Document usage monitoring method and system

• US 20020178180A1
• Filed: 05/21/2002
• Published: 11/28/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Watchwise, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Watchwise, Inc.
• Inventors: Kolosova, Tanya, Berestizhevsky, Samuel
• Application Number:
  US10/151,561
• Publication Number:
  US 20020178180A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/500
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A document that is accessible by a first computing apparatus via a global communication network, such as a web page, includes a tag that is operative to receive information corresponding to a user of the document and delivering the information to a second computing apparatus via a global communications network. The information may include user identification information and/or user activity information. Optionally, the collected information may be stored in a database. A report of document usage may also be created, wherein the report includes information such as an identification of a document and an analysis of a number of users of the document during a time period or a point in time, or a predicted usage in the future based on past results.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring user activities corresponding to at least one document that is accessible via a communication network, comprising:

maintaining, on a first computing apparatus, a document that is accessible via a global communication network, the document including at least one tag;

receiving information corresponding to a user of the document; and

delivering the information to a second computing apparatus.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the delivering step is implemented via the communication network.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising the additional step of storing the identifying information in at least one database.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one tag corresponds to a rule that initiates the receiving step or the delivering step.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the information comprises an address, a name, a host, or a code.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising the additional step of creating a report that comprises an identification of the document and at least one of user information, an analysis of a number of users of the document at a point in time or during a time period, a number of days with low or high visits, a number of active users, a number of inactive users, and forecasting.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the report creating step also comprises excluding from the report user information if the user information is damaged.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the time period is an instantaneous point in time.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the user information includes compressed user information and non-compressed user information, and comprising the additional step of comparing the compressed user information with the non-compressed user information and processing the compressed user information to yield additional non-compressed user information.

10. A method of monitoring usage of a web document, comprising

maintaining a web document having a tag and a document identifier;

receiving information relating to a user of the web document;

communicating the information relating to the user and the document identifier to a first computing apparatus having a memory; and

recording, in a database contained within the memory, the information and the document identifier.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the communicating corresponds to the tag and is performed via the Internet.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the web document corresponds to a second computing apparatus.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the identifying information comprises an address, a name, a host, or a code.

14. The method of claim 10, comprising the additional step of creating a report of