# US 12,118,575 B2 · Methods and apparatus to apply household-level weights to household-member level audience measurement data > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,118,575 B2 - Document ID: US12118575B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 18/187,076 - Filed: 2023-03-21 - Published: 2023-07-13 - Granted: 2024-10-15 - Earliest claimed: 2015-09-25 - Assignees: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC - Applicants: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC - Inventors: Michael Sheppard; Jonathan Sullivan; Peter Lipa; Alejandro Terrazas - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12118575B2 ## CPC - G06Q 30/0201: Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data - G06Q 30/0204: Market segmentation - H04N 21/258: Client or end-user data management, e.g. managing client capabilities, user preferences or demographics, processing of multiple end-users preferences to derive collaborative data {(arrangements for services using the result on the distributing side of broadcast systems H04H60/66; profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/30)} - H04N 21/25883: {being end-user demographical data, e.g. age, family status or address (arrangements for identifying locations of users in broadcast systems H04H60/52)} - H04N 21/42684: {Client identification by a unique number or address, e.g. serial number, MAC address, socket ID (network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming H04L61/00)} - H04N 21/44213: {Monitoring of end-user related data (arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33)} - H04N 21/44222: {Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programmes or purchase activity (monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33)} - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION ## Abstract Methods and apparatus to apply household-level weights to audience measurement data at a household-member level are disclosed. An example method to determine demographics of populations to measure media audiences of populations includes determining demographics for members of a first household of a sub-population. First demographics of a first member of the first household are different than second demographics of a second member of the first household. The example method includes calculating a first household-level weight for the first household based on a demographics distribution of the sub-population and aggregate demographics of a population. The example method includes applying the first household-level weight to the first demographics of the first member, applying the first household-level weight to the second demographics of the second member, and estimating a demographics distribution of the population to measure a media audience of the population based on the weighted first demographics and the weighted second demographics. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for estimating audience measurements by applying household-level weights to household-member-level demographics, the method comprising: determining, by a computing system, a first household-level weight for a first household and a second household-level weight for a second household based on household-member-level demographics data for respective members of the first household, household-member-level demographics data for respective members of the second household, and aggregate demographics data of a population, wherein the population includes the first and second households and additional households, wherein the household-member-level demographics data for the respective members of the first household indicates that a first member of the first household and a second member of the first household belong to different demographic constraints; obtaining, by the computing system, tuning data indicating that a media presentation device of the first household and a media presentation device of the second household were both tuned to a media event; estimating, by the computing system, a first quantity of audience members of the population for the media event belonging to a first given demographic constraint by: determining, based on the household-member-level demographics data for the respective members of the first household and the household-member-level demographics data for the respective members of the second household, that at least one member of the first household and at least one member of the second household belong to the first given demographic constraint, wherein the at least one member of the first household belonging to the first given demographic constraint includes the first member of the first household, and based on the determining that the at least one member of the first household and the at least one member of the second household belong to the first given demographic constraint, adding the first household-level weight scaled according to a quantity of the at least one member of the first household belonging to the first given demographic constraint together with the second household-level weight scaled according to a quantity of the at least one member of the second household belonging to the first given demographic constraint; and estimating, by the computing system, a second quantity of audience members of the population for the media event belonging to a second given demographic constraint different from the first given demographic constraint by: determining, based on the household-member-level demographics data for the respective members of the first household, that at least one member of the first household belongs to the second given demographic constraint, wherein the at least one member of the first household belonging to the second given demographic constraint includes the second member of the first household but not the first member of the first household; and based on the determining that the at least one member of the first household belongs to the second given demographic constraint, scaling the first household-level weight according to a quantity of the at least one member of the first household belonging to the second given demographic constraint. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the tuning data does not indicate which of the respective members of the first household were exposed to media presented during the media event. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the media presentation device of the first household is a set-top box or a television. