Patent Publication Number: US-2015073893-A1

Title: Systems and methods of tracking conversions by location

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/874,938, filed Sep. 6, 2013, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     Many advertisers publicize products and/or services that are available at physical locations using online and/or mobile advertising. For example, a department store may create an online ad campaign for sale prices that are available in-store only. However, advertisers also wish to be able to connect the loop between the presentation of an advertisement to a potential customer and the eventual acquisition of that customer. Online advertising impressions can be connected to online purchases of the advertised product or service when the same computing device is used to present the advertisement to the user and to purchase the advertised product or service. However, when the product or service being advertised in an online advertisement is made available at a physical location, this type of conversion tracking is not available. What is desired are systems and methods that allow conversions to be generated when an end user visits a physical location in response to being presented an online or mobile advertisement. 
     SUMMARY 
     This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. 
     In some embodiments, a computer-implemented method for determining advertising effectiveness is provided. An end user computing device generates an impression for an advertisement presented to an end user. The end user computing device monitors a location of the end user computing device, and generates a conversion for the advertisement in response to determining that a geofence condition associated with the advertisement has been satisfied based on the monitored location of the end user computing device. 
     In some embodiments, a system for determining advertising effectiveness is provided. The system comprises a tracking data store and a tracking engine. The tracking data store is configured to store a set of advertising impression records and a set of advertising conversion records. The tracking engine is configured to create an advertising impression record in the tracking data store in response to receiving an impression notification that indicates that an advertisement was presented to an end user; and to create an advertising conversion record in the tracking data store in response to receiving a conversion notification that indicates that a location of an end user computing device associated with the end user satisfied a geofence condition associated with the advertisement. 
     In some embodiments, a nontransitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon is provided. The instructions, in response to execution by one or more processors of an end user computing device, cause the end user computing device to perform actions for determining advertising effectiveness. The actions comprise generating, by the end user computing device, an impression for an advertisement presented to an end user; monitoring, by the end user computing device, a location of the end user computing device; and generating, by the end user computing device, a conversion for the advertisement in response to determining that a geofence condition associated with the advertisement has been satisfied based on the monitored location of the end user computing device. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will become more readily appreciated as the same become better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram that illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a tracking ecosystem according to various aspects of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram that illustrates details of an exemplary embodiment of an end user computing device, an advertisement providing computing device, a customer computing device, and a tracking system according to various aspects of the present disclosure; 
         FIGS. 3A-3B  are a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a method of detecting ad conversions based on user location information according to various aspects of the present disclosure 
         FIG. 4  illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a tracking link page generated by the management interface engine according to various aspects of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 5  is a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a procedure for using a tracking system to monitor a location of an end user computing device according to various aspects of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 6  is a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a procedure for monitoring a location of an end user computing device by the device itself, according to various aspects of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 7  is a flowchart that illustrates another exemplary embodiment of a procedure for monitoring a location of an end user computing device by the device itself, according to various aspects of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 8  is an illustration of an exemplary reports page generated by the management interface engine that may be used to analyze advertising performance and to display credits provided to attributed ad providers according to various aspects of the present disclosure; and 
         FIG. 9  is a diagram of hardware and an operating environment in conjunction with which implementations of the one or more computing devices of the ecosystem may be practiced. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Tracking System Overview 
       FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram that illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a tracking ecosystem  100  according to various aspects of the present disclosure. The tracking ecosystem  100  may be configured to match advertisement impressions with a subsequent visit to a location associated with the presented advertisements. This matching may allow ad conversions to be recorded and attributed to the appropriate party or parties that provided (e.g., distributed and/or displayed) the selected advertisements. 
     As illustrated, the system  100  includes a tracking system  120 . The tracking system  120  includes one or more computing devices  122 . In the embodiment illustrated, the computing devices  122  include a tracking server  122 A, a storage service server  122 B, and a management interface server  122 C. In alternate embodiments, the computing devices  122  may include multiple tracking servers, multiple storage service servers, and/or multiple management interface servers. In some embodiments, the storage service server  122 B is external to (and optionally remote from) the tracking system  120 . In other embodiments, the functionality of the tracking server  122 A and the storage service server  122 B may be combined on a single computing device (not shown). In some embodiments, the functionality of the tracking server  122 A and the management interface server  122 C may be combined on a single computing device (not shown). The tracking system  120  is not limited to the use of a particular number of computing devices to implement the functionality of the tracking server  122 A, the storage service server  122 B, and the management interface server  122 C. 
     The system  100  also includes one or more computing devices  132  operated by one or more Advertisers/Merchants  130 , one or more computing devices  142  operated by one or more Mobile Advertising Networks  140 , one or more computing devices  152  operated by one or more Mobile Advertising Publishers  150 , a plurality of computing devices  162  operated by a plurality of End Users  160 , and one or more computing devices  172  operated by one or more Application Providers  170 . 
     As is apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, in some embodiments, a single entity may function as one of the Advertisers/Merchants  130 , one of the Mobile Advertising Networks  140 , and one of the Mobile Advertising Publishers  150 , even though they are illustrated in  FIG. 1  as separate entities. Such an entity may operate one or more computing devices (not shown) that perform the functions of the computing devices  132 ,  142 , and  152 . 
     The Advertisers/Merchants  130  include companies that wish to advertise products and/or services. In some embodiments, the products and/or services may be available at one or more brick-and-mortar locations. For example, an advertiser/merchant  130  may include a proprietor of a retail store attempting to increase foot traffic to their store. 
