imputed transformed values of the missing values using a recommender system, and the data transforming circuitry to recover imputed values of the missing values based on the imputed transformed values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2024
    Date of Patent: October 21, 2025
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: DongBo Cui, Edward Murphy, Michael Richard Sheppard, David Forteguerre, Jessica Lynn White, PengFei Yi, Jonathan Sullivan
  • Patent number: 12443971
    Abstract: Methods, systems, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to determine causal effects are disclosed herein. An example apparatus includes a weighting engine to calculate a first set of weights corresponding to a first treatment dataset, a second set of weights corresponding to a second treatment dataset, and a third set of weights corresponding to a control dataset, the weighting engine to increase an operational efficiency of the apparatus by calculating the first set of weights, second set of weights, and third set of weights independently, a weighting response engine to calculate a first weighted response for the first treatment dataset, a second weighted response for the second treatment dataset, and determine a causal effect between the first treatment dataset and the second treatment dataset based on a difference between the first weighted response and the second weighted response, and a report generator to transmit a report to an audience measurement entity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2023
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2025
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Michael Sheppard, Ludo Daemen, Edward Murphy, Remy Spoentgen
  • Patent number: 12436952
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for efficiently estimating the number of unique elements in a collection of elements comprises generating, via hash logic, hash values associated with the elements. The hash values specify bit positions within an array of bits. Hash values output from the hash logic conform to a geometric distribution such that bit positions of the array of bits corresponding to lower orders bits are more likely to be generated than bit positions corresponding to higher-order bits. Bits of the array of bits corresponding to the bit positions are set. The number of bits of the array of bits that are set is counted. Estimation logic estimates the number of unique elements of the collection of elements as a function of the number of bits of the array of bits that are set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2024
    Date of Patent: October 7, 2025
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Michael Sheppard, Edward Murphy, Jonathan Sullivan
  • Patent number: 12432405
    Abstract: Example methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed for network-based monitoring and serving of media to in-vehicle occupants. An example method includes linking panelist data corresponding to media exposure to first telemetry data collected by a vehicle to create linked panelist-telemetry data; and training a neural network to estimate vehicle occupant demographics based on second telemetry data using a first subgroup of the linked panelist-telemetry data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2023
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2025
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Edward Murphy, Kelly Dixon, Jennifer Carton, Francis C. Fasinski, III
  • Publication number: 20250260855
    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: Application
    Filed: January 15, 2025
    Publication date: August 14, 2025
    Inventors: Michael Sheppard, Edward Murphy, Chris Samuel Redino, Michael D. Morgan, Jonathan Sullivan
  • Patent number: 12361439
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed to estimate an audience population. An example apparatus includes processor circuitry; characteristic identifier instructions to be executed by the processor circuitry to determine whether respective ones of respondents are associated with a characteristic; recapture probability estimator instructions to be executed by the processor circuitry to select a recapture probability of the respective ones of respondents; and population estimator instructions to be executed by the processor circuitry to in response to the recapture probability satisfying a recapture threshold, determine a population estimate having the characteristics based on a first model; and in response to the recapture probability not satisfying the recapture threshold, determine the population estimate having the characteristics based on a second model, the second model different than the first model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2023
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2025
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Michael Sheppard, Edward Murphy, Molly Poppie, Ludo Daemen
  • Patent number: 12294764
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture to identify inconsistencies in audience measurement data are disclosed. Example apparatus disclosed herein are to compare ones of a first set of cumulative audience metrics with one or more limits based on a second set of event-level audience metrics to detect an inconsistency in at least one of the first set of cumulative audience metrics or the second set of event-level audience metrics. Disclosed example apparatus are further to generate a report of the inconsistency in the at least one of the first set of event-level audience metrics or the second set of cumulative audience metrics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2025
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Michael Sheppard, Edward Murphy
  • Publication number: 20250133265
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to estimate an audience population. An example apparatus includes at least one memory; instructions in the apparatus; and processor circuitry to execute the instructions to: determine whether respective ones of respondents are associated with a characteristic; detect unique instances of the respective ones of the respondents; in response to the respective ones of the respondents being associated with the characteristic, increase a sample capture count by one; in response to detecting the unique instances of the respective ones of the respondents exhibiting the characteristic, increase a unique capture count by one; determine a seed population estimate based on the unique capture count; and determine a population estimate having the characteristic based on the sample capture count, the unique capture count, the seed population estimate, and a number of available samples.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 19, 2024
    Publication date: April 24, 2025
    Applicant: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Michael Sheppard, Ludo Daemen, Edward Murphy, Molly Poppie
  • Patent number: 12244882
    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: December 21, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2025
