# US 8,959,202 B2 · Generating statistics of popular content > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 8,959,202 B2 - Document ID: US8959202B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 12/922,580 - Filed: 2009-03-18 - Published: 2011-03-17 - Granted: 2015-02-17 - Earliest claimed: 2008-03-18 - Assignees: Civolution B.V. - Applicants: Jaap Andre Haitsma; Gerrit Cornelis Langelaar; Mehmet Utku Celik; Martijn Maas - Inventors: Jaap Andre Haitsma; Gerrit Cornelis Langelaar; Mehmet Utku Celik; Martijn Maas - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8959202B2 ## CPC - G06Q 30/00: Commerce - 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 ## Abstract Client terminals report an easy-to-calculate identifier such as the Internet URL or a cryptographic hash of the content to a server. The server collects and counts the reported identifiers so as to obtain preliminary statistics. By aggregating these reported identifiers into the preliminary statistics, identifiers are revealed that are likely popular content. The server selects one or more identifiers from the preliminary statistics and makes these available to at least a subset of clients. The clients that obtain these one or more identifiers then access content and compute the easy-to-calculate identifiers as usual. If the computed identifier matches one of the identifiers obtained from the server, the client will additionally extract a watermarked identifier or compute a digital fingerprint of the content in question and report this to the server. The server then uses the received identifier or fingerprint to create final statistics by aggregating the preliminary statistics. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of a client terminal identifying content available on a network, the content comprising content data and the method comprising: obtaining a selection of identifiers of a first kind from a content statistics server device, an identifier of the first kind being calculatable and identifying content by means of at least part of the content data; computing an identifier of the first kind while accessing the content; matching the computed identifier of the first kind with the identifiers in the selection; computing an identifier of a second kind if the identifier of the first kind is in the selection, an identifier of the second kind being robust and identifying content on the basis of content characteristics; sending the identifier of the second kind associated with the identifier of the first kind to the content statistics server device. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, further comprising sending only the identifier of the first kind to the content statistics server device if the identifier of the first kind is not in the selection. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein an identifier of the first kind is computed using at least one of content name, content format, content location, a selection from the content data, an arithmetic function of at least part of the content data and a hash function of at least part of the content data. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein an identifier of the second kind is an identifier computed using at least one of watermark detection and fingerprint extraction. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) A client terminal comprising a processing unit for performing the method of identifying content available on a network according to claim 1. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) A computer program product, comprising a storage device accessible by a client terminal, having stored thereon computer instructions, which when loaded and executed by the client terminal perform the method of a client terminal identifying content available on a network according to claim 1. ### Claim 7 A method of a content statistics server device generating statistics associated with content available on a network, the content comprising content data and the method comprising: receiving an identifier of a first kind indicating the content from a client terminal, an identifier of the first kind being calculatable and identifying content by means of at least part of the content data; generating preliminary content statistics associated with the identifier of the first kind; selecting identifiers of the first kind according to a selection criterion based on the generated preliminary content statistics; providing the selection of identifiers of the first kind to a plurality of client terminals; receiving an identifier of a second kind identifier associated with the identifier of the first kind from the list from one of the plurality of client terminals, an identifier of the second kind being robust and identifying content on the basis of content characteristics; aggregating the preliminary content statistics into final content statistics associated with the identifier of the second kind. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The method according to claim 7, wherein the selecting identifiers of the first kind according to a selection criterion based on the generated preliminary content statistics comprises: ranking the identifiers by the associated generated preliminary content statistics; and selecting a predetermined number of top ranked identifiers of the first kind. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The method according to claim 7, further comprising removing the identifier of the first kind from the selection once an associated identifier of the second kind has been received. ### Claim 10 (depends on 7) The method according to claim 7, wherein an identifier of the first kind is computed using at least one of content name, content format, content location, a selection from the content data, an arithmetic function of at least part of the content data and a hash function of at least part of the content data. ### Claim 11 (depends on 7) The method according to claim 7, wherein an identifier of the second kind is an identifier computed using at least one of watermark detection and fingerprint extraction. ### Claim 12 (depends on 7) A content statistics server device arranged for performing the method of generating statistics associated with content available on a network according to claim 7. ### Claim 13 (depends on 7, 12) The content statistics server device according to claim 12, comprising a processing module for performing the method of generating statistics associated with content available on a network according to claim 7 and a communication module for communicating with a plurality of client terminals via a network, the processing module cooperating with the communication module. ### Claim 14 (depends on 7) A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory storage device accessible by a content statistics server device, having stored thereon computer instructions which when loaded and executed by the content statistics server device perform the method of generating statistics associated with content available on a network according to claim 7.