     The Mobile Advertising Networks  140  include companies that help distribute advertisements for the Advertisers/Merchants  130  for presentation to end users. The Mobile Advertising Networks  140  may provide services to Mobile Advertising Publishers  150  that allow Mobile Advertising Publishers  150  to present advertisements received from the Mobile Advertising Networks  140  to end users. Non-limiting examples of such companies include Google (the AdWords platform), Apple (the iAd platform), Millennial Media, Tapjoy, InMobi, Advertising.com, AdColony, Jumptap, Nexage, and the like. 
     The Mobile Advertising Publishers  150  include providers of web sites and mobile applications that display advertisements. Non-limiting examples of such companies include Pandora, Spotify, Facebook, Twitter, Bittorrent.com, The Weather Channel, and any other application or website provider that displays advertisements. In some embodiments, a company may act as both a Mobile Advertising Network  140  and a Mobile Advertising Publisher  150 . 
     The End Users  160  include people who use the computing devices  162  and view advertisements, such as those created by the Advertisers/Merchants  130 , distributed by the Mobile Advertising Networks  140 , and/or displayed by the Mobile Advertising Publishers  150 . The End Users  160  may also use the computing devices  162  to purchase, download, install, and/or interact with applications provided by the Application Providers  170 . 
     The Application Providers  170  include companies that provide installable applications to the End Users  160 . Non-limiting examples of such companies include “app stores,” such as iTunes App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore, and the like. The one or more computing devices  172  may be configured to generate a download page (not shown) from which an application may be purchased, downloaded, and/or installed. The download page may be implemented as a webpage. The installable applications may include advertising functionality configured to present advertisements to the end user and to report tracking information to be consumed by the tracking system  120 . 
     The computing devices  122 ,  132 ,  142 ,  152 ,  162 , and  172  are connected to one another by a network  180  (e.g., the Internet). Each of the computing devices  122 ,  132 ,  142 ,  152 ,  162 , and  172  may be implemented using a computing device similar to the computing device  12  illustrated in  FIG. 9  and described below. By way of non-limiting examples, the computing devices  162  have been illustrated as including a cellular telephone  162 A, a personal computer  162 B (e.g., a desktop computer), and a tablet computer  162 C. Each of the computing devices  162  may be configured to implement an advertisement displaying application. 
     Tracking Advertising Impressions and Measuring Conversions Based on Location Information 
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram that illustrates details of an exemplary embodiment of an end user computing device  162 A, an advertisement providing computing device  242 , a customer computing device  132 A, and a tracking system  120  according to various aspects of the present disclosure. 
     The tracking server  122 A is configured to provide a tracking engine  124  that communicates with the storage service server  122 B. In general, the term “engine” as used herein refers to logic embodied in hardware or software instructions, which can be written in a programming language, such as C, C++, Objective-C, COBOL, JAVA™, PHP, Perl, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Ruby, VBScript, ASPX, Microsoft .NET™ languages such as C#, and/or the like. An engine may be compiled into executable programs or written in interpreted programming languages. Software engines may be callable from other engines or from themselves. Generally, the engines described herein refer to logical modules that can be merged with other engines or applications, or can be divided into sub-engines. The engines can be stored in any type of computer-readable medium or computer storage device and be stored on and executed by one or more general purpose computers, thus creating a special purpose computer configured to provide the engine. 
     The storage service server  122 B is configured to provide a tracking data store  125  that stores click tracking, impression, conversion, and/or location information received from the tracking server  122 A and/or the management interface server  122 C. As understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, a “data store” as described herein may be any suitable device configured to store data for access by a computing device. One example of a data store is a highly reliable, high-speed relational database management system (DBMS) executing on one or more computing devices and accessible over a high-speed network. However, any other suitable storage technique and/or device capable of quickly and reliably providing the stored data in response to queries may be used, and the computing device may be accessible locally instead of over a network, or may be provided as a cloud-based service. A data store may also include data stored in an organized manner on a computer-readable storage medium, as described further below. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that separate data stores described herein may be combined into a single data store, and/or a single data store described herein may be separated into multiple data stores, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. 
     In some embodiments, the tracking data store  125  is configured to store tracking information  182  that includes one or more of a set of ad impression records  126 , a set of ad click records  213 , a set of ad conversion records  214 , an optional set of user location records  216 , and an optional set of geofence records  210 . The set of user location records  216  and the set of geofence records  210  are optional because in some embodiments, a location of the end user computing device  162 A is not monitored by the tracking system  120 , but is instead monitored locally on the end user computing device  162 A. 
     Each of the ad impression records  126  represents an occurrence of a given advertisement being presented to an end user. Each of the ad click records  213  represents an occurrence of a click (or other tracked interaction) associated with the presented advertisement. Each of the ad conversion records  214  represents an occurrence of an end user taking an action that was meant to be encouraged by an associated advertisement. In one example, an advertisement for a sale at a department store may be presented to the user. The user may then go to the department store to shop. In this example, an ad impression record  126  would be created upon the advertisement being presented to the user, and an ad conversion record  214  would be created upon the user visiting the department store. 
     In some embodiments, the tracking data store  125  is configured to store a set of user location records  216  and/or a set of geofence records  210 . These records are each optional because in some embodiments, the tracking system  120  does not provide the functionality that uses these records. Each of the user location records  216  represents a location of an end user computing device  162 A at a given time. Each of the set of geofence records  210  represents a geographical area related to an ad conversion. That is, if the end user computing device  162 A is determined to have entered the geographical area defined by the geofence record  210  and any other conditions associated with the geofence record  210  are satisfied, an ad conversion is generated. 
     In some embodiments, the ad impression records  126 , the ad conversion records  214 , the user location records  216 , and the geofence records  210  may be linked to a given end user computing device  162  by device identifying information. The device identifying information may include one or more device identifiers that may be assigned to the computing devices  162  to uniquely identify the computing devices  162 , and may be used by the tracking system  122  to uniquely identify the end user computing device  162 A or the user thereof. 
     Examples of device identifiers include, but are not limited to, a media access control (“MAC”) Address, an International Mobile Station Equipment Identity (“IMEI”), a Mobile Equipment Identifier (“MEID”), an Identifier for Advertising (“IFA”), an Identifier for Vendor (“IFV”), an Android ID, an Open Device Identification Number (“ODIN”), an Open Unique Device Identifier (“Open UDID”), a Google AdID, combinations thereof, and the like. By way of a non-limiting example, the IMEI may be an Android IMEI. By way of another non-limiting example, the MEID may be an Android MEID. 
