Request tracking for analysis of website navigation

• US 20020046281A1
• Filed: 10/05/2001
• Published: 04/18/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cope, Brian Charles
• Granted Patent: US 7,346,703 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3438 monitoring of user actions tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/875 Monitoring of systems including the internet
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements

Abstract

Provided are methods, apparatus and computer programs for enabling tracking of a user'"'"'s sequence of Web Browser requests when navigating within a single Web site. Requests for access to resources within the Web site are compared with redirection criteria and, if matching, are redirected to a request tracker which determines a session identifier (generating a new session ID if required), then logs the request and then redirects the request back to the Web server for processing. This method uses a request tracker outside the scope of the Web server program, addressing the inability of many current Web servers to support cookies and avoiding major rewriting of the Web site. The resources within the Web site for which tracking is implemented are renamed on the Web server and the redirected requests are also renamed to be consistent with the renamed resources but to avoid repeated matching with the redirection criteria. This ensures that an incoming request is redirected to the tracker once only, and after forwarding back to the Web server is processed in a conventional way without repeated redirection to the request tracker.

Claims

1. A method for tracking a plurality of Web Browser requests for access to resources within a particular Web site, the method comprising:

for requests sent from a Web Browser to a Web server for access to resources within the Web site, comparing each of the requests with a set of redirection criteria;

for requests which match the redirection criteria, forwarding the request to a request tracker separate from the Web server; and

the request tracker determining a session identifier, logging the request together with the session identifier, and forwarding the request to the Web server for processing.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the request tracker comprises a process running within a Web application server.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein said process comprises a Java Servlet running within a Java Virtual Machine of the Web application server.

4. A method according to claim 1, including:

for a set of resources on the Web server, replacing original resource names with new resource names;

for requests which match the redirection criteria and which include said original resource names, replacing the original resource names within the request with the new names such that requests forwarded to the Web server by the request tracker include the new names for accessing the renamed resources.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the step of replacing resource names within requests is implemented by a redirection process within the Web server, in response to identifying a match with said redirection criteria, prior to forwarding the request to the request tracker.

6. A method according to claim 4, wherein the replacing of resource names comprises replacing original URL or resource name suffixes with modified URL or resource name suffixes respectively.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the redirection criteria include the original URL or resource name suffix but not the modified URL or resource name suffix, such that only requests which include the original URL or resource name suffix will be forwarded to the request tracker.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein the redirection criteria include the URL name of a home directory of the Web site.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the comparing step is implemented by the Web server and comprises comparing requests with a set of redirection statements within the Web server'"'"'s configuration file.

10. A method according to claim 1, wherein the session identifier comprises:

an identifier of a data processing apparatus running the Web Browser or an identifier of an end user; and

a validity time period.

11. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of determining a session identifier by the request tracker comprises checking whether the request has a valid cookie associated therewith and, if so, extracting a session identifier from the cookie or, if not, generating a new cookie and session identifier.

12. A method for tracking a plurality of Web Browser requests for access to resources within a particular Web site, the method comprising:

for a set of resources on the Web server, replacing original resource names with new resource names;

for requests sent from a Web Browser to a Web server for access to resources within the Web site, comparing each of the requests with a set of redirection criteria;

for requests which match the redirection criteria and which include said original resource names, replacing the original resource names within the request with the new names and forwarding the modified request to a request tracker separate from the Web server to enable the request tracker to

(i) determine a session identifier,

(ii) log the request together with the session identifier, and

(iii) forward the request to the Web server for processing, such that requests forwarded to the Web server by the request tracker will include the new names for accessing the renamed resources.

13. A method for tracking a plurality of Web Browser requests for access to resources within a particular Web site, the requests having been sent from a Web Browser to a Web server for accessing resources within the Web site and then having been redirected to a request tracker separate from the Web server, the method implemented by the request tracker comprising:

determining a session identifier,

logging the request together with the session identifier, and

redirecting the request back to the Web server for processing.

14. A method for tracking a plurality of Web Browser requests for access to resources within a particular Web site, the method comprising:

for a set of resources on the Web server, replacing original resource names with new resource names;

providing a set of redirection criteria for requests sent from a Web Browser to a Web server for access to resources within the Web site,

providing means for comparing each request which includes one of said original resource names with a set of redirection criteria and, responsive to identifying a match, for replacing the original resource name within the request with the respective new name and forwarding the modified request to a request tracker separate from the Web server; and

providing a request tracker for determining a session identifier, logging the request together with the session identifier, and forwarding the modified request to the Web server for processing, such that requests forwarded to the Web server by the request tracker include the new names for accessing the renamed resources.

15. A data processing apparatus comprising:

a Web server;

means for replacing original resource names with new resource names for a set of resources within a Web site accessed via the Web server;

means for receiving requests from a Web Browser for access to resources within the Web site;

means for comparing each received request which includes one of said original resource names with a set of redirection criteria;

means, responsive to identifying a match with the redirection criteria, for replacing the original resource names within the request with the new names and forwarding the modified request to a request tracker separate from the Web server to enable the request tracker to

(i) determine a session identifier for the request,

(ii) log the request together with the session identifier, and

(iii) forward the modified request to the Web server for processing, such that requests forwarded to the Web server by the request tracker will include the new names for accessing the renamed resources.

16. A data processing apparatus including a Web application server, the Web application server including a request tracker for tracking a plurality of Web Browser requests for access to resources within a particular Web site accessible via a Web server, the requests having been sent from a Web Browser to the Web server for accessing resources within the Web site and then having been redirected to the request tracker, the request tracker comprising means for:

determining a session identifier for the request,

logging the request together with the session identifier, and

redirecting the request back to the Web server for processing.

17. A computer program product comprising computer program code recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, for controlling the operation of a data processing apparatus on which the program code executed, the program code comprising:

a first code component for receiving requests from a Web Browser for access to resources within a particular Web site accessible via a Web server, for comparing each received request with a set of redirection criteria and, responsive to identifying a match with the redirection criteria, for forwarding the modified request to a request tracker component separate from the Web server; and

a request-tracker code component, separate from the Web server, for determining a session identifier for the request, logging the request together with the session identifier, and redirecting the request back to the Web server for processing.