Patent Publication Number: US-2023139274-A1

Title: Methods and apparatus to redirect internet clients for media monitoring

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
     This patent arises from a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/325,143, which was filed May 19, 2021. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/325,143 is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/325,143 is hereby claimed. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     This disclosure relates generally to media monitoring, and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus to redirect internet clients for media monitoring. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Media providers and/or other entities such as advertising companies, broadcast networks, etc. are often interested in the viewing, listening, and/or media behavior of audience members and/or public in general. The media usage and/or exposure habits of monitored audience members, as well as demographic data about the audience members, are collected and used to statistically determine the size and demographics of an audience of interest. In recent years, media devices have been provided with Internet connectivity and the ability to retrieve media from the Internet. As such, media exposure has shifted away from conventional methods of presentation such as broadcast television, towards presentation via consumer devices accessing media via the Internet 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    is a block diagram of an example environment in which the teachings of this disclosure may be implemented. 
         FIG.  2    is a block diagram of an example implementation of the streaming meter of  FIG.  1     
         FIGS.  3 - 4    are flowcharts representative of machine readable instructions which may be executed to implement the example streaming meter of  FIGS.  1  and/or  2   . 
         FIG.  5    is a block diagram of an example processing platform structured to execute the instructions of  FIGS.  3 - 4    to implement the example streaming meter of  FIGS.  1  and/or  2   . 
         FIG.  6    is a block diagram of an example software distribution platform to distribute software (e.g., software corresponding to the example computer readable instructions of  FIGS.  3 - 4   ) to client devices such as consumers (e.g., for license, sale and/or use), retailers (e.g., for sale, re-sale, license, and/or sub-license), and/or original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) (e.g., for inclusion in products to be distributed to, for example, retailers and/or to direct buy customers). 
     
    
    
     The figures are not to scale. Instead, the thickness of the layers or regions may be enlarged in the drawings. In general, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying written description to refer to the same or like parts. 
     Unless specifically stated otherwise, descriptors such as “first,” “second,” “third,” etc. are used herein without imputing or otherwise indicating any meaning of priority, physical order, arrangement in a list, and/or ordering in any way, but are merely used as labels and/or arbitrary names to distinguish elements for ease of understanding the disclosed examples. In some examples, the descriptor “first” may be used to refer to an element in the detailed description, while the same element may be referred to in a claim with a different descriptor such as “second” or “third.” In such instances, it should be understood that such descriptors are used merely for identifying those elements distinctly that might, for example, otherwise share a same name. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Media monitors can be installed into consenting households to monitor media consumed in that household. With recent advances in Internet technology, streaming media has become a major source of media for consumers. Certain types of media monitors, called streaming meters, allow media streamed over a network (e.g., the Internet, etc.) to be monitored. In some examples, streaming meters monitor home wireless networks (e.g., WI-FI networks, etc.) to collect records of media streamed to media devices in the home. In some examples, streaming meters use packet injection and false disassociation/deauthentication to passively monitor WI-FI traffic (e.g., by obtaining a Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) session key, etc.). 
     As used herein, streaming refers to a transmission of an object in which the object is used by the destination before the entirety of the object is received by the destination. For example, streaming media refers to the transmission of a media object (e.g., a video file, an audio file, etc.), wherein presentation of the media object at a destination may begin before the entirety of the media object is received by the destination. While examples described herein refer to monitoring streaming media, any type of media that travels via a wireless network such as a WI-FI network may be monitored in accordance with this disclosure. 
     Current streaming meter methods suffer from several problems that make monitoring WI-FI traffic difficult. Firstly, WI-FI Access Points protected management frames (e.g., as described in Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11w) prevent the streaming meter from forcibly disconnecting a WI-FI client using packet injection, which further prevents the streaming meter from decoding the associated WI-FI traffic. Secondly, future WI-FI security protocols (e.g., WPA3, etc.) may utilize encryption to prevent a third party device from obtaining session keys from traffic monitoring. In such examples, future WI-FI security protocols may only allow bandwidth usage to be determined by a snooping device and not allow for the collection of details of wireless transactions. Thirdly, multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) configurations and multi-user multiple input/multiple output (MU-MIMO) configurations make determining the location of the streaming meter more important in decoding the traffic. In some examples, such configurations make reconstructing multiple signals into useful data difficult. 