     Other information associated with one of the computing devices  162  may also be used as device identifying information, and may include an Internet Protocol (“IP”) Address, browser information (e.g., browser type, browser version, a cookie, etc.), combinations thereof, and the like. This other information may be usable to identify a computing device  162 , though the other information may be less reliable for uniquely identifying a computing device  162  than the device identifiers. Optionally, all or a portion of the device identifying information may be hashed before being used by the tracking system  120  as an identifier or to associate records in the tracking data store  125  with the end user computing device  162 A. 
     An example system wherein user click records stored in a tracking data store  125  may be used to attribute actions to one or more advertising publishers  150  and provide credit to the attributed publishers may be found in commonly owned, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/304757, filed Jun. 13, 2014, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that similar techniques may be used to attribute ad impressions and/or ad conversions to one or more advertising publishers  150  that provided ad impressions  126 . 
     The management interface server  122 C includes a management interface engine  123  configured to generate a management interface, described below. One aspect of the management interface engine  123  is configured to access (e.g., via an Application Programming Interface (“API”) or other suitable technique) the information stored in the tracking data store  125  and use the information to generate displays (e.g., graphs, charts, lists, reports, etc.) for the management interface. Another aspect of the management interface engine  123  is configured to generate a management interface that allows customers to create links that may be used to track advertisement performance, as illustrated and described further below. 
     The management interface engine  123  may include or communicate with web server components (not shown) configured to present conventional webpages displayable by conventional Internet browser applications executing on computing devices, such as a computing device  12  illustrated in  FIG. 9  and described below. The management interface presented by the management interface engine  123  may include one or more web pages that may be transmitted by the web server components (not shown) to other computing devices in the ecosystem  100 . Such web pages may be displayed by conventional Internet browser applications executing on the recipient computing devices. 
     As illustrated, the end user computing device  162 A includes an advertisement displaying application  164 , an executing application  201 , and a geolocation engine  212 . The executing application  201  includes a tracking Software Development Kit (SDK)  208  and the advertisement displaying application  164  includes an ad provider SDK  209 . The tracking SDK  208  is provided to the developer of the executing application  201  by the tracking system  120  and includes functions and/or procedures that execute when called from within the executing application  201  and may be used to report tracked activity on the end user computing device  162 A to the tracking system  120 . For example, the tracking SDK  216  may include computer-executable instructions that execute after an advertisement is presented by the end user computing device  162 A. Likewise, the ad provider SDK  209  is provided to the developer of the advertisement displaying application  164  by the advertisement provider and includes functions and/or procedures that execute when called from within the advertisement displaying application  164  to perform tasks such as retrieving an advertisement from the advertisement providing computing device  242 . In some embodiments, the advertisement displaying application  164  and the executing application  201  may not be separate, but may instead be the same application. 
     By way of a non-limiting example, the tracking SDK  208  and/or the ad provider SDK  209  may be implemented as a library file that is included in an application project used to create the associated application. For the tracking SDK  208 , an application developer may specify which particular functions are called from the library, and when, to indicate to the tracking engine  124  when ad impressions, ad conversions, and/or other events have occurred. Likewise, for the ad provider SDK  209 , an application developer may specify which particular functions are called from the library, and when, to retrieve an advertisement from the advertisement providing computing device  242  for presentation to the end user. As another non-limiting example, in some embodiments the functionality described herein as being provided by the tracking SDK  208  and/or the ad provider SDK  209  may not be included in a library file that is included in the application project used to create the associated application, but is instead accessed by virtue of the application performing remote function calls to an application programming interface (API) provided by the tracking system  120 , the advertisement providing computing device  242 , or some other element of the ecosystem  100 . 
     In some embodiments, elements of the geolocation engine  212  are provided by an operating system and hardware included with the end user computing device  162 A. For example, an end user computing device  162  such as a smartphone may include hardware that can be used to determine a global position, such as a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, an acceleration sensor, a magnetometer, a gyroscope, and/or any other suitable sensor. A smartphone may also include hardware that can be used to detect and analyze signals from wireless telephony towers in order to determine a location of the smartphone. Some end user computing devices  162  may also include wireless communication technology that may communicate with an indoor positioning system using WiFi, Bluetooth Low Energy, and/or any other suitable technology to determine a position of the end user computing device  162  with respect to a computing device of a known location. Components of the operating system of the end user computing device  162  may consume the signals from these sensors to determine the position of the end user computing device  162 , and may provide the geolocation engine  212  to allow applications to access the determined position information. 
     In some embodiments, the customer computing device  132 A and the advertisement providing computing device  242  create and distribute the advertisement to be tracked. The customer computing device  132 A is operated by a customer having a product or service to advertise, and for which the customer wishes to track conversions based on the end user visiting a physical location. Accordingly, the customer uses the management interface to generate an impression link  202  and a click tracking link  203 . The customer then combines the impression link  202 , the click tracking link  203 , and a geofence definition  206  with an advertisement  204 , and provides the combination to the advertisement providing computing device  242  for distribution to end user computing devices  162 . The advertisement providing computing device  242  could be an ad network computing device  142 , an ad publisher computing device  152 , or any other suitable computing device in the ecosystem  100  that distributes advertising to end users  160 . Further details of the process of creating advertisements and tracking their effectiveness are provided below. 
       FIGS. 3A-3B  are a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a method  300  of detecting ad conversions based on user location information according to various aspects of the present disclosure. From a start block, the method  300  proceeds to block  302 , where a customer creates an impression link  202  and a click tracking link  203  via a management interface  123  provided by a management interface server  122 C of a tracking system  120 .  FIG. 4  illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a tracking link page generated by the management interface engine  123  according to various aspects of the present disclosure. The customer may enter information and request the impression link  202 . The example impression link  202  shown is: 
     