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Michael Sheppard, Edward Murphy, Chris Samuel Redino, Michael D. Morgan, Jonathan Sullivan
  • Publication number: 20250036626
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for efficiently estimating the number of unique elements in a collection of elements comprises generating, via hash logic, hash values associated with the elements. The hash values specify bit positions within an array of bits. Hash values output from the hash logic conform to a geometric distribution such that bit positions of the array of bits corresponding to lower orders bits are more likely to be generated than bit positions corresponding to higher-order bits. Bits of the array of bits corresponding to the bit positions are set. The number of bits of the array of bits that are set is counted. Estimation logic estimates the number of unique elements of the collection of elements as a function of the number of bits of the array of bits that are set.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 10, 2024
    Publication date: January 30, 2025
    Inventors: Michael Sheppard, Edward Murphy, Jonathan Sullivan
  • Patent number: 12206942
    Abstract: Example methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed to estimate population reach for different unions based on marginal ratings. An example apparatus includes memory and processor circuitry to determine a population reach estimate of a union of time intervals for which media ratings data is available, the population reach estimate based on a pseudo universe estimate of a population audience corresponding to the union of the time intervals; determine a pseudo universe estimate of a recorded audience corresponding to the union of the time intervals; determine the pseudo universe estimate of the population audience based on the pseudo universe estimate of the recorded audience; and in response to a decision to update the pseudo universe estimate of the population audience to reduce an error of the population reach estimate output the population reach estimate of the union when the error of the population reach estimate satisfies a threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2025
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Michael Sheppard, Jonathan Sullivan, Edward Murphy, Michael Morgan, Ludo Daemen
  • Publication number: 20250021999
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed to determine unique audience size via clustered data. An example apparatus includes memory, machine readable instructions, and processor circuitry to at least one of execute or instantiate the machine readable instructions. The example processor circuitry is to form a first matrix identifying matching and non-matching instances of first values of respective demographics of an audience of media and second values of the respective demographics. Also, the processor circuitry is to normalize the first matrix to generate an account sharing adjustment matrix. Additionally, the processor circuitry is to apply the account sharing adjustment matrix to a vector of one or more counts of impressions of the media to correct for one or more members of the audience that share a user account registered with a database proprietor, the one or more counts of the impressions corresponding to the respective demographics.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 2, 2024
    Publication date: January 16, 2025
    Inventors: Dipti Umesh Shah, Michael R. Sheppard, Jing Liu, Olabode O. Oyeneye, Edward Murphy, Jonathan Sullivan, Matthew Zipoy
  • Publication number: 20250021561
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for efficiently estimating the number of unique elements in a collection of elements comprises generating, via hash logic, hash values for each element of the collection of elements. The method further comprises specifying, in a sketch-frequency table, a set of discrete statistical values associated with the hash values and, for each discrete statistical value of the set of discrete statistical values, information indicative of a frequency at which binary representations of the hash values are associated with the discrete statistical value. The cardinality of the collection of elements is estimated based on the sketch-frequency table.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2024
    Publication date: January 16, 2025
    Inventors: Michael Sheppard, Edward Murphy, Jonathan Sullivan
  • Publication number: 20240422386
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed to generate synthetic respondent level data. Example apparatus disclosed herein include means for generating a synthetic panel corresponding to a duration of time, the means for generating the synthetic panel to: generate a transition matrix corresponding to a first sub-duration of the duration of time and a second sub-duration of the duration of time; generate, based on the transition matrix, a plurality of synthetic panelists and associated viewing data; remove first ones of the synthetic panelists associated with one or more weights that do not satisfy a threshold to generate the synthetic panel corresponding to the duration of time, the synthetic panel representative of audiences of media presented by a plurality of media devices during the duration of time; and generate synthetic respondent level data based on the viewing data associated with remaining second ones of the synthetic panelists.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 3, 2024
    Publication date: December 19, 2024
    Inventors: Michael Sheppard, Jonathan Sullivan, Michael D. Morgan, Balachander Shankar, Edward Murphy, Frank Downing
  • Publication number: 20240397148
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed to estimate population reach from marginal ratings. An example apparatus includes means for iteratively converging on an output estimate of a reach of media for a total population audience and means for outputting the estimate of the reach for the total population audience.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 22, 2024
    Publication date: November 28, 2024
    Inventors: Michael Sheppard, Jonathan Sullivan, Edward Murphy, Michael D. Morgan, Ludo Daemen
  • Patent number: 12154130
    Abstract: A disclosed example includes: at least one memory; instructions; and processor circuitry to execute the instructions to at least: determine a first sum of estimated individual cardinalities of audience members of first and second media platforms; determine a second sum of estimated pairwise cardinalities of ones of the audience members belonging to both the first and second media platforms; and generate lower and upper bound estimates of a deduplicated audience size based on the first and second sums; and send the deduplicated audience size to a computing device via a network communication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2024
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Michael Richard Sheppard, Jonathan Sullivan, Edward Murphy