     Methods, apparatus and systems disclosed herein enable the monitoring of WI-FI traffic using an alternate access point installed into a home with the same network credentials (e.g., Service Set Identifier (SSID), password, etc.) as the home&#39;s primary access point. In some examples disclosed herein, the alternate access point is a streaming meter. Example techniques disclosed herein include generating substitute connections to the home&#39;s primary access point such that the WI-FI connections of the home&#39;s primary access point are exhausted. Disclosed example techniques also include establishing a connection with client devices to provide the client devices with the WI-FI network of the alternate access point. Disclosed example techniques further include monitoring traffic of the client devices for media monitoring. 
       FIG.  1    is a block diagram of an example environment  100  in which the teachings of this disclosure may be implemented. In the illustrated example, the environment  100  is a home of a consumer. In other examples, the environment  100  can be any area in which streaming media is viewed (e.g., public transit, a business, etc.). The example environment  100  includes example client device(s)  102 , an example alternate access point  104 , an example primary access point  106 , and an example external network  108 . In the illustrated example, the client device(s)  102  and the alternate access point  104  establish an example first connection  110 . In some examples, the first connection  110  is a plurality of connections corresponding to the number of client device(s)  102 . For example, the alternate access point  104  receives media requests transmitted by the client device(s)  102  via the first connection  110 . In the illustrated example of  FIG.  1   , the alternate access point  104  and the primary access point  106  establish an example permanent connection  112 . The example alternate access point  104  and the example primary access point  106  establish example substitute connections  114 . For example, the alternate access point  104  routes connections of the client device(s)  102  to the primary access point  106  via the permanent connection  112 . 
     In some examples, the client device(s)  102  are media streaming devices. For example, the client device(s)  102  are devices that retrieve media from the external network  108  for presentation. In some examples, the client device(s)  102  are capable of directly presenting media (e.g., via a display). In other examples, the client device(s)  102  can present the media on separate media presentation equipment (e.g., speakers, a display, etc.). Thus, the client device(s)  102  may or may not be able to present media without assistance from a second device. In examples disclosed herein, the environment  100  can include any number of client device(s)  102  (e.g., one client device, two client devices, etc.). The example client device(s)  102  are typically consumer electronics. For example, the client device(s)  102  can be Internet-enabled mobile devices (e.g., a smartphone, a portable music player, a portable video player, etc.), video game consoles, tablet computers, digital media players (e.g., digital video recorder, over-the-top devices, etc.), smart televisions, desktop computers, laptop computers, servers, etc. 
     The example alternate access point  104  is a networking device that facilitates a connection between the client device(s)  102  and the primary access point  106 . In the illustrated example of  FIG.  1   , the alternate access point  104  has the same network credentials (e.g., the same SSID and password, etc.) as the primary access point  106 . In the illustrated example of  FIG.  1   , the alternate access point  104  establishes the permanent connection  112  to the primary access point  106 . In the illustrated example, the alternate access point  104  determines the total number of possible connections, N, of the primary access point  106 . For example, the alternate access point  104  determines the primary access point  106  can connect to six devices (e.g., N=6). 
     The example alternate access point  104  generates and establishes the substitute connections  114 . For example, the alternate access point  104  establishes N−1 substitute connections to the primary access point  106 . That is, the alternate access point  104  exhausts the connections of the primary access point  106 . Thus, in some examples, the client device(s)  102  do not connect to the primary access point  106  directly. In such examples, the alternate access point  104  routes network traffic of the client device(s)  102  to the primary access point  106  via the permanent connection  112 . In some examples, if the alternate access point  104  fails (e.g., a power failure, malfunctions etc.), the client device(s)  102  automatically connect to the primary access point  106 . 
     In some examples, the alternate access point  104  is a hardware device provided by a monitoring agency (e.g., a monitoring element of a media provider, an independent monitoring entity, etc.). That is, in some examples, the alternate access point  104  is a streaming meter. In some examples, the alternate access point  104  monitors the traffic of the client device(s)  102 . In such examples, the example first connection  110  can include the media requests. In some examples, the alternate access point  104  creates records of media transmitted to the client device(s)  102  via the alternate access point  104 . In some examples, the example alternate access point  104  can also be physically connected to one or more media devices (e.g., via an ethernet connection, etc.). In such examples, the alternate access point  104  can also monitor traffic transmitted via the physical connection. 
     The example primary access point  106  is a networking device that facilitates connection between the alternate access point  104  and the external network  108 . In some examples, the primary access point  106  is a hardware device provided by an internet provider of the environment  100 . In some examples, the primary access point  106  can be connected to a router (e.g., a WI-FI router). In other examples, the primary access point  106  can be integrated into a router. In the illustrated example of  FIG.  1   , the primary access point  106  communicates with the client device(s)  102  via the alternate access point  104 . 