       
         
           
               
               
             
               
                   
                   
               
             
            
               
                   
                 “http://1.api-01.com/serve?action=impression&amp;publisher_id=1243 
               
               
                   
                 4&amp; 
               
               
                   
                 site_id=5250&amp;campaign_id=241862&amp;device_id={device_id}” 
               
               
                   
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     In this link, the destination address is “http://1.api-01.com/serve”, which identifies a location at the tracking server  122 A. The publisher ID is set equal to the value “12434,” which identifies the advertisement provider (e.g., the Mobile Advertising Publisher  150  that operates the advertisement providing computing device  242 ). The site ID is set equal to the value “5250,” which identifies the application  201 . The campaign ID is set equal to the value “241862,” which identifies the advertising campaign created by the customer. Thus, the information stored in the impression link  202  associates the advertisement with the advertisement provider, the application  214 , and the advertising campaign. The device_id field is provided as a “macro,” which allows device identifying information to be inserted into the link once it is known in order to pass the device identifying information to the destination address. 
     The customer may include additional information in the impression link  202  by using a user input  226  (e.g., a dropdown box) to select additional parameters. When a parameter is selected using the user input  226 , the impression link  202  is automatically modified to include the parameter and, if appropriate, a value assigned to the parameter. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the illustrated click tracking link  203  may be generated in a similar manner and includes similar parameters. Once generated, the customer may copy the link to a clipboard or otherwise provide the link to a utility or other application used to assemble the advertisement information for submission to the advertisement providing computing device  242 . 
     Returning to  FIG. 3A , at block  304  the customer creates an advertisement  204  and associates the advertisement with the impression link  202 , the click tracking link  203 , and a geofence definition. The advertisement may include any form of media suitable for presentation via the end user computing device  162 A, including but not limited to text, video, audio, static graphics, animated graphics, or a combination thereof. The geofence definition includes a specification of a geographical area and a geofence condition. In some embodiments, the geofence definition may also include information such as a site ID, a publisher ID, and/or a campaign ID as described above. 
     In some embodiments, the specification of a geographical area is in relation to a globally determined position of the end user computing device  162 A. In such embodiments, the specification of the geographical area may include any suitable indication, including but not limited to a latitude and a longitude of a geographical point along with a radius that specifies a distance from the geographical point, a set of geographical points that define a polygonal geographical area, and/or the like. In some embodiments, the geographical area may include indications of more than one noncontiguous area. For example, the geographical area may include points and radii centered around multiple store locations, any of which may be suitable for generating a conversion. 
     In some embodiments, the specification of a geographical area is in relation to proximity to a specified computing device at a known location. In such embodiments, the specification of the geographical area may include identifiers of one or more computing devices to be detected, and may also include a minimum distance or radius from one or more of the specified computing devices. 
     The geofence condition may include logic for determining when the geofence is deemed to be crossed or entered. As one nonlimiting example, the geofence condition may state that any entry into the geographical area should be considered crossing the geofence. As another nonlimiting example, the geofence condition may state that an entry into the geographical area only counts if present within the geographical area for at least a specified amount of time. As yet another nonlimiting example, the geofence condition may state that an entry and an exit of the geographical area must be detected before the condition is considered satisfied. As still another nonlimiting example, the geofence condition may specify a maximum accuracy at which the determined location must be obtained for the location to be considered valid (e.g., a location accurate to 10 meters or less, as opposed to a location accurate to 100 meters). 
     In some embodiments, the geofence definition may be created by the customer using the management interface, and may be included in the click tracking link  203  or the impression link  202  generated by the management interface. In some embodiments, the geofence definition may be created by the customer using a separate tool or interface. 
     The method  300  then proceeds to block  306 , where the customer transmits the advertisement, the impression link  202 , the click tracking link  203 , and the geofence definition  206  to an advertisement providing computing device  242  for distribution to end users. At block  308 , an advertisement displaying application  164  executing on an end user computing device  162 A requests an advertisement via an ad provider SDK  209 . The method  300  then proceeds to block  310 , where the ad provider SDK  209  collects device identifying information from the end user computing device  162 A. 
     At block  312 , the ad provider SDK  209  transmits an advertisement request to the advertisement providing computing device  242 , and at block  314 , the ad provider SDK  209  receives the advertisement  204  from the advertisement providing computing device  242  and presents the advertisement  204 . Presenting the advertisement  204  may include any suitable form of media presentation, including displaying text, displaying an image, playing a sound clip, playing a video, and/or the like. When receiving the advertisement, the ad provider SDK  209  may also receive at least some of the information associated with the advertisement, such as the impression link  202 , the click tracking link  203 , and/or the geofence definition  206 . 
     The method  300  then proceeds to a continuation terminal (“terminal A”). From terminal A ( FIG. 3B ), the method  300  proceeds to a decision block, where the flow of the method  300  branches based on whether impressions are to be tracked on the server-side or the client-side. When impressions are tracked on the server-side, the advertisement providing computing device  242  reports the impression to the tracking system  120 . When impressions are tracked on the client-side, the end user computing device  162 A notifies the tracking system  120  that the impression has occurred. Each technique has advantages. For example, if an impression is tracked on the client-side, then the device identifying information can be transmitted directly from the end user computing device  162 A to the tracking system  120 , thus providing greater protection of the privacy of the end user computing device  162 A from the advertisement providing computing device  242 . As another example, if an impression is tracked on the server-side, then the end user computing device  162 A does not need to connect to the tracking system  120  at the time the advertisement  204  is presented, which can help improve performance and user experience. 
