System and method for monitoring and analyzing internet traffic

• US 20020042821A1
• Filed: 05/10/2001
• Published: 04/11/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Quantified Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: Muret, Paul Nicolas, Moon, Hui Sok
• Granted Patent: US 6,804,701 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/142 using statistical or mathematical methods
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/06 Generation of reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/062 related to network traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/065 related to network devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/067 using time frame reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/106 using time related information in packets, e.g. by adding timestamps

Abstract

A system and method for monitoring and analyzing Internet traffic is provided that is efficient, completely automated, and fast enough to handle the busiest websites on the Internet, processing data many times faster than existing systems. The system and method of the present invention processes data by reading log files produced by web servers, or by interfacing with the web server in real time, processing the data as it occurs. The system and method of the present invention can be applied to one website or thousands of websites, whether they reside on one server or multiple servers. The multi-site and sub-reporting capabilities of the system and method of the present invention makes it applicable to servers containing thousands of websites and entire on-line communities. In one embodiment, the system and method of the present invention includes e-commerce analysis and reporting functionality, in which data from standard traffic logs is received and merged with data from e-commerce systems. The system and method of the present invention can produce reports showing detailed “return on investment” information, including identifying which banner ads, referrals, domains, etc. are producing specific dollars.

Claims

1. A system for analyzing and monitoring internet traffic, comprising:

a relational database;

a log engine that processes log files received from at least one internet server and stores data processed from the log files in the relational database; and

a report engine that generates reports based on the processed data stored in the relational database.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the relational database comprises a plurality of hash tables.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of tables comprise:

a visitor table that stores traffic information generated by a visitor to an internet site hosted by the at least one internet server; and

a plurality of data tables, wherein each data table stores records related to a respective parameter.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the visitor table comprises at least one pointer to at least one record stored in at least one of the data tables.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the respective parameters comprise:

domain names from which the visitor originated; and

web browsers used by the visitor; and

other internet sites that referred the visitor to the internet site.