     The example external network  108  is an example network that extends over an area larger than the environment  100 . For example, the external network  108  can include the Internet, a wide-area network (WAN), etc. The example external network  108  allows the client device(s)  102  to connect to a web-location that contains media (e.g., a server associated with a streaming service, etc.). In such examples, the external network  108  can facilitate the transmission of the media to the client device(s)  102  via the alternate access point  104  and/or the primary access point  106 . 
       FIG.  2    is a block diagram of an example implementation of the alternate access point  104  of  FIG.  1   . The example alternate access point  104  includes an example client interface  202 , an example traffic monitor  204 , an example substitute client generator  206 , an example router  208 , and an example media monitor  210 . 
     The example client interface  202  receives wireless transmissions transmitted within its detection range and transmits wireless signals from the alternate access point  104  to the client device(s)  102  ( FIG.  1   ). For example, the client interface  202  receives transmissions from the client device(s)  102 . That is, the client interface  202  facilitates standard communication with the client device(s)  102 . In some examples, the client interface  202  configures the network credentials (e.g., the SSID, the password, etc.) of the alternate access point  104 . For example, the client interface  202  receives instructions to change the SSID and password of the alternate access point  104  to that of the primary access point  106 . In other examples, the client interface  202  configures any other suitable characteristics of the alternate access point  104 . 
     The example traffic monitor  204  monitors the traffic of the primary access point  106  ( FIG.  1   ). In some examples, the traffic monitor  204  queries the router  208  to determine the network addresses of packets transmitted and/or intercepted via the alternate access point  104 . For example, the traffic monitor  204  determines identifiers (e.g., a MAC address, an SSID, etc.) in the connections between the client device(s)  102  and the alternate access point  104  (e.g., the first connection  110 ) that indicate the identity of the client device(s)  102 . Additionally or alternatively, the traffic monitor  204  determines identifiers in the connections between the primary access point  106  and the alternate access point  104  (e.g., the permanent connection  112  of  FIG.  1   , the substitute connections  114  of  FIG.  1   , etc.) that indicate the identity of the primary access point  106 . In some examples, the traffic monitor  204  analyzes traffic transmitted via the alternate access point  104 . In such examples, the traffic monitor  204  identifies traffic related to media requests from streaming services. In some examples, the traffic monitor  204  can also monitor traffic transmitted over one or more physical connections. 
     The example substitute client generator  206  generates substitute clients to be transmitted by the router  208  to the primary access point  106 . For example, the substitute client generator  206  generates simulated WI-FI clients to connect to the primary access point  106 . For example, the substitute client generator  206  generates a first packet to establish the permanent connection  112  between the alternate access point  104  and the primary access point  106 . In examples disclosed herein, the substitute client generator  206  determines the number of possible connections, N, the primary access point  106  can make based on the permanent connection  112 . For example, the substitute client generator  206  queries the primary access point  106  via the permanent connection  112 . The substitute client generator  206  determines a number of substitute clients to generate based on the number of possible connections. For example, the substitute client generator  206  determines to generate N−1 substitute clients to establish the substitute connections  114 . In such examples, the substitute client generator  206  generates N−1 packets to establish N−1 substitute connections (e.g., the substitute connections  114 ) between the alternate access point  104  and the primary access point  106 . 
     The example router  208  is used for communications with WI-FI clients (e.g., the client device(s)  102 ) and to enable the alternate access point  104  with conventional access point functionalities. For example, the router  208  can direct data packets received via the client interface  202  and/or external network  108  to their intended destinations. In such examples, the router  208  can detect a network address embedded in the packet to determine the destination of the packet. In some examples, the traffic monitor  204  and/or the media monitor  210  can interface with the router  208  to receive the network address. In some examples, the router  208  includes any number of individual routers configured to specific WI-FI transmission bands (e.g., 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, etc.). 
     The example media monitor  210  analyzes media requests transmitted via the alternate access point  104 . For example, the media monitor  210  extracts information from a media request (e.g., a request to stream media from a streaming service, etc.) that includes media identifying information. In some examples, the media monitor  210  extracts a watermark and/or generates a fingerprint based on the transmitted media request. In some examples, the media monitor  210  correlates the destination of the media request (e.g., a particular streaming service, etc.) and the media request to identify the media associated with the media request (e.g., via a look-up table, etc.). In some examples, the media identifying information includes user identifying information. In some examples, the media monitor  210  transmits the extracted media identifying information to a central facility of an audience measurement entity. In such examples, the media monitor  210  can transmit the media identifying information periodically or continuously. In some examples, the media monitor  210  stores the media identifying information on a memory associated with the alternate access point  104 . In such examples, the media identifying information can manually be retrieved by a technician associated with the audience measurement entity. 