     If impressions are to be tracked on the server-side, then the YES branch at decision block  316  is followed, and the method  300  proceeds to block  318 , where the ad provider SDK  209  transmits the device identifying information to the advertisement providing computing device  242 . Next, at block  320 , the advertisement providing computing device  242  inserts the device identifying information into the impression link  202  and visits the impression link  202  to create an impression notification. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that visiting the impression link causes the information inserted into the impression link  202  to be transmitted to the link destination (i.e., the tracking system  120 ). The method  300  then proceeds to block  324 . If impressions are to be tracked on the client-side, then the NO branch at decision block  316  is followed, and the method  300  proceeds to block  322 , where the ad provider SDK  209  inserts the device identifying information into the impression link  202  and visits the impression link  202  to create an impression notification. The method  300  then proceeds to block  324 . 
     Regardless of how the impression notification was created, at block  324 , the tracking engine  124  receives the impression notification and creates an ad impression record  126  in a tracking data store  125 . The ad impression record  126  includes relevant information describing the ad impression, such as the device identifying information, the publisher identifier, the offer identifier, a timestamp, and/or the like. 
     Next, at block  326 , a tracking SDK  208  on the end user computing device  162 A receives the geofence definition. The method  300  then proceeds to procedure block  328 , where a procedure is executed wherein a location of the end user computing device  162 A is monitored, and a conversion notification is generated when the location satisfies a geofence condition of the geofence definition. Various different procedures may be utilized at procedure block  328  to monitor the location and visit the conversion link  202 , several examples of which are described in detail below. The method  300  then proceeds to an end block and terminates. 
     While the embodiment of the method  300  described above begins monitoring a geofence upon detection of an ad impression, in some embodiments the geofence may not be monitored until a click on the advertisement is detected. In such an embodiment, the click tracking link  203  may be followed instead of or in addition to the impression link  202 , and an ad click record  213  may be created instead of or in addition to the impression record  126 . 
       FIG. 5  is a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a procedure  500  for using a tracking system  120  to monitor a location of an end user computing device  162 A according to various aspects of the present disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the procedure  500  is suitable for use as the procedure referred to in procedure block  328  of  FIG. 3B . In the procedure  500 , the location of the end user computing device  162 A is monitored by the tracking system  120 . This may be desirable for any one of several reasons. For example, the operator of the tracking system  120  may wish to collect and record location information about end users for future analysis of consumer behavior. As another example, offloading the location processing to the tracking system  120  may reduce the computing resources used on the end user computing device  162 A by the method  300 , and may therefore improve the end user experience or allow the method  300  to work on less-powerful computing devices. 
     From a start block, the procedure  500  advances to block  502 , where the tracking SDK  208  transmits a geofence notification to the tracking engine  124 , the geofence notification including the geofence definition  206  and device identifying information. Next, at block  504 , the tracking engine  124  creates a geofence record  210  in the tracking data store  125 , the geofence record  210  including the geofence definition  206  and the device identifying information. 
     The procedure  500  proceeds to block  506 , where the tracking SDK  208  obtains a location of the end user computing device  162 A from a geolocation engine  212 , and transmits the location and device identifying information to the tracking engine  124 . The location transmitted to the tracking engine  124  may be any type of location information produced by the geolocation engine  212 , such as a combination of a longitude, a latitude, and an accuracy; a device identifier of a detected computing device of an indoor positioning system and a distance from the detected computing device, and/or the like. Next, at block  508 , the tracking engine  124  compares the location and the device identifying information to one or more geofence records  210  in the tracking data store  125 . In some embodiments, instead of comparing the location and device identifying information to the geofence records  210  upon receipt, the tracking engine  124  may instead store the received information in a user location record  216 , and may later compare the information in the user location records  216  to the geofence records  210 . 
     At decision block  510 , a test is performed to determine whether any of the geofence records  210  match the location and device identifying information. If there is a match between the device identifying information and the location received by the tracking engine with the location defined in the geofence definition  206  of a geofence record  210 , and if the geofence condition included in the geofence definition  206  of the geofence record  210  is satisfied, then the result of the test at decision block  510  is YES, and the procedure  500  proceeds to block  512 , where the tracking engine  124  creates an ad conversion record  214  in the tracking data store  125 . The procedure  500  then proceeds to block  516 . 
     Otherwise, if there was no match between the location and the device identifying information with a geofence record  210 , the procedure  500  proceeds to decision block  514 , where a test is performed to determine whether the geofence record that was added at block  504  has expired. In some embodiments, the geofence record may include an expiration date or time so that resources are not wasted by monitoring the location of the end user computing device  162 A in perpetuity, particularly since as time passes, it becomes less likely that the advertisement presented to the end user was responsible in a meaningful way for the action taken by the end user. In some embodiments, the expiration date or time may be far in the future, or may not be specified at all (so that the geofence is monitored in perpetuity in order to record multiple conversions). If the determination at decision block  514  is that the geofence record has expired, then the result of the test at decision block  514  is YES, and the procedure  500  proceeds to block  516 . Otherwise, if the geofence record has not expired, then the result of the test at decision block  514  is NO, and the procedure  500  returns to block  506  for further monitoring of the location of the end user computing device  162 A. 
     At block  516 , the tracking engine  124  deletes the geofence record  210  from the tracking data store  125 . The procedure  500  then advances to an end block and terminates. 
       FIG. 6  is a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a procedure  600  for monitoring a location of an end user computing device  162 A by the device itself, according to various aspects of the present disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the procedure  600  is suitable for use as the procedure referred to in procedure block  328  of  FIG. 3B . In the procedure  600 , the location of the end user computing device  162 A is monitored by the tracking SDK  208  on the end user computing device  162 A itself. This may be desirable for any one of several reasons. For example, comparing the location of the end user computing device  162 A to the geofence records  210  on the end user computing device  162 A allows the tracking functionality to be provided without having to report detailed location information to the tracking system  120 . This can help to protect the privacy of the end user. As another example, performing the comparisons on the end user computing device  162 A reduces the amount of network traffic generated by the method  300 , because the location information can be processed locally instead of being transmitted over the network  180  for processing. 
