# US 12,010,140 B1 · Metering interactive electronic activities > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,010,140 B1 - Document ID: US12010140B1 - Status: Granted - Kind: B1 - Application number: 17/092,511 - Filed: 2020-11-09 - Granted: 2024-06-11 - Earliest claimed: 2020-11-09 - Assignees: Amazon Technologies, Inc. - Applicants: Amazon Technologies, Inc. - Inventors: Jennie Tietema; Aaron Friedman; Giridhar Kalpathy Narayanan; Siddhartha Shankara Rao - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12010140B1 ## CPC - H04L 63/1466: {Active attacks involving interception, injection, modification, spoofing of data unit addresses, e.g. hijacking, packet injection or TCP sequence number attacks} - H04L 12/1439: {time-based} - H04L 63/102: {Entity profiles} - H04L 65/403: Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences (data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15) - H04L 67/535: {Tracking the activity of the user (network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34)} - H04L 67/306: User profiles - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) ## Abstract Implementations for metering media conferences based on active users are described. A plurality of media conferences are established by a media conferencing service. Unique users participating in the media conferences are determined. A number of times that each unique user uses the media conferencing service during a first time period is determined. A metric for use of the media conferencing service is determined based on the number of times that each unique user uses the media conferencing service. The metric for using the media conferencing service is output. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A computer implemented method comprising: establishing, by a media conferencing service, a plurality of media conferences; receiving, in response to establishing the plurality of media conferences, a shadow object from each of a plurality of devices participating in each of the plurality of media conferences; determining that the shadow object from each of the plurality of devices matches a corresponding shadow object maintained by the media conferencing service; determining that a fingerprint for each device matches a corresponding fingerprint maintained by the media conferencing service, the fingerprint comprising a plurality of characteristics that are used to identify each device; identifying unique users participating in the media conferences based at least on the fingerprints and the shadow objects; determining a ratio corresponding to a number of unique fingerprints divided by a number of unique users; and limiting access to the media conferencing service based on a comparison of the ratio to a threshold. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of characteristics that are used to identify each device comprise at least one of data transmission activity, content access activity, a location, an IP address, a browser identifier, a user identifier, a MAC address, a user agent, an operating system identifier, or hardware characteristics. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein each media conference is at least one of an audio conference, a video conference, a chat session, or a gaming session. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: aggregating a number of times that each unique user uses the media conferencing service during a first time period; and determining, for the first time period, a metric for using the media conferencing service based on the number of times that each unique user uses the media conferencing service; and outputting, to a subscription service, the metric for using the media conferencing service. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The computer implemented method of claim 4, wherein the metric for using the media conferencing service comprises a cost for using the media conferencing service. ### Claim 6 One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media having stored thereon computing instructions that, upon execution by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform operations comprising: establishing, by a media conferencing service, a plurality of media conferences; receiving, in response to establishing the plurality of media conferences, a shadow object from each of a plurality of devices participating in each of the plurality of media conferences; determining that the shadow object from each of the plurality of devices matches a corresponding shadow object maintained by the media conferencing service; determining that a fingerprint for each device matches a corresponding fingerprint maintained by the media conferencing service, the fingerprint comprising a plurality of characteristics that are used to identify each device; identifying unique users participating in the media conferences based at least on the fingerprints and the shadow objects; determining a ratio corresponding to a number of unique fingerprints divided by a number of unique users; and limiting access to the media conferencing service based on a comparison of the ratio to a threshold. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 6, wherein the plurality of characteristics that are used to identify each device comprise at least one of data transmission activity, content access activity, a location, an IP address, a browser identifier, a user identifier, a MAC address, a user agent, an operating system identifier, or hardware characteristics. ### Claim 8 (depends on 6) The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 6, wherein each media conference is at least one of an audio conference, a video conference, a chat session, or a gaming session. ### Claim 9 (depends on 6) The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 6, wherein the operations further comprise: aggregating a number of times that each unique user uses the media conferencing service during a first time period; and determining, for the first time period, a metric for using the media conferencing service based on the number of times that each unique user uses the media conferencing service; and outputting, to a subscription service, the metric for using the media conferencing service. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein the metric for using the media conferencing service comprises a cost for using the media conferencing service. ### Claim 11 A computing system comprising: one or more processors; and one or more memories having stored therein instructions that, upon execution by the one or more processors, cause the computing system to perform computing operations comprising: establishing, by a media conferencing service, a plurality of media conferences; receiving, in response to establishing the plurality of media conferences, a shadow object from each of a plurality of devices participating in each of the plurality of media conferences; determining that the shadow object from each of the plurality of devices matches a corresponding shadow object maintained by the media conferencing service; determining that a fingerprint for each device matches a corresponding fingerprint maintained by the media conferencing service, the fingerprint comprising a plurality of characteristics that are used to identify each device; identifying unique users participating in the media conferences based at least on the fingerprints and the shadow objects; determining a ratio corresponding to a number of unique fingerprints divided by a number of unique users; and limiting access to the media conferencing service based on a comparison of the ratio to a threshold. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The computing system of claim 11, wherein the plurality of characteristics that are used to identify each device comprise at least one of data transmission activity, content access activity, a location, an IP address, a browser identifier, a user identifier, a MAC address, a user agent, an operating system identifier, or hardware characteristics. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The computing system of claim 11, wherein each media conference is at least one of an audio conference, a video conference, a chat session, or a gaming session. ### Claim 14 (depends on 11) The computing system of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise: aggregating a number of times that each unique user uses the media conferencing service during a first time period; and determining, for the first time period, a metric for using the media conferencing service based on the number of times that each unique user uses the media conferencing service; and outputting, to a subscription service, the metric for using the media conferencing service. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The computing system of claim 14, wherein the metric for using the media conferencing service comprises a cost for using the media conferencing service.