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, further comprising: generating, using the household-member-level demographics data for the respective members of the first household and the household-member-level demographics data for the respective members of the second household, a data structure storing data indicative of which of multiple demographic constraints the respective members of the first household belong to and which of the multiple demographic constraints the respective members of the second household belong to, and wherein determining the first household-level weight and the second household-level weight by determining the first household-level weight and the second household-level weight using the data structure. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The method of claim 4, wherein the data structure is a matrix that stores data indicative of quantities of the respective members of the first household that belong to respective demographic constraints of the multiple demographic constraints and quantities of the respective members of the second household that belong to the respective demographic constraints. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the first household, the second household and the additional households are collectively representative of a television viewing audience, wherein the additional households include a first subset of households that are represented amongst the tuning data and a second subset of households that are not represented amongst the tuning data. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the first household-level weight is applicable to all of the respective members of the first household regardless of the demographic constraints to which the respective members of the first household belong. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: producing ratings for the media event based on the estimated first quantity of audience members of the population belonging to the first given demographic constraint and based on the estimated second quantity of audience members of the population belonging to the second given demographic constraint; and outputting an indication of the produced ratings for the media event. ### Claim 9 A computing system for estimating an audience measurement by applying household-level weights to household-member-level demographics, the computing system configured to perform a set of acts comprising: determining a first household-level weight for a first household and a second household-level weight for a second household based on household-member-level demographics data for respective members of the first household, household-member-level demographics data for respective members of the second household, and aggregate demographics data of a population, wherein the population includes the first and second households and additional households, wherein the household-member-level demographics data for the respective members of the first household indicates that a first member of the first household and a second member of the first household belong to different demographic constraints; obtaining tuning data indicating that a media presentation device of the first household and a media presentation device of the second household were both tuned to a media event; estimating a first quantity of audience members of the population for the media event belonging to a first given demographic constraint by: determining, based on the household-member-level demographics data for the respective members of the first household and the household-member-level demographics data for the respective members of the second household, that at least one member of the first household and at least one member of the second household belong to the first given demographic constraint, wherein the at least one member of the first household belonging to the first given demographic constraint includes the first member of the first household, and based on the determining that the at least one member of the first household and the at least one member of the second household belong to the first given demographic constraint, adding the first household-level weight scaled according to a quantity of the at least one member of the first household belonging to the first given demographic constraint together with the second household-level weight scaled according to a quantity of the at least one member of the second household belonging to the first given demographic constraint; and estimating a second quantity of audience members of the population for the media event belonging to a second given demographic constraint different from the first given demographic constraint by: determining, based on the household-member-level demographics data for the respective members of the first household, that at least one member of the first household belongs to the second given demographic constraint, wherein the at least one member of the first household belonging to the second given demographic constraint includes the second member of the first household but not the first member of the first household; and based on the determining that the at least one member of the first household belongs to the second given demographic constraint, scaling the first household-level weight according to a quantity of the at least one member of the first household belonging to the second given demographic constraint. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The computing system of claim 9, wherein the tuning data does not indicate which of the respective members of the first household were exposed to media presented during the media event. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The computing system of claim 10, wherein the media presentation device of the first household is a set-top box or a television. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The computing system of claim 11, wherein: the set of acts further comprises generating, using the household-member-level demographics data for the respective members of the first household and the household-member-level demographics data for the respective members of the second household, a data structure storing data indicative of which of multiple demographic constraints the respective members of the first household belong to and which of the multiple demographic constraints the respective members of the second household belong to, and determining the first household-level weight and the second household-level weight includes determining the first household-level weight and the second household-level weight using the data structure. