User activity tracking in third-party online systems

• US 10,643,026 B2
• Filed: 12/12/2017
• Issued: 05/05/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wooldridge, Tobias Henry, Hwang, Christine Jinha, Fadeev, Aleksey Sergeyevich
• Primary Examiner(s): Amin, Mustafa A
• Application Number:
  US15/839,738
• Publication Number:
  US 20190179884A1
• Time in Patent Office: 875 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2255 Hash tables
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4451 User profiles; Roaming
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0407 wherein the identity of one or more communicating identities is hidden cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for anonymous credentials or for identity based cryptographic systems H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0414 during transmission, i.e. party's identity is protected against eavesdropping, e.g. by using temporary identifiers, but is known to the other party or parties involved in the communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload

Abstract

Disclosed is a method for identifying an action performed by a user in a third party system. Information associated with a form is received by an online system. For instance, hashed values of a plurality of form fields provided by a user and a description of the plurality of form fields are received by an online system. A form is identified based on the received information. Additionally, a determination whether one or more of the received hashed values correspond to stored values by the online system is made. If the received hashed values correspond to stored values in the online system, a user of the online system is identified based on the stored values corresponding to the one or more received hashed values. An identification of an action associated with the identified form and performed by the user in the third party system is stored.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by an online system, information associated with a form of a third party system filled out by a user, the form having a plurality of name-value pairs, the information including hashed values of a plurality of form fields provided by the user and corresponding to values of the plurality of name-value pairs of the form, and a description of the plurality of form fields corresponding to names of the name-value pairs of the form, the hashed values generated by a script run by the third party system;

identifying the form based on the description of the plurality of form fields;

determining an action performed by the user in the third party system based on the identification of the form;

determining whether one or more of the received hashed values correspond to hashed user-related information stored in the online system;

responsive to determining that one or more of the received hashed values correspond stored values, identifying the user based on the stored values corresponding to the one or more received hashed values; and

storing an identification of the action associated with the identified form performed by the user in the third party system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an identification of a user performed action in the third party system, the identification of the user performed action received responsive to a tracking pixel embedded in a webpage of the third party system; and

verifying whether the identification of the user performed action matches the identification of the action associated with the identified form.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the description of the plurality of form fields is a name of the plurality of form fields.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a hash function used to generate the received hashed values is non-invertible.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether one or more of the received hashed values correspond to hashed user-related information stored in the online system comprises:

comparing the one or more received hashed values to hashed versions of fields in user profiles; and

identifying a user profile that includes fields that correspond to the one or more received hashed values.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether one or more of the received hashed values correspond to hashed user-related information stored in the online system comprises:

for each user of the online system;

generating a hashed version of a subset of information stored in a user profile of the user, and

storing, in the user profile of the user of the online system, the generated hashed version of the subset of information stored in the user profile;

comparing the one or more of the received hashed values to the stored hashed versions of the subset of information stored in the user profile.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the hashed values of the plurality of form fields provided by the user, and the description of the plurality of form fields are received in response to the user submitting the form to the third party system.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions, the instructions when executed by a processor of an online system, cause the processor to:

receive information associated with a form of a third party system filled out by a user, the form having a plurality of name-value pairs, the information including hashed values of a plurality of form fields provided by the user and corresponding to values of the plurality of name-value pairs of the form, and a description of the plurality of form fields corresponding to names of the name-value pairs of the form, the hashed values generated by a script run by the third party system;

identify the form based on the description of the plurality of form fields;

determine an action performed by the user in the third party system based on the identification of the form;

determine whether one or more of the received hashed values correspond to hashed user-related information stored in the online system;

responsive to determining that one or more of the received hashed values correspond stored values, identify the user based on the stored values corresponding to the one or more received hashed values; and

store an identification of the action associated with the identified form performed by the user in the third party system.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

receive an identification of a user performed action in the third party system, the identification of the user performed action received responsive to a tracking pixel embedded in a webpage of the third party system; and

verify whether the identification of the user performed action matches the identification of the action associated with the identified form.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the description of the plurality of form fields is a name of the plurality of form fields.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein a hash function used to generate the received hashed values is non-invertible.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions for determining whether one or more of the received hashed values correspond to hashed user-related information stored in the online system cause the processor to:

compare the one or more received hashed values to hashed versions of fields in user profiles; and

identify a user profile that includes fields that correspond to the one or more received hashed values.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions for determining whether one or more of the received hashed values correspond to hashed user-related information stored in the online system cause the processor to:

for each user of the online system;

generate a hashed version of a subset of information stored in a user profile of the user, and

store, in the user profile of the user of the online system, the generated hashed version of the subset of information stored in the user profile;

compare the one or more of the received hashed values to the stored hashed versions of the subset of information stored in the user profile.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the hashed values of the plurality of form fields provided by the user, and the description of the plurality of form fields are received in response to the user submitting the form to the third party system.

15. An online system comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions, the instructions when executed by a processor cause the processor to;

receive information associated with a form of a third party system filled out by a user, the form having a plurality of name-value pairs, the information including hashed values of a plurality of form fields provided by the user and corresponding to values of the plurality of name-value pairs of the form, and a description of the plurality of form fields corresponding to names of the name-value pairs of the form, the hashed values generated by a script run by a third party system,

identify the form based on the description of the plurality of form fields;

determine an action performed by the user in the third party system based on the identification of the form,

determine whether one or more of the received hashed values correspond to hashed user-related information stored in the online system,

responsive to determining that one or more of the received hashed values correspond stored values, identify the user based on the stored values corresponding to the one or more received hashed values, and

store an identification of the action associated with the identified form performed by the user in the third party system.

16. The online system of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

receive an identification of a user performed action in the third party system, the identification of the user performed action received responsive to a tracking pixel embedded in a webpage of the third party system; and

verify whether the identification of the user performed action matches the identification of the action associated with the identified form.

17. The online system of claim 15, wherein hashed hash function used to generate the received hashed values is non-invertible.

18. The online system of claim 15, wherein the instructions for determining whether one or more of the received hashed values correspond to hashed user-related information stored in the online system cause the processor to:

compare the one or more received hashed values to hashed versions of fields in user profiles; and

identify a user profile that includes fields that correspond to the one or more received hashed values.

19. The online system of claim 15, wherein the instructions for determining whether one or more of the received hashed values correspond to hashed user-related information stored in the online system cause the processor to:

for each user of the online system;

generate a hashed version of a subset of information stored in a user profile of the user, and

store, in the user profile of the user of the online system, the generated hashed version of the subset of information stored in the user profile;

compare the one or more of the received hashed values to the stored hashed versions of the subset of information stored in the user profile.

20. The online system of claim 15, wherein the hashed values of the plurality of form fields provided by the user, and the description of the plurality of form fields are received in response to the user submitting the form to the third party system.