     From a start block, the procedure  600  advances to block  602 , where the tracking SDK  208  creates a geofence record  210  that includes the geofence definition  206 . In some embodiments, the geofence record  210  may be stored by the geolocation engine  212  as illustrated in  FIG. 2 , or may be stored in another data store local to or otherwise accessible by the end user computing device  162 A. The contents of the geofence record are similar to the contents of the geofence record described above, though the geofence record  210  stored by the end user computing device  162 A may omit the device identifying information because all of the geofence records stored in the same location may refer to the single end user computing device  162 A. 
     Next, at block  604 , the tracking SDK  208  obtains a location of the end user computing device  162 A from a geolocation engine  212 . Similar to the discussion above, the obtained location may be a combination of a longitude, a latitude, and an accuracy; a device identifier of a detected computing device of an indoor positioning system and a distance from the detected computing device, and/or any other suitable form of location information. At block  606 , the tracking SDK  208  compares the location to locations defined in the geofence definitions  206  of one or more geofence records  210 , and at decision block  608 , a test is performed to determine whether any of the geofence records  210  stored on the end user computing device  162 A match the location information. In some embodiments, the end user computing device  162 A may store location trail information, and instead of processing an obtained location soon after it is determined, the tracking SDK  208  may analyze the location trail information instead of a single location obtained from the geolocation engine  212 . 
     If there is a match between the location obtained by the tracking SDK  208  and a geofence definition  206  in a geofence record  210 , and if the geofence condition included in the geofence record  210  is satisfied, then the result of the test at decision block  608  is YES, and the procedure  600  proceeds to block  610 , where the tracking SDK  208  transmits a conversion notification to the tracking engine  124 . In some embodiments, the tracking SDK  208  is preconfigured to transmit the conversion notification to a location served by the tracking server  122 A. Accordingly, at block  612 , the tracking engine  124  receives the conversion notification and creates an ad conversion record  214 . In some embodiments, the conversion notification includes the device identifying information, the offer identifier, the publisher identifier, and/or the like. The ad conversion record  214  created by the tracking engine  124  may include some or all of this information as well. The procedure  600  then advances to block  616 . 
     If there is not a match between the location obtained by the tracking SDK  208  and one of the geofence records  210 , then the result of the test at decision block  608  is NO, and the procedure  600  advances to decision block  614 , where a test is performed to determine whether the geofence record that was added at block  602  has expired. Similar to the discussion above, the geofence record  210  stored by the end user computing device  162 A may include an expiration time so that the location is not monitored with respect to the record in perpetuity, or it may not. If the determination at decision block  614  is that the geofence record  210  has expired, then the result of the test at decision block  614  is YES, and the procedure proceeds to block  616 . Otherwise, if the geofence record has not expired, then the result of the test at decision block  614  is NO, and the procedure  600  returns to block  604  for further monitoring of the location of the end user computing device  162 A. 
     At block  616 , the tracking SDK  208  deletes the geofence record  210  (either the expired geofence record  210  or the matching geofence record  210  for which a conversion was recorded) from the end user computing device  162 A. The procedure  600  then advances to an end block and terminates. 
       FIG. 7  is a flowchart that illustrates another exemplary embodiment of a procedure  700  for monitoring a location of an end user computing device  162 A by the device itself, according to various aspects of the present disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the procedure  700  is suitable for use as the procedure referred to in procedure block  328  of  FIG. 3B . In the procedure  700 , the location of the end user computing device  162 A is monitored by components native to the operating system of the end user computing device  162 A, and the tracking SDK  208  is notified when appropriate. This may be desirable for any one of several reasons. For example, as with the procedure  600  described above, monitoring the location using the operating system of the end user computing device  162 A avoids transmitting detailed location information that is not relevant to a monitored geofence to the tracking system  120 , thus protecting user privacy and reducing bandwidth requirements. As another example, using built-in capabilities of the operating system of the end user computing device  162 A may be particularly efficient, compared to performing similar tasks in an application. As yet another example, location monitoring may be offered by the operating system of the computing device  162 A in the background on a constant basis, whereas the tracking SDK  208  may only be available to monitor location with respect to the geofence records  210  when an application  201  that includes the tracking SDK  208  is actively executing on the end user computing device  162 A. 
     From a start block, the procedure  700  advances to block  702 , where the tracking SDK  208  creates a geofence record  210  that includes a geofence identifier. The geofence identifier uniquely identifies the established geofence, and in some embodiments, the geofence record  210  may include additional information such as the geofence definition  206 , a site ID, a publisher ID, and/or the like. Next, at block  704 , the tracking SDK  208  submits a geofence notification request that includes the geofence identifier and the geofence definition to a geolocation engine  212 . In some embodiments, only a part of the geofence definition, such as the geographical area to be monitored or an identifier of a computing device to be detected, may be submitted to the geolocation engine  212 . In some embodiments, the geofence condition may also be submitted to and monitored by the geolocation engine  212 . 
     At block  706 , the tracking SDK  208  receives a geofence event from the geolocation engine  212 . The geolocation engine  212  may submit the event to the tracking SDK  208  via a callback or any other suitable mechanism. The geofence event may include the geofence identifier in order to notify the tracking SDK  208  which geofence record  210  caused the event to fire. In some embodiments, the geofence event may include the location information and not the geofence identifier, and the tracking SDK  208  may use the location information to determine the geofence record  210  associated with the event. In some embodiments, the geolocation engine  212  may wake up or load the application  201  in order to provide the event to the tracking SDK  208 . In some embodiments, the geolocation engine  212  may wait to provide the event to the tracking SDK  208  until the application  201  is loaded and the tracking SDK  208  proactively requests the event, instead of waking up or loading the application  201 . 
