Abstract: Methods, systems, articles of manufacture, and apparatus to enhance market research data collection quality are disclosed. An example apparatus includes at least one memory: instructions; and at least one processor to execute the instructions to: aggregate marketing and sales data into a pool of data packets associated with different stores, the data packets including collection information associated with sales of a particular product sold at the corresponding ones of the different stores; classify different ones of the data packets into either an accurate data packet set or an inaccurate data packet set; determine whether to request replacement collection information for a first data packet in the inaccurate data packet set; and in response to a determination to request replacement collection information, cause transmission of a request to a data collector to provide the replacement collection information.

Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to control auditing devices, comprising a communications interface to transmit first auditing instructions to the auditing devices, a sampling frequency determiner to collect sampling information corresponding to a first number of stores at a first time, a a sample size determiner to calculate a second number of stores to sample based on the sampling information, and when a difference between the first number of stores and the second number of stores satisfies a threshold, improve an accuracy in the sampling information by calculating second auditing instructions having an updated sampling frequency.

Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems disclosed herein include a work plan generator to generate market vehicle scores corresponding to available market vehicles, the market vehicle scores based on at least one client weight and at least one vehicle metric, and perform a comparison of the market vehicle scores associated with vehicle types to determine a first vehicle assignment and a second vehicle assignment, the first vehicle assignment associated with a first vehicle type, the second vehicle assignment associated with a second vehicle type; and generate first work plans, the first work plans corresponding to (a) a sequence of tasks and (b) a set of corresponding vehicles to execute the sequence of tasks, and a vehicle metrics generator to update vehicle metrics instructions associated with the first vehicle assignment and the second vehicle assignment to facilitate subsequent execution of second work plans, a first subset of the second work plans corresponding to first ones of the sequence of tasks executed by the

Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to monitor auditing devices. An example apparatus includes a workload analyzer to obtain alert data related to a potential new product from an auditing device, and a product analyzer to identify a product within the alert data to determine if the product has been previously identified by another auditing device. In response to determining that the product has not been previously identified, the example apparatus includes an alert analyzer to cluster the alert data based on characteristics associated with an auditor profile of the auditing device, and determine a probability of transmitting the alert data to other auditing devices based on the clustered alert data. The example apparatus also includes an alert authorizer to suppress the alert data from being transmitted to the other auditing devices to reduce an amount of network resources required for subsequent processing when the probability does not satisfy a threshold.

Abstract: Methods, systems, articles of manufacture, and apparatus to monitor the availability of products for purchase are disclosed. An apparatus includes a communications interface to receive market data from data collectors, the market data including stock status data indicative of different stock statuses for a product in different retail establishments. The apparatus further includes a reward profile analyzer reduce error in collection of the stock status data by: generating a reward profile for the market data, the reward profile to define different reward levels for different types of the stock statuses indicated by the stock status data; determining a distribution of rewards among the different data collectors based on the reward profile and different portions of the market data provided by corresponding ones of the different data collectors; and providing the rewards to the different data collectors based on the distribution.

Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to monitor auditing devices. An example apparatus includes a workload analyzer to obtain alert data related to a potential new product from an auditing device, and a product analyzer to identify a product within the alert data to determine if the product has been previously identified by another auditing device. In response to determining that the product has not been previously identified, the example apparatus includes an alert analyzer to cluster the alert data based on characteristics associated with an auditor profile of the auditing device, and determine a probability of transmitting the alert data to other auditing devices based on the clustered alert data. The example apparatus also includes an alert authorizer to suppress the alert data from being transmitted to the other auditing devices to reduce an amount of network resources required for subsequent processing when the probability does not satisfy a threshold.

Abstract: Methods, systems, articles of manufacture, and apparatus to monitor the availability of products for purchase are disclosed. An apparatus includes a communications interface to receive market data from data collectors, the market data including stock status data indicative of different stock statuses for a product in different retail establishments. The apparatus further includes a reward profile analyzer reduce error in collection of the stock status data by: generating a reward profile for the market data, the reward profile to define different reward levels for different types of the stock statuses indicated by the stock status data; determining a distribution of rewards among the different data collectors based on the reward profile and different portions of the market data provided by corresponding ones of the different data collectors; and providing the rewards to the different data collectors based on the distribution.

Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed herein to associate a data collector with a class by executing a classification model using a first data collector characteristic, the first data collector characteristic corresponding to the data collector, the classification model generated by applying a learning algorithm to classification training data, the classification training data including second data collector characteristics of a training group, select the class based on a requested characteristic of a task request from a distribution agent, select the data collector associated with the class, and send the selection to the distribution agent.

Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to control auditing devices, comprising a communications interface to transmit first auditing instructions to the auditing devices, a sampling frequency determiner to collect sampling information corresponding to a first number of stores at a first time, a sample size determiner to calculate a second number of stores to sample based on the sampling information, and when a difference between the first number of stores and the second number of stores satisfies a threshold, improve an accuracy in the sampling information by calculating second auditing instructions having an updated sampling frequency.

Abstract: Methods, systems, articles of manufacture, and apparatus to enhance market research data collection quality are disclosed. An example apparatus includes at least one memory: instructions; and at least one processor to execute the instructions to: aggregate marketing and sales data into a pool of data packets associated with different stores, the data packets including collection information associated with sales of a particular product sold at the corresponding ones of the different stores; classify different ones of the data packets into either an accurate data packet set or an inaccurate data packet set; determine whether to request replacement collection information for a first data packet in the inaccurate data packet set; and in response to a determination to request replacement collection information, cause transmission of a request to a data collector to provide the replacement collection information.

Abstract: Methods, systems, articles of manufacture, and apparatus to monitor the availability of products for purchase are disclosed. An apparatus includes a communications interface to receive market data from data collectors, the market data including stock status data indicative of different stock statuses for a product in different retail establishments. The apparatus further includes a reward profile analyzer reduce error in collection of the stock status data by: generating a reward profile for the market data, the reward profile to define different reward levels for different types of the stock statuses indicated by the stock status data; determining a distribution of rewards among the different data collectors based on the reward profile and different portions of the market data provided by corresponding ones of the different data collectors; and providing the rewards to the different data collectors based on the distribution.

Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to monitor auditing devices. An example apparatus includes a workload analyzer to obtain alert data related to a potential new product from an auditing device, and a product analyzer to identify a product within the alert data to determine if the product has been previously identified by another auditing device. In response to determining that the product has not been previously identified, the example apparatus includes an alert analyzer to cluster the alert data based on characteristics associated with an auditor profile of the auditing device, and determine a probability of transmitting the alert data to other auditing devices based on the clustered alert data. The example apparatus also includes an alert authorizer to suppress the alert data from being transmitted to the other auditing devices to reduce an amount of network resources required for subsequent processing when the probability does not satisfy a threshold.

Abstract: A method, apparatus, computer program product, and decision support system and for allocating hosting-service resources to clients in at least one shared server. The method comprises discovering utilization patterns of the clients; monitoring the clients to discover the utilization patterns; providing bounds specifying minimum and maximum hosting-service resources for each of the clients; modeling dimensions for client user measures and the utilization patterns; and allocating the resources to the clients dependent on the utilization patterns. The step of allocating is also dependent upon the bounds.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and method for optimal clustering of master-slave ad-hoc wireless network for minimizing the number of masters and thereby the number of communication hops. It comprises assigning master or slave status to each node and connecting slave nodes to master nodes to form subgroups based on defined optimization parameters and the constraints and characteristics of the network. After that said subgroups are interconnected to form a single cluster either by connecting a slave node at the boundary of one subgroup to the master of an adjacent subgroup where possible, or by connecting two adjacent master nodes together or by converting a slave node at the boundary to a master and linking it to the slave nodes or master nodes in the adjacent subgroups.

Abstract: A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product are disclosed for allocating hosting-service resources to clients in at least one shared server. In the method, utilization patterns of the clients are discovered. The resources are then allocated to the clients dependent on the utilization patterns. Preferably, the method includes the step of providing bounds specifying minimum and maximum hosting-service resources for each of the clients, with the allocating step also being dependent upon the bounds.