     While an example manner of implementing the alternate access point  104  of  FIG.  1    is illustrated in  FIG.  2   , one or more of the elements, processes and/or devices illustrated in  FIG.  2    may be combined, divided, re-arranged, omitted, eliminated and/or implemented in any other way. Further, the example client interface  202 , the example traffic monitor  204 , the example substitute client generator  206 , the example router  208 , the example media monitor  210  and/or, more generally, the example alternate access point  104  of  FIG.  2    may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware and/or any combination of hardware, software and/or firmware. Thus, for example, any of the example client interface  202 , the example traffic monitor  204 , the example substitute client generator  206 , the example router  208 , the example media monitor  210  and/or, more generally, the example alternate access point  104  could be implemented by one or more analog or digital circuit(s), logic circuits, programmable processor(s), programmable controller(s), graphics processing unit(s) (GPU(s)), digital signal processor(s) (DSP(s)), application specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)) and/or field programmable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)). When reading any of the apparatus or system claims of this patent to cover a purely software and/or firmware implementation, at least one of the example client interface  202 , the example traffic monitor  204 , the example substitute client generator  206 , the example router  208 , the example media monitor  210 , and/or the example alternate access point  104  is/are hereby expressly defined to include a non-transitory computer readable storage device or storage disk such as a memory, a digital versatile disk (DVD), a compact disk (CD), a Blu-ray disk, etc. including the software and/or firmware. Further still, the example alternate access point  104  of  FIG.  1    may include one or more elements, processes and/or devices in addition to, or instead of, those illustrated in  FIG.  2   , and/or may include more than one of any or all of the illustrated elements, processes and devices. As used herein, the phrase “in communication,” including variations thereof, encompasses direct communication and/or indirect communication through one or more intermediary components, and does not require direct physical (e.g., wired) communication and/or constant communication, but rather additionally includes selective communication at periodic intervals, scheduled intervals, aperiodic intervals, and/or one-time events. 
     Flowcharts representative of example hardware logic, machine readable instructions, hardware implemented state machines, and/or any combination thereof for implementing the alternate access point  104  of  FIGS.  1  and/or  2    are shown in  FIGS.  3 - 4   . The machine readable instructions may be one or more executable programs or portion(s) of an executable program for execution by a computer processor and/or processor circuitry, such as the processor  512  shown in the example processor platform  500  discussed below in connection with  FIG.  5   . The program may be embodied in software stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, a floppy disk, a hard drive, a DVD, a Blu-ray disk, or a memory associated with the processor  512 , but the entire program and/or parts thereof could alternatively be executed by a device other than the processor  512  and/or embodied in firmware or dedicated hardware. Further, although the example program is described with reference to the flowcharts illustrated in  FIGS.  3 - 4   , many other methods of implementing the example alternate access point  104  may alternatively be used. For example, the order of execution of the blocks may be changed, and/or some of the blocks described may be changed, eliminated, or combined. Additionally or alternatively, any or all of the blocks may be implemented by one or more hardware circuits (e.g., discrete and/or integrated analog and/or digital circuitry, an FPGA, an ASIC, a comparator, an operational-amplifier (op-amp), a logic circuit, etc.) structured to perform the corresponding operation without executing software or firmware. The processor circuitry may be distributed in different network locations and/or local to one or more devices (e.g., a multi-core processor in a single machine, multiple processors distributed across a server rack, etc.). 
     The machine readable instructions described herein may be stored in one or more of a compressed format, an encrypted format, a fragmented format, a compiled format, an executable format, a packaged format, etc. Machine readable instructions as described herein may be stored as data or a data structure (e.g., portions of instructions, code, representations of code, etc.) that may be utilized to create, manufacture, and/or produce machine executable instructions. For example, the machine readable instructions may be fragmented and stored on one or more storage devices and/or computing devices (e.g., servers) located at the same or different locations of a network or collection of networks (e.g., in the cloud, in edge devices, etc.). The machine readable instructions may require one or more of installation, modification, adaptation, updating, combining, supplementing, configuring, decryption, decompression, unpacking, distribution, reassignment, compilation, etc. in order to make them directly readable, interpretable, and/or executable by a computing device and/or other machine. For example, the machine readable instructions may be stored in multiple parts, which are individually compressed, encrypted, and stored on separate computing devices, wherein the parts when decrypted, decompressed, and combined form a set of executable instructions that implement one or more functions that may together form a program such as that described herein. 