     At block  708 , the tracking SDK  208  determines a geofence record  210  that matches the geofence event, using either the geofence identifier or the location information included in the geofence event. In some embodiments wherein the geolocation engine  212  does not process the geofence condition, the tracking SDK  208  may also evaluate the geofence condition to determine if a geo fence record  210  matches the geofence event. If no matching geofence record is found, the procedure  700  may return to block  706  to await a subsequent event. Next, at block  710 , the tracking SDK  208  transmits a conversion notification to the tracking engine  124 . 
     At block  712 , the tracking engine  124  receives the conversion notification and creates an ad conversion record  214 . As discussed above, the conversion notification may include information such as the device identifying information, the offer identifier, the publisher identifier, and/or the like. The ad conversion record  214  created by the tracking engine  124  may include some or all of this information as well. At optional block  714 , the tracking SDK  208  cancels the matching geofence notification request  714  with the geolocation engine  212  (if desired), and then the procedure  700  advances to an end block and terminates. 
     Once ad impression records  126  and ad conversion records  214  are stored in the tracking data store  125 , the tracking system  120  may use these records to attribute conversions to one or more ad providers and to provide appropriate credit to the attributed ad providers.  FIG. 8  is an illustration of an exemplary reports page  224  generated by the management interface engine  123  that may be used to analyze advertising performance and to display credits provided to attributed ad providers according to various aspects of the present disclosure. The reports page  224  includes a graph  802 . Each line (e.g., lines  804 A and  804 B) on the graph  802  depicts data for a selected application tracked by the tracking system  120 . For ease of illustration, in  FIG. 8 , the graph  802  includes the line  804 A, which depicts data for a first application, and the line  804 B, which depicts data for a second application marketed by the same customer as the first application. Thus, on the graph  802 , multiple lines may be used to depict data for multiple applications. 
     The x-axis is a predetermined date range. A user input  806  may be used to specify the predetermined date range. The y-axis is a number of events tracked by the tracking system. A user input  810  may be used to select the type of event. For example, the user input  810  as illustrated has selected “installs,” but the user input  810  may instead select impressions, conversions, geofence conversions, and/or the like. 
     A user input  808  may be used to select “publishers,” “organics,” or “totals.” If “publishers” is selected, only events attributable to an advertising provider will be included in the graph  802 . If “organics” is selected, only events not attributable to an advertising provider will be included in the graph  802 . If “totals” is selected, all events will be included in the graph  802 . 
     In  FIG. 8 , “publishers” has been selected in the user input  808 , and “geoconversions” has been selected in the user input  810 . Thus, the line  804 A depicts a number of geoconversions that occurred associated with advertising for the application  214  from April 10 to April 17 that were attributed to one of the advertising providers. The graph  802  may be used to evaluate the overall effectiveness of an advertising campaign. 
     The reports page  224  includes an area  820  in which information about each of the applications marketed by the customer may be displayed. In this example, buttons or links are associated with each application. The customer may select the buttons or links to view more information about each application. In  FIG. 8 , the buttons include a publishers button  821 , a campaigns button  822 , and an organic button  823 . When one of these buttons is clicked, a new table or graph (not shown) may be displayed that may help the customer evaluate (1) the effectiveness of particular publishers with respect to getting users to take the action encouraged by an advertising campaign, (2) the effectiveness of particular campaigns, and/or (3) the number of actions that occur organically. 
     The reports page  224  includes a performance graph  830  and a budget graph  832 . The graphs  830  and  832  may be used to show total customer numbers for all of the customer&#39;s marketed products and/or services. For example, the performance graph  830  may be used to depict a total number of clicks and conversions the customer is experiencing for all of its applications over the predetermined date range. The budget graph  832  may be used to depict a payout amount and an amount of revenue generated by all of the customer&#39;s applications over the predetermined date range. The graphs  830  and  832  may help provide an overview of how well the customer is doing overall. 
     Access to reporting information may not be limited to advertisers  130 . In some embodiments, advertising publishers  150  and/or advertising networks  140  may be provided access to reporting data as well. In some embodiments, advertising publishers  150  may be provided access to a subset of the tracking information and metrics in order to allow the advertising publishers  150  to analyze their performance without disclosing sensitive information. For example, in some embodiments, advertising publishers  150  may be provided access to logs of conversions for which they have been provided credit, but they may be prevented from accessing logs of actual conversions and may instead only be given access to aggregated performance counts. Further, information that falls outside of the publisher&#39;s attribution window may be hidden from the publisher, even if it is collected and made available to advertisers  130 . For example, non-windowed install contributions may be hidden from advertising publishers  150  to prevent advertising publishers  150  from using the information to change their billing models to maximize total potential conversions (e.g., by altering their attribution window policies). 
     Computing Device 
       FIG. 9  is a diagram of hardware and an operating environment in conjunction with which implementations of the one or more computing devices of the ecosystem  100  may be practiced. The description of  FIG. 9  is intended to provide a brief, general description of suitable computer hardware and a suitable computing environment in which implementations may be practiced. Although not required, implementations are described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a computer, such as a personal computer. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. 
     Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that implementations may be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, smartphones, network-connected tablet computers, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. Implementations may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices. 
     The exemplary hardware and operating environment of  FIG. 9  includes a general-purpose computing device in the form of the computing device  12 . Each of the computing devices of  FIG. 1  (including the computing devices  122 ,  132 ,  142 ,  152 ,  162 , and  172 ) may be substantially similar or identical to the computing device  12 . By way of non-limiting examples, the computing device  12  may be implemented as a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a web enabled television, a personal digital assistant, a game console, a smartphone, a mobile computing device, a cellular telephone, a desktop personal computer, and the like. 
     The computing device  12  includes a system memory  22 , the processing unit  21 , and a system bus  23  that operatively couples various system components, including the system memory  22 , to the processing unit  21 . There may be only one or there may be more than one processing unit  21 , such that the processor of computing device  12  includes a single central-processing unit (“CPU”), or a plurality of processing units, commonly referred to as a parallel processing environment. When multiple processing units are used, the processing units may be heterogeneous. By way of a non-limiting example, such a heterogeneous processing environment may include a conventional CPU, a conventional graphics processing unit (“GPU”), a floating-point unit (“FPU”), combinations thereof, and the like. 
