Patent ID: 6230204
Filing Date: 2001-05-08
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A method in a computer system for estimating usage of a specified computer resource that is used by multiple users, the method comprising:identifying a first group of users using computers having access to the specified computer resource;receiving demographic information about the first group of users;selecting some of the first group of users to be a second group of users that is an approximately representative sample of the first group of users based on the received demographic information;for each user of the second group of users,identifying a user's computer used by the user of the second group; andnotifying the user's computer to initiate monitoring of usage of the specified computer resource by the user of the second group and to send information about the monitored usage by the user of the second group to the computer system; andestimating the total usage of the specified computer resource by the first group of users based on the information about the monitored usage by the second group of users and the received demographic information about the first group of users.