     In another example, the machine readable instructions may be stored in a state in which they may be read by processor circuitry, but require addition of a library (e.g., a dynamic link library (DLL)), a software development kit (SDK), an application programming interface (API), etc. in order to execute the instructions on a particular computing device or other device. In another example, the machine readable instructions may need to be configured (e.g., settings stored, data input, network addresses recorded, etc.) before the machine readable instructions and/or the corresponding program(s) can be executed in whole or in part. Thus, machine readable media, as used herein, may include machine readable instructions and/or program(s) regardless of the particular format or state of the machine readable instructions and/or program(s) when stored or otherwise at rest or in transit. 
     The machine readable instructions described herein can be represented by any past, present, or future instruction language, scripting language, programming language, etc. For example, the machine readable instructions may be represented using any of the following languages: C, C++, Java, C#, Perl, Python, JavaScript, HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Structured Query Language (SQL), Swift, etc. 
     As mentioned above, the example processes of  FIGS.  3 - 4    may be implemented using executable instructions (e.g., computer and/or machine readable instructions) stored on a non-transitory computer and/or machine readable medium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, a cache, a random-access memory and/or any other storage device or storage disk in which information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extended time periods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarily buffering, and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, the term non-transitory computer readable medium is expressly defined to include any type of computer readable storage device and/or storage disk and to exclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media. 
     “Including” and “comprising” (and all forms and tenses thereof) are used herein to be open ended terms. Thus, whenever a claim employs any form of “include” or “comprise” (e.g., comprises, includes, comprising, including, having, etc.) as a preamble or within a claim recitation of any kind, it is to be understood that additional elements, terms, etc. may be present without falling outside the scope of the corresponding claim or recitation. As used herein, when the phrase “at least” is used as the transition term in, for example, a preamble of a claim, it is open-ended in the same manner as the term “comprising” and “including” are open ended. The term “and/or” when used, for example, in a form such as A, B, and/or C refers to any combination or subset of A, B, C such as (1) A alone, (2) B alone, (3) C alone, (4) A with B, (5) A with C, (6) B with C, and (7) A with B and with C. As used herein in the context of describing structures, components, items, objects and/or things, the phrase “at least one of A and B” is intended to refer to implementations including any of (1) at least one A, (2) at least one B, and (3) at least one A and at least one B. Similarly, as used herein in the context of describing structures, components, items, objects and/or things, the phrase “at least one of A or B” is intended to refer to implementations including any of (1) at least one A, (2) at least one B, and (3) at least one A and at least one B. As used herein in the context of describing the performance or execution of processes, instructions, actions, activities and/or steps, the phrase “at least one of A and B” is intended to refer to implementations including any of (1) at least one A, (2) at least one B, and (3) at least one A and at least one B. Similarly, as used herein in the context of describing the performance or execution of processes, instructions, actions, activities and/or steps, the phrase “at least one of A or B” is intended to refer to implementations including any of (1) at least one A, (2) at least one B, and (3) at least one A and at least one B. 
     As used herein, singular references (e.g., “a”, “an”, “first”, “second”, etc.) do not exclude a plurality. The term “a” or “an” entity, as used herein, refers to one or more of that entity. The terms “a” (or “an”), “one or more”, and “at least one” can be used interchangeably herein. Furthermore, although individually listed, a plurality of means, elements or method actions may be implemented by, e.g., a single unit or processor. Additionally, although individual features may be included in different examples or claims, these may possibly be combined, and the inclusion in different examples or claims does not imply that a combination of features is not feasible and/or advantageous. 
       FIG.  3    is a flowchart representative of machine-readable instructions which may be executed to implement the example alternate access point  104  of  FIGS.  1  and/or  2   . The example process  300  of the illustrated example of  FIG.  3    begins at block  302 , at which the example client interface  202  ( FIG.  2   ) configures the network credentials of the alternate access point  104  to be the same as the primary access point  106  ( FIG.  1   ). For example, the client interface  202  can receive the SSID and password from the household associated with the primary access point  106 . In some examples, a technician installing the alternate access point  104  can ask a member of the household for the password. In such examples, the technician can provide the network credentials to the alternate access point  104  via the client interface  202 . In other examples, the client interface  202  can configure any other suitable credentials of the alternate access point  104 . In other examples, the client interface  202  can receive network credentials (e.g., the SSID and/or password) by any other suitable means. 
     The example router  208  ( FIG.  2   ) establishes a connection to the primary access point  106  ( FIG.  1   ) (block  304 ). For example, the router  208  establishes the example permanent connection  112  ( FIG.  1   ) between the alternate access point  104  and the primary access point  106 . The example substitute client generator  206  ( FIG.  2   ) determines a number of connections, N (block  306 ). For example, the substitute client generator  306  queries the primary access point  106  to determine the number of possible connections the primary access point  106  can make. 
     The example substitute client generator  206  establishes substitute connections to the primary access point  106  (block  308 ). For example, the substitute client generator  206  establishes N−1 substitute connections between the alternate access point  104  and the primary access point  106 . That is, the substitute client generator  206  establishes the substitute connections  114  ( FIG.  1   ). The example client interface  202  establishes a connection with client device(s)  102  (block  310 ). For example, the client interface  202  establishes the first connection  110  ( FIG.  1   ) between the client device(s)  102  and the alternate access point  104 . 
       FIG.  4    is a flowchart representative of machine-readable instructions which may be executed to implement the example alternate access point  104  of  FIGS.  1  and/or  2   . The example process  400  of the illustrated example of  FIG.  4    begins at block  402 , at which the traffic monitor  204  ( FIG.  2   ) detects a connection from the client device(s)  102  ( FIG.  1   ). For example, the traffic monitor  204  detects the first connection  110  ( FIG.  1   ). The example router  208  routes the connection to the primary access point  106  ( FIG.  1   ) via the permanent connection  112  ( FIG.  1   ) (block  404 ). For example, the router  208  directs data packets from the client device(s)  102  to the primary access point  106  via the permanent connection  112 . 
     The example traffic monitor  204  detects a media request from the client device(s)  102  (block  406 ). For example, the traffic monitor  204  detects a request transmitted to a streaming service via the alternate access point  104 . In other examples, the traffic monitor  204  can detect a media request by any other suitable method. 
     The example media monitor  210  ( FIG.  2   ) extracts media identifying information from media request (block  408 ). For example, the media monitor  210  can extract a media identifier from the media request. In some examples, the media monitor  210  can extract other information from the media request (e.g., demographic information associated with a user of the client device(s)  102 , a timestamp related to the media request, etc.). 
     The example router  208  ( FIG.  2   ) transmits media identifying information to the audience measurement entity (block  410 ). For example, the router  208  can cause the media identifying information to be transmitted via any suitable means (e.g., wireless, cellular, etc.). Additionally or alternatively, the media identifying information can be stored on a memory associated with the alternate access point  104 . In such examples, the media identifying information can be retrieved from the alternate access point  104  by a technician associated with the audience measurement entity. 
       FIG.  5    is a block diagram of an example processor platform  500  structured to execute the instructions of  FIGS.  3 - 4    to implement the alternate access point  104  of  FIGS.  1  and/or  2   . The processor platform  500  can be, for example, a server, a personal computer, a workstation, a self-learning machine (e.g., a neural network), a mobile device (e.g., a cell phone, a smart phone, a tablet such as an iPad′), a personal digital assistant (PDA), an Internet appliance, a DVD player, a CD player, a digital video recorder, a Blu-ray player, a gaming console, a personal video recorder, a set top box, a headset or other wearable device, or any other type of computing device. 
     The processor platform  500  of the illustrated example includes a processor  512 . The processor  512  of the illustrated example is hardware. For example, the processor  512  can be implemented by one or more integrated circuits, logic circuits, microprocessors, GPUs, DSPs, or controllers from any desired family or manufacturer. The hardware processor may be a semiconductor based (e.g., silicon based) device. In this example, the processor implements the example client interface  202 , the example traffic monitor  204 , the example substitute client generator  206 , the example router  208 , and the example media monitor  210 . 
     The processor  512  of the illustrated example includes a local memory  513  (e.g., a cache). The processor  512  of the illustrated example is in communication with a main memory including a volatile memory  514  and a non-volatile memory  516  via a bus  518 . The volatile memory  514  may be implemented by Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), RAMBUS® Dynamic Random Access Memory (RDRAM®) and/or any other type of random access memory device. The non-volatile memory  516  may be implemented by flash memory and/or any other desired type of memory device. Access to the main memory  514 ,  516  is controlled by a memory controller. 
     The processor platform  500  of the illustrated example also includes an interface circuit  520 . The interface circuit  520  may be implemented by any type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, a universal serial bus (USB), a Bluetooth® interface, a near field communication (NFC) interface, and/or a PCI express interface. 