     The computing device  12  may be a conventional computer, a distributed computer, or any other type of computer. 
     The system bus  23  may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. The system memory  22  may also be referred to as simply the memory, and includes read only memory (ROM)  24  and random access memory (RAM)  25 . A basic input/output system (BIOS)  26 , containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within the computing device  12 , such as during start-up, is stored in ROM  24 . The computing device  12  further includes a hard disk drive  27  for reading from and writing to a hard disk, not shown, a magnetic disk drive  28  for reading from or writing to a removable magnetic disk  29 , and an optical disk drive  30  for reading from or writing to a removable optical disk  31  such as a CD ROM, DVD, or other optical media. 
     The hard disk drive  27 , magnetic disk drive  28 , and optical disk drive  30  are connected to the system bus  23  by a hard disk drive interface  32 , a magnetic disk drive interface  33 , and an optical disk drive interface  34 , respectively. The drives and their associated computer-readable media provide nonvolatile storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, and other data for the computing device  12 . It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any type of computer-readable media which can store data that is accessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, solid state memory devices (“SSD”), USB drives, digital video disks, Bernoulli cartridges, random access memories (RAMs), read only memories (ROMs), and the like, may be used in the exemplary operating environment. As is apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, the hard disk drive  27  and other forms of computer-readable media (e.g., the removable magnetic disk  29 , the removable optical disk  31 , flash memory cards, SSD, USB drives, and the like) accessible by the processing unit  21  may be considered components of the system memory  22 . 
     A number of program modules may be stored on the hard disk drive  27 , magnetic disk  29 , optical disk  31 , ROM  24 , or RAM  25 , including the operating system  35 , one or more application programs  36 , other program modules  37 , and program data  38 . A user may enter commands and information into the computing device  12  through input devices such as a keyboard  40  and pointing device  42 . Other input devices (not shown) may include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, touch sensitive devices (e.g., a stylus or touch pad), video camera, depth camera, or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit  21  through a serial port interface  46  that is coupled to the system bus  23 , but may be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, game port, a universal serial bus (USB), or a wireless interface (e.g., a Bluetooth interface). A monitor  47  or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus  23  via an interface, such as a video adapter  48 . In addition to the monitor, computers typically include other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers, printers, and haptic devices that provide tactile and/or other types of physical feedback (e.g., a force feed back game controller). 
     The input devices described above are operable to receive user input and selections. Together the input and display devices may be described as providing a user interface. The user interface is configured to display portions of the management interface  123  to appropriate users. 
     The computing device  12  may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as remote computer  49 . These logical connections are achieved by a communication device coupled to or a part of the computing device  12  (as the local computer). Implementations are not limited to a particular type of communications device. The remote computer  49  may be another computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a client, a memory storage device, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to the computing device  12 . The remote computer  49  may be connected to a memory storage device  50 . The logical connections depicted in  FIG. 9  include a local-area network (LAN)  51  and a wide-area network (WAN)  52 . Such networking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets and the Internet. The network  180  (see  FIG. 1 ) may be implemented using one or more of the LAN  51  or the WAN  52  (e.g., the Internet). 
     Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that a LAN may be connected to a WAN via a modem using a carrier signal over a telephone network, cable network, cellular network, or power lines. Such a modem may be connected to the computing device  12  by a network interface (e.g., a serial or other type of port). Further, many laptop computers may connect to a network via a cellular data modem. 
     When used in a LAN-networking environment, the computing device  12  is connected to the local area network  51  through a network interface or adapter  53 , which is one type of communications device. When used in a WAN-networking environment, the computing device  12  typically includes a modem  54 , a type of communications device, or any other type of communications device for establishing communications over the wide area network  52 , such as the Internet. The modem  54 , which may be internal or external, is connected to the system bus  23  via the serial port interface  46 . In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the personal computing device  12 , or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote computer  49  and/or the remote memory storage device  50 . It is appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of and communications devices for establishing a communications link between the computers may be used. 
     The computing device  12  and related components have been presented herein by way of particular example and also by abstraction in order to facilitate a high-level view of the concepts disclosed. The actual technical design and implementation may vary based on particular implementation while maintaining the overall nature of the concepts disclosed. 
     In some embodiments, the system memory  22  stores computer executable instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform all or portions of one or more of the methods (including the method  300  illustrated in  FIGS. 3A-3B ) described above. Such instructions may be stored on one or more non-transitory computer-readable media. 
     The foregoing described embodiments depict different components contained within, or connected with, different other components. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures are merely exemplary, and that in fact many other architectures can be implemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense, any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively “associated” such that the desired functionality is achieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can be seen as “associated with” each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being “operably connected,” or “operably coupled,” to each other to achieve the desired functionality. 
     While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that, based upon the teachings herein, changes and modifications may be made without departing from this invention and its broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims are to encompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as are within the true spirit and scope of this invention. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the invention is solely defined by the appended claims. It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to inventions containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims.