Real-time monitoring of ads inserted in real-time into a web page

• US 10,304,084 B2
• Filed: 02/02/2017
• Issued: 05/28/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HIRO Media, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: HIRO Media, Ltd.
• Inventors: Napchi, Ariel, Bar-Nissan, Hed, Napchi, Oded, Oken, Alan, Daniel, Shahar, Stern, Ronen
• Primary Examiner(s): Netzloff, Eric R
• Application Number:
  US15/422,490
• Publication Number:
  US 20180012256A1
• Time in Patent Office: 845 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

There is provided a method for monitoring of web browser media object(s) received in response to a web browser request rendering a web page, comprising: loading ad-monitoring code with the web page that includes at least one designation for placement of at least one web browser media object received in response to a web browser request by the web browser; monitoring, using the ad-monitoring code, at least one of actions and events driven by the at least one web browser media object; identifying a deviation from a set-of-rules according to an analysis of the monitored at least one of actions and events, wherein the set-of-rules define at least one of allowable and prohibited actions and events of the at least one web browser media object; and at least one of filtering and outputting an indication of the at least one web browser media object identified as deviating from the set-of-rules.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for monitoring of web browser media object(s) received in response to a web browser request at a web browser rendering a web page, the method executed by at least one processor of a client terminal in network communication with a web server hosting the web page, the method comprising:

loading by a web browser running on the client terminal, ad-monitoring code with the web page, wherein the web page includes at least one designation for placement of at least one web browser media object received in response to a web browser request by the web browser;

monitoring, using the ad-monitoring code, at least one of attempted actions and attempted events defining a plurality of components of a multi-media advertisement provided by an ad-server for dynamic loading and execution by the at least one web browser media object on the client terminal;

identifying a deviation from a set-of-rules according to an analysis of the monitored at least one of attempted actions and attempted events, wherein the set-of-rules define allowable components of the multi-media advertisement when executed on the client terminal, and prohibited components of the multi-media advertisement when executed on the client terminal;

wherein a common set-of-rules is defined for the web page for implementation by each client terminal accessing the web page, the set-of-rules are stored in association with the web server hosting the web page; and

generating a virtual reply that includes false data in response to the deviation by execution of the at least one of attempted actions and attempted events on a virtual DOM that simulates the DOM without executing the at least one of attempted actions and attempted events on the DOM;

wherein in response to the virtual reply received by the at least one web browser media object, the at least one of attempted actions and attempted events that deviate from the set-of-rules are prevented from executing the prohibited components of the multi-media advertisement on the client terminal, and the at least one of attempted actions and attempted events that adhere to the set-of-rules are allowed to continue execution of the allowable components of the multi-media advertisement on the client terminal;

wherein the set-of-rules define playing one type of media as an allowable component of the multi-media advertisement and another type of media as a prohibited component of the multi-media advertisement, wherein the prohibited component is blocked while the allowable component is allowed to be presented.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least one web browser media object is a programmatic advertisement provided by an ad-server for dynamic loading with the web page by the web browser.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the web page includes a plurality of designations each for placement of at least one web browser media object, wherein the web page includes a plurality of ad-monitoring code instruction instances each for loading with an associated respective web browser media object, wherein the monitoring is performed by each ad-monitoring code instance of the associated respective web browser media object, and wherein the identification of the deviation of each respective web browser media object is performed according to a respective set-of-rules defined for each respective web browser media object.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein each ad-monitoring code instance monitors the associated respective web browser media object without monitoring other content of the web page or other web browser media objects being monitored by other ad-monitoring code instances.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein each ad-monitoring code instance and associated web browser media object are loaded together within a respective frame of the web page, wherein the ad-monitoring code instance monitors the at least one of attempted actions and attempted events from the associated web browser media object within the respective frame.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the set-of-rules define the maximum loaded size of the web browser media object, and identifying comprises identifying a deviation above the maximum loaded size of the loaded web browser media object.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the set-of-rules define undesired parameters leading to a degradation of a user experience of a user using the web browser to access the web page.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the set-of-rules includes at least one member of the group consisting of:

statistically significant network usage, statistically significant processing resource utilization, statistically significant user noticeable slow-down in loading of the web page, statistically significant user noticeable slowdown in execution of other applications running on the client terminal, and detection of malware.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising recursively monitoring loading of sub-frames within a loaded parent frame of the web page, and recursively monitoring the web browser media object within the loaded sub-frame and parent frame.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring to detect changes to the document object model (DOM) of the web page.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising at least one of:

allowing actions that do not violate the set-of-rules to pass to the DOM, and blocking actions that violate the set-of-rules.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein monitoring comprises monitoring network activity associated with the monitored web browser media object.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the set-of-rules is designed to detect at least one member of the group consisting of:

web browser media object associated with an advertiser bot, frequency capping, and re-targeting.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the set-of-rules define prohibited activity as activation of sound by the web browser media object.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising identifying the at least one of attempted actions and attempted events executed by each component of the web browser media object to identify which certain component of the web browser media object caused the deviation from the set-of-rules.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein monitoring comprises monitoring each technological platform implementation of the web browser media object.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the technological platform implementation includes at least one member of the group consisting of:

