# US 2014/0208341 A1 · Methods and apparatus to maintain audience privacy while determining viewing of video-on-demand programs

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- Number: US 2014/0208341 A1
- Document ID: US20140208341A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 14/223,560
- Filed: 2014-03-24
- Published: 2014-07-24
- Earliest claimed: 2004-04-23
- Assignees: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
- Applicants: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC.
- Inventors: Arun Ramaswamy; Robert A. Luff
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140208341A1

## CPC

- H04N 21/442: Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk {(arrangements for monitoring broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/29; arrangements for identifying or recognising characteristics with a direct linkage to broadcast information H04H60/35; monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; monitoring in wireless networks H04W24/00)}
- H04H 20/14: for monitoring programmes
- H04H 60/372: {Programme}
- H04H 60/40: for identifying broadcast time
- H04H 60/45: for identifying users
- H04H 60/59: of video {(recognising characters or patterns in general G06F18/00, G06V20/00)}
- H04H 60/64: for providing detail information
- H04N 7/173: with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal
- H04N 21/254: Management at additional data server, e.g. shopping server, rights management server {(arrangements for maintenance or administration in data networks H04L41/00; network services using third party service providers H04L67/53)}
- H04N 21/25866: {Management of end-user data (customer care in data networks H04L41/5077)}
- 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)}
- H04N 21/47202: {for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand}
- H04N 21/6582: {Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number (arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38)}
- H04N 21/8352: involving content or source identification data, e.g. Unique Material Identifier [UMID]
- H04H 60/43: for identifying broadcast channels
- H04H 60/58: of audio {(determination or detection of speech characteristics in general G10L25/00; speech recognition in general G10L15/00)}
- H04H 2201/90: characterised by the use of signatures
- H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04H: BROADCAST COMMUNICATION (multiplex communication H04J; pictorial communication aspects of broadcast systems H04N)

## Abstract

Methods and apparatus to maintain audience privacy while determining viewing of video-on-demand (VOD) programs are disclosed. An example method disclosed herein comprises obtaining subscriber metering data from a site metering device monitoring presentation of VOD content at a first subscriber site, obtaining server metering data from a VOD server, the server metering data including identification information for a plurality of subscriber sites to identify particular VOD content provided uniquely to each of the subscriber sites, the identification information manipulated to preserve anonymity of the plurality of subscriber sites, manipulating at least a portion of the subscriber metering data to determine a first manipulated identifier to identify the first subscriber site, and using the first manipulated identifier to cross-reference the manipulated identification information included in the server metering data to merge the subscriber metering data and the portion of the server metering data uniquely associated with the first subscriber site.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method to monitor presentation of video-on-demand (VOD) media, the method comprising:
obtaining subscriber metering data from a site metering device monitoring presentation of first VOD media at a first subscriber site;
obtaining server metering data from a VOD server that is to provide VOD media including the first VOD media to a plurality of subscriber sites including the first subscriber site, the server metering data including first information associated with the first subscriber site, the first information indicating that the first VOD media has been provided to the first subscriber site, the first information being manipulated to preserve anonymity of the first subscriber site;
obtaining, based on a metering device identifier associated with the subscriber metering data, a first media device identifier and first subscriber identification information, the first media device identifier identifying a first media device used to present the first VOD media at the first subscriber site, the first subscriber identification information identifying a first subscriber associated with the first subscriber site; and
combining the first media device identifier and the first subscriber identification information to determine a first manipulated identifier to match a second manipulated identifier included in the server metering data to identify the first information associated with the first subscriber site.