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The computing system of claim 12, wherein the data structure is a matrix that stores data indicative of respective quantities of the respective members of the first household that belong to respective demographic constraints of the multiple demographic constraints and respective quantities of the respective members of the second household that belong to the respective demographic constraints. ### Claim 14 (depends on 9) The computing system of claim 9, wherein the first household, the second household and the additional households are collectively representative of a television viewing audience, wherein the additional households include a first subset of households that are represented amongst the tuning data and a second subset of households that are not represented amongst the tuning data. ### Claim 15 (depends on 9) The computing system of claim 9, wherein the first household-level weight is applicable to all of the respective members of the first household regardless of the demographic constraints to which the respective members of the first household belong. ### Claim 16 (depends on 9) The computing system of claim 9, wherein the set of acts further comprises: producing ratings for the media event based on the estimated first quantity of audience members of the population belonging to the first given demographic constraint and based on the estimated second quantity of audience members of the population belonging to the second given demographic constraint; and outputting an indication of the produced ratings for the media event. ### Claim 17 A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform a set of acts comprising: determining a first household-level weight for a first household and a second household-level weight for a second household based on household-member-level demographics data for respective members of the first household, household-member-level demographics data for respective members of the second household, and aggregate demographics data of a population, wherein the population includes the first and second households and additional households, wherein the household-member-level demographics data for the respective members of the first household indicates that a first member of the first household and a second member of the first household belong to different demographic constraints; obtaining tuning data indicating that a media presentation device of the first household and a media presentation device of the second household were both tuned to a media event; estimating a first quantity of audience members of the population for the media event belonging to a first given demographic constraint by: determining, based on the household-member-level demographics data for the respective members of the first household and the household-member-level demographics data for the respective members of the second household, that at least one member of the first household and at least one member of the second household belong to the first given demographic constraint, wherein the at least one member of the first household belonging to the first given demographic constraint includes the first member of the first household, and based on the determining that the at least one member of the first household and the at least one member of the second household belong to the first given demographic constraint, adding the first household-level weight scaled according to a quantity of the at least one member of the first household belonging to the first given demographic constraint together with the second household-level weight scaled according to a quantity of the at least one member of the second household belonging to the first given demographic constraint; and estimating a second quantity of audience members of the population for the media event belonging to a second given demographic constraint different from the first given demographic constraint by: determining, based on the household-member-level demographics data for the respective members of the first household, that at least one member of the first household belongs to the second given demographic constraint, wherein the at least one member of the first household belonging to the second given demographic constraint includes the second member of the first household but not the first member of the first household; and based on the determining that the at least one member of the first household belongs to the second given demographic constraint, scaling the first household-level weight according to a quantity of the at least one member of the first household belonging to the second given demographic constraint. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the tuning data does not indicate which of the respective members of the first household were exposed to media presented during the media event. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the media presentation device of the first household is a set-top box or a television. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein: the set of acts further comprises generating, using the household-member-level demographics data for the respective members of the first household and the household-member-level demographics data for the respective members of the second household, a data structure storing data indicative of which of multiple demographic constraints the respective members of the first household belong to and which of the multiple demographic constraints the respective members of the second household belong to, and determining the first household-level weight and the second household-level weight includes determining the first household-level weight and the second household-level weight using the data structure. ### Claim 21 (depends on 20) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the data structure is a matrix that stores data indicative of respective quantities of the respective members of the first household that belong to respective demographic constraints of the multiple demographic constraints and respective quantities of the respective members of the second household that belong to the respective demographic constraints. ### Claim 22 (depends on 17) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the first household, the second household and the additional households are collectively representative of a television viewing audience, wherein the additional households include a first subset of households that are represented amongst the tuning data and a second subset of households that are not represented amongst the tuning data. ### Claim 23 (depends on 17) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the first household-level weight is applicable to all of the respective members of the first household regardless of the demographic constraints to which the respective members of the first household belong. ### Claim 24 (depends on 17) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the set of acts further comprises: producing ratings for the media event based on the estimated first quantity of audience members of the population belonging to the first given demographic constraint and based on the estimated second quantity of audience members of the population belonging to the second given demographic constraint; and outputting an indication of the produced ratings for the media event.