System and method for capturing interaction data relating to a host application

• US 10,701,131 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2018
• Issued: 06/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verint Americas Incorporated (Verint Systems Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Verint Americas Incorporated (Verint Systems Incorporated)
• Inventors: White, Alexei R., Cohen, Mitchell, Han, Michael, Leung, Ho Yan
• Primary Examiner(s): Salad, Abdullahi E
• Application Number:
  US15/940,379
• Publication Number:
  US 20180219936A1
• Time in Patent Office: 824 Days
• Field of Search: 709203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10

Abstract

Systems and methods for capturing interaction data relating to a host application (app) implemented on a mobile device are disclosed. A tracking module is embedded in the host application. Interaction data relating to the host application is captured on the mobile device with the tracking module. The captured interaction data is transmitted from the mobile device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising the steps of:

embedding a tracking module in a host application, the host application having been downloaded and installed on a mobile device and operable independent from a web browser, the mobile device including an operating system that accesses a main user interface (UI) thread, wherein the tracking module comprises an application programming interface (API);

capturing with the tracking module visual interaction data relating to the host application wherein the visual interaction data includes images presented on a display of the mobile device and wherein the tracking module captures the visual interaction data by;

accessing the main user UI thread shared by the operating system;

acquiring layers of an object from a user interface of the host application;

rendering layers of the object; and

intermittently accessing a second thread during capture of the visual interaction data, the second thread independent of the main UI thread, thereby increasing availability of the main UI thread for the operating system during capture of the visual interaction data;

and

transmitting the visual interaction data from the mobile device to a tracking server.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further including the tracking module:

measuring a period of time required to capture the visual interaction data; and

dynamically altering a frequency at which the visual interaction data is captured based on the measured period of time required to the capture interaction data.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further including the tracking module:

capturing data representing the availability of resources of the mobile device; and

dynamically altering a frequency at which the visual interaction data is captured based on the visual data representing the availability of resources of the mobile device.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further including:

storing the visual interaction data to a buffer; and

retrieving, with the tracking module, the visual interaction data from the buffer.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further including the tracking module compressing the visual interaction data in preparation for transmission.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 wherein compressing further includes the tracking module applying an image differencing process to capture visual differences between sequential interaction data.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein transmitting the visual interaction data includes transmitting the visual interaction data upon occurrence of a predetermined event including at least one of detection of a predetermined network connection for the mobile device, a detection of a command or status of the mobile device, an acceptance of an invitation to complete a survey, and a completion of a survey.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further including masking, with the tracking module, portions of the visual interaction data before transmission.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising capturing, with the tracking module, non-visual interaction data relating to the host application, the non-visual interaction data comprises meta-data including at least one of touch-event data, gesture data, GPS coordinate data, audio data, accelerometer data, orientation data, camera data, barometer data, and compass data.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein capturing the images includes capturing a change to the images wherein the change is initiated by a user.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein capturing the images includes capturing a change to the images wherein the change is initiated by the host application independent of a user.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions, which when executed by one or more processors, implement a tracking module, the tracking module configured to be embedded in a host application, the host application having been downloaded and installed on a mobile device and operable independent from a web browser, the mobile device including an operating system that accesses a main user interface (UI) thread, the tracking module comprising an application programming interface (API) and being configured to:

capture visual interaction data relating to the host application wherein the visual interaction data includes images presented on a display of the mobile device, and to capture the visual interaction data, the tracking module is configured to;

access the main user UI thread shared by the operating system;

acquire layers of an object from a user interface of the host application;

render layers of the object; and

intermittently access a second thread during capture of the visual interaction data, the second thread that is independent of the main UI thread;

and

transmit the visual interaction data from the mobile device to a tracking server.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the tracking module is further configured to:

measure a period of time required to capture the visual interaction data; and

dynamically alter a frequency at which the visual interaction data is captured based on the measured period of time required to the capture interaction data.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the tracking module is further configured to:

capture data representing the availability of resources of the mobile device; and

dynamically alter a frequency at which the visual interaction data is captured based on the visual data representing the availability of resources of the mobile device.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the tracking module is further configured to:

store the visual interaction data to a buffer; and

retrieve, with the tracking module, the visual interaction data from the buffer.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the tracking module is configured to compress the visual interaction data in preparation for transmission.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the tracking module is configured to compress the visual interaction data by applying an image differencing process to capture visual differences between sequential interaction data.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the tracking module is further configured to transmit the visual interaction data upon occurrence of a predetermined event including at least one of detection of a predetermined network connection for the mobile device, a detection of a command or status of the mobile device, an acceptance of an invitation to complete a survey, and a completion of a survey.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the tracking module is further configured to mask portions of the visual interaction data before transmission.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the tracking module is further configured to capture non-visual interaction data relating to the host application, the non-visual interaction data comprises meta-data including at least one of touch-event data, gesture data, GPS coordinate data, audio data, accelerometer data, orientation data, camera data, barometer data, and compass data.