     In the illustrated example, one or more input devices  522  are connected to the interface circuit  520 . The input device(s)  522  permit(s) a user to enter data and/or commands into the processor  512 . The input device(s) can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, a microphone, a camera (still or video), a keyboard, a button, a mouse, a touchscreen, a track-pad, a trackball, isopoint and/or a voice recognition system. 
     One or more output devices  524  are also connected to the interface circuit  520  of the illustrated example. The output devices  524  can be implemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light emitting diode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystal display (LCD), a cathode ray tube display (CRT), an in-place switching (IPS) display, a touchscreen, etc.), a tactile output device, a printer and/or speaker. The interface circuit  520  of the illustrated example, thus, typically includes a graphics driver card, a graphics driver chip and/or a graphics driver processor. 
     The interface circuit  520  of the illustrated example also includes a communication device such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, a modem, a residential gateway, a wireless access point, and/or a network interface to facilitate exchange of data with external machines (e.g., computing devices of any kind) via a network  526 . The communication can be via, for example, an Ethernet connection, a digital subscriber line (DSL) connection, a telephone line connection, a coaxial cable system, a satellite system, a line-of-site wireless system, a cellular telephone system, etc. 
     The processor platform  500  of the illustrated example also includes one or more mass storage devices  528  for storing software and/or data. Examples of such mass storage devices  528  include floppy disk drives, hard drive disks, compact disk drives, Blu-ray disk drives, redundant array of independent disks (RAID) systems, and digital versatile disk (DVD) drives. 
     The machine executable instructions  532  of  FIGS.  3 - 4    may be stored in the mass storage device  528 , in the volatile memory  514 , in the non-volatile memory  516 , and/or on a removable non-transitory computer readable storage medium such as a CD or DVD. 
     A block diagram illustrating an example software distribution platform  605  to distribute software such as the example computer readable instructions  532  of  FIG.  5    to third parties is illustrated in  FIG.  6   . The example software distribution platform  605  may be implemented by any computer server, data facility, cloud service, etc., capable of storing and transmitting software to other computing devices. The third parties may be customers of the entity owning and/or operating the software distribution platform. For example, the entity that owns and/or operates the software distribution platform may be a developer, a seller, and/or a licensor of software such as the example computer readable instructions  532  of  FIG.  5   . The third parties may be consumers, users, retailers, OEMs, etc., who purchase and/or license the software for use and/or re-sale and/or sub-licensing. In the illustrated example, the software distribution platform  605  includes one or more servers and one or more storage devices. The storage devices store the computer readable instructions  532 , which may correspond to the example computer readable instructions of  FIGS.  3 - 4   , as described above. The one or more servers of the example software distribution platform  605  are in communication with a network  610 , which may correspond to any one or more of the Internet and/or any of the example networks  108 ,  526  described above. In some examples, the one or more servers are responsive to requests to transmit the software to a requesting party as part of a commercial transaction. Payment for the delivery, sale and/or license of the software may be handled by the one or more servers of the software distribution platform and/or via a third party payment entity. The servers enable purchasers and/or licensors to download the computer readable instructions  532  from the software distribution platform  605 . For example, the software, which may correspond to the example computer readable instructions of  FIGS.  3 - 4   , may be downloaded to the example processor platform  500 , which is to execute the computer readable instructions  532  to implement the alternate access point  104 . In some example, one or more servers of the software distribution platform  605  periodically offer, transmit, and/or force updates to the software (e.g., the example computer readable instructions  532  of  FIG.  5   ) to ensure improvements, patches, updates, etc. are distributed and applied to the software at the end user devices. 
     From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture have been disclosed that allow monitoring of Wi-Fi traffic using an alternate access point. The example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture capture all Wi-Fi traffic that would be routed through the primary access point without needing to decode the traffic. Additionally, because the alternate access point uses the same network credentials as the primary access point, it is transparent to users when they are moved to another access point. Additionally, if the alternate access point malfunctions, the client device will automatically connect to the primary access point. 
     Example methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture to redirect internet clients for media monitoring are disclosed herein. Further examples and combinations thereof include the following: 
     Example 1 includes an apparatus comprising a wireless communication controller to establish a plurality of connections to a WI-FI router, the plurality of connections corresponding to simulated WI-FI clients, and a client interface to identify a connection of a WI-FI client to the apparatus, and route network traffic of the WI-FI client to the WI-FI router via the plurality of connections. 
