US 12,238,374 B2
Methods and apparatus for a window-metric rule
Paul Chimenti, Tampa, FL (US); David J. Kurzynski, South Elgin, IL (US); Denis Voytenko, Oldsmar, FL (US); and Joshua Zinzer, Chicago, IL (US)
Assigned to The Nielsen Company (US), LLC, New York, NY (US)
Filed by The Nielsen Company (US), LLC, New York, NY (US)
Filed on Jan. 12, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/153,898.
Application 18/153,898 is a continuation of application No. 17/344,638, filed on Jun. 10, 2021, granted, now 11,558,662.
Application 17/344,638 is a continuation of application No. 16/222,771, filed on Dec. 17, 2018, granted, now 11,039,207, issued on Jun. 15, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2023/0224537 A1, Jul. 13, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. H04N 21/442 (2011.01); G06F 16/48 (2019.01)
CPC H04N 21/44213 (2013.01) [G06F 16/489 (2019.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus comprising:
a processor; and
a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon program instructions that, upon execution by the processor, cause performance of a set of operations comprising:
obtaining, from a monitored site, return path data of a plurality of physical households from a plurality of media devices including at least one of an Internet-enabled mobile device or at least one smart television, the plurality of media devices coupled to a plurality of set-top boxes (STBs), wherein each respective portion of the return path data includes a respective household identifier for a respective physical household of the plurality of physical households and a STB identifier of the plurality of STBs;
for each physical household of the plurality of physical households and based on the respective household identifier:
sorting the return path data into the respective portions of the return path data according to the respective household identifier;
computing a first count of the plurality of media devices that reported the respective portion of the return path data from the respective STB of the monitored site during a first time period; and
determining whether to prevent the respective portion of the return path data reported from the respective STB of the monitored site during the first time period from being used to credit media exposure for the first time period based on comparison of the first count of the plurality of media devices to a value, the value based on one or more prior counts of the plurality of media devices that reported the respective portion of the return path data from of the monitored site during respective one or more prior time periods before the first time period.