• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, August 16, 2011

TRA, the measurement company looking to offer a single-source product to serve as the industry standard, said it had secured a second major patent involving data privacy.

The company's first patent involved its core product, matching media exposure with purchase behavior, a would-be single source.

TRA uses anonymous household data and the new patent, "Using Consumer Purchase Behavior for Television Targeting," protects its system to ensure consumer privacy.

"The 1993 patent reflects TRA's philosophy in keeping privacy rights a core principle in everything we do, as well as our mission to be the innovators in this space," stated TRA CEO Mark Lieberman, adding: "Developing accountability solutions for the advertising industry [is] an important strategy in protecting our shareholders' investment in securing patents around the world."

Investors include Arbitron, Intel Capital, Kodiak Venture Partners and WPP/Kantar. TRA and WPP are facing off in a case that involves alleged patent infringement in New York federal court.

TRA products take set-top-box viewing data from an estimated 2 million homes and match it with purchasing data of consumer packaged-goods culled from 57 million homes. If an advertiser provides sales data, there are products in the auto and pharmaceutical categories and opportunities for custom projects.