Laravel 4.2 Page Views Counter - laravel

Question

So i added this page view counter to my app that counts each visit on a artist page. Right now if you refresh the page the counter is +1 each refresh.
My question is how can i make it to count unique visits by day only?
My Controller:
if ( $artist ) {
$getartist = $this->_artist->get($artist, 'slug');
if ( $getartist ) {
$getsongs = $this->_song->collections($input, $getartist->id, 'ASC');
$this->_artist->updateVisits($getartist->id);
$data = [
'is_artist' => true,
'artist' => $getartist,
'songs' => $getsongs,
'randomsongs' => $this->randomsongs,
];
return $this->view('index', $data);
}
}
The code for counter is:
$this->_artist->updateVisits($getartist->id);
Then in my ArtistRepository:
public function updateVisits($artist_id)
{
$artist = $this->model->where("id",$artist_id)->first();
$artist->visits = $artist->visits+1;
$artist->save();
}
So how do i prevent counter from counting if user refresh the page?

Answer 1

Ok i found a solution around this with cookies
Heres my code.
public function updateVisits($artist_id)
{
$artist = $this->model->where("id",$artist_id)->first();
// Check if cookies exist
if(!isset($_COOKIE['visited_id' . $artist_id])) {
// If not set cookie and pass counter
setcookie('visited_id' . $artist_id, $artist_id, time()+30); /* expire in seconds */
$artist->visits = $artist->visits+1;
$artist->save();
// If cookie exist on user computer
} else {
//do nothing
}
}

Answer 2

First add a date field on DB table. Then change your function to following-
public function updateVisits($artist_id)
{
$artist = $this->model->firstOrCreate(['id' => $artist_id,'your_date_field_name'=>date('Y-m-d')]);
$artist->visits = $artist->visits+1;
$artist->save();
}
And don't forget to add id, your_date_field_name on fillable array to be mass assignable.