at least one programming language used to create the web browser media object, DOM representation of the web browser media object, interface used by the web browser media object, and network activity due to the web browser media object.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising creating a call chain of components of each web browser media object.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the call chain is created by analyzing call stacks to identify the connectivity between the components of the web browser media object.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising adding an event handler that detects a mutation event to a DOM of the web page and analyzing a stack trace to determine a component of an web browser media object associated with code that caused the mutation.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the web browser media object includes a plurality of links to a plurality of resources located on at least one remote server, wherein the resources include instructions for execution by the web browser of the client terminal, wherein the resources are arranged in a hierarchy such that a first resource includes instructions to execute at least one second resource, further comprising tracking loading of each of the plurality of resources and creating a dependency graph representing the loading relationship between resources, wherein nodes of the graph represent web browser media object resources.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein tracking loading comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of:

time of loading relative to the start of the loading process of the web page, the location of the web browser media object resource in the web page relative to the root of a DOM of the web page.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein the dependency graph includes weights assigned between nodes of the graph representing at least one of the loading time and distance based on the screen location.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 23, wherein the loading relationship of resources of web browser media objects of the web page are analyzed for each loading session of the web page and added to a common graph created for the web browser media object representing an average of weights based on multiple sessions.

25. The computer-implemented method of claim 24, further comprising applying a machine learning method to the graph to identify web browser media object-resources violating the set-of-rules.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising blocking the at least one web browser media object identified as deviating from the set-of-rules by automatically removing the designation for requesting the at least one web browser media object from the code of the web page.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the virtual reply to the at least one web browser media object, wherein the virtual reply enables the at least one web browser media object to continue execution without deviating from the set-of-rules.

28. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the set-of-rules define playing a visual video on a display as the allowable component of the multi-media advertisement, and the set-of-rules define sound as the prohibited component of the multi-media advertisement, wherein a sound component of the multi-media advertisement is blocked while a visual component of the multi-media advertisement is allowed to continue playing on the display.

29. A system for monitoring web browser media object(s) received in response to a web browser request at a web browser rendering a web page, comprising:

a client terminal, comprising;

a network interface for connecting to a network;

a program store storing code; and

a processor coupled to the network interface and the program store for implementing the stored code, the code comprising;

code to load ad-monitoring code with the web page, wherein the web page includes at least one designation for placement of at least one web browser media object received in response to a web browser request by the web browser;

code to monitor, using the ad-monitoring code, at least one of attempted actions and attempted events defining a plurality of components of a multi-media advertisement provided by an ad-server for dynamic loading and execution by the at least one web browser media object on the client terminal, to identify a deviation from a set-of-rules according to an analysis of the monitored at least one of attempted actions and attempted events, wherein the set-of-rules define at least one of allowable components of the multi-media advertisement when executed on the client terminal, and prohibited components of the multi-media advertisement when executed on the client terminal, wherein a common set-of-rules is defined for the web page for implementation by each client terminal accessing the web page, the set-of-rules are stored in association with the web server hosting the web page, and generate a virtual reply that includes false data in response to the deviation by execution of the at least one of attempted actions and attempted events on a virtual DOM that simulates the DOM without executing the at least one of attempted actions and attempted events on the DOM, wherein in response to the virtual reply received by the at least one web browser media object, the at least one of attempted actions and attempted events that deviate from the set-of-rules are prevented from executing the prohibited components of the multi-media advertisement on the client terminal, and the at least one of attempted actions and attempted events that adhere to the set-of-rules are allowed to continue execution of the allowable components of the multi-media advertisement on the client terminal, wherein the set-of-rules define playing one type of media as an allowable component of the multi-media advertisement and another type of media as a prohibited component of the multi-media advertisement, wherein the prohibited component is blocked while the allowable component is allowed to be presented.

30. The system of claim 29, further comprising a monitoring server in network communication with the client terminal, the monitoring server comprising a program store storing code, and a processor coupled to the program store for implementing the stored code, the code comprising:

code to receive data from the client terminal indicative of the tracking of the loading of each of a plurality of resources of the web browser media object, and code to create a dependency graph for the web browser media object representing the loading relationships between the plurality of resources.

31. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing program code thereon for implementation by at least one processor of a client terminal in network communication with a web server hosting a web page, for monitoring at least one web browser media object received in response to a web browser request at a web browser rendering the web page, comprising:

program instructions to load by the web browser, ad-monitoring code with the web page, wherein the web page includes at least one designation for placement of at least one web browser media object received in response to a web browser request by the web browser;

program instructions to monitor, using the ad-monitoring code, at least one of attempted actions and attempted events defining a plurality of components of a multi-media advertisement provided by an ad-server for dynamic loading and execution by the at least one web browser media object on the client terminal;

program instructions to identify a deviation from a set-of-rules according to an analysis of the monitored at least one of attempted actions and attempted events, wherein the set-of-rules define allowable components of the multi-media advertisement when executed on the client terminal, and prohibited components of the multi-media advertisement when executed on the client terminal, wherein a common set-of-rules is defined for the web page for implementation by each client terminal accessing the web page, the set-of-rules are stored in association with the web server hosting the web page,

program instructions to generate a virtual reply that includes false data in response to the deviation by execution of the at least one of attempted actions and attempted events on a virtual DOM that simulates the DOM without executing the at least one of attempted actions and attempted events on the DOM; and

wherein in response to the virtual reply received by the at least one web browser media object, the at least one of attempted actions and attempted events that deviate from the set-of-rules are prevented from executing the prohibited components of the multi-media advertisement on the client terminal, and the at least one of attempted actions and attempted events that adhere to the set-of-rules are allowed to continue execution of the allowable components of the multi-media advertisement on the client terminal;

wherein the set-of-rules define playing one type of media as an allowable component of the multi-media advertisement and another type of media as a prohibited component of the multi-media advertisement, wherein the prohibited component is blocked while the allowable component is allowed to be presented.