     Example 2 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein the plurality of connections includes a first connection, and further including a substitute client generator to query the WI-FI router via the first connection. 
     Example 3 includes the apparatus of example 2, wherein the substitute client generator is to determine the plurality of connections is one less than a total number of possible connections of the WI-FI router based on the query. 
     Example 4 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein the WI-FI client is not able to connect to the WI-FI router. 
     Example 5 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein the client interface is to configure the apparatus to have the same network credentials as the WI-FI router. 
     Example 6 includes the apparatus of example 5, wherein the network credentials include a service set identifier (SSID) and a password. 
     Example 7 includes the apparatus of example 1, further including a traffic monitor to identify a media request transmitted from the WI-FI client. 
     Example 8 includes the apparatus of example 7, further including a media monitor to extract media identifying information from the media request, and transmit the media identifying information to an audience measurement entity. 
     Example 9 includes at least one non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to at least establish a plurality of connections to a WI-FI router, the plurality of connections corresponding to simulated WI-FI clients, identify a connection of a WI-FI client to an apparatus, and route network traffic of the WI-FI client to the WI-FI router via the plurality of connections. 
     Example 10 includes the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of example 9, wherein the plurality of connections includes a first connection, and the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to query the WI-FI router via the first connection. 
     Example 11 includes the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of example 10, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to determine the plurality of connections is one less than a total number of possible connections of the WI-FI router based on the query. 
     Example 12 includes the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of example 9, wherein the WI-FI client is not able to connect to the WI-FI router. 
     Example 13 includes the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of example 9, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to configure the apparatus to have the same network credentials as the WI-FI router. 
     Example 14 includes the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of example 13, wherein the network credentials include a service set identifier (SSID) and a password. 
     Example 15 includes the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of example 9, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to identify a media request transmitted from the WI-FI client. 
     Example 16 includes the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of example 15, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to extract media identifying information from the media request, and transmit the media identifying information to an audience measurement entity. 
     Example 17 includes an apparatus comprising at least one storage device, and processor circuitry to establish a plurality of connections to a WI-FI router, the plurality of connections corresponding to simulated WI-FI clients, identify a connection of a WI-FI client to the apparatus, and route network traffic of the WI-FI client to the WI-FI router via the plurality of connections. 
     Example 18 includes the apparatus of example 17, wherein the plurality of connections includes a first connection, and the processor circuitry is to query the WI-FI router via the first connection. 
     Example 19 includes the apparatus of example 18, wherein the processor circuitry is to determine the plurality of connections is one less than a total number of possible connections of the WI-FI router based on the query. 
     Example 20 includes the apparatus of example 17, wherein the WI-FI client is not able to connect to the WI-FI router. 
     Example 21 includes the apparatus of example 17, wherein the processor circuitry is to configure the apparatus to have the same network credentials as the WI-FI router. 
     Example 22 includes the apparatus of example 21, wherein the network credentials include a service set identifier (SSID) and a password. 
     Example 23 includes the apparatus of example 17, wherein the processor circuitry is to identify a media request transmitted from the WI-FI client. 
     Example 24 includes the apparatus of example 23, wherein the processor circuitry is to extract media identifying information from the media request, and transmit the media identifying information to an audience measurement entity. 
     Example 25 includes a method comprising establishing a plurality of connections to a WI-FI router, the plurality of connections corresponding to simulated WI-FI clients, identifying a connection of a WI-FI client to an apparatus, and routing network traffic of the WI-FI client to the WI-FI router via the plurality of connections. 
     Example 26 includes the method of example 25, wherein the plurality of connections includes a first connection, and further including querying the WI-FI router via the first connection. 
     Example 27 includes the method of example 26, further including determining the plurality of connections is one less than a total number of possible connections of the WI-FI router based on the query. 
     Example 28 includes the method of example 25, wherein the WI-FI client is not able to connect to the WI-FI router. 
     Example 29 includes the method of example 25, further including configuring the apparatus to have the same network credentials as the WI-FI router. 
     Example 30 includes the method of example 29, wherein the network credentials include a service set identifier (SSID) and a password. 
     Example 31 includes the method of example 25, further including identifying a media request transmitted from the WI-FI client. 
     Example 32 includes the method of example 31, further including extracting media identifying information from the media request, and transmitting the media identifying information to an audience measurement entity. 
     Although certain example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture have been disclosed herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is not limited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope of the claims of this patent. 
     The following claims are hereby incorporated into this Detailed Description by this reference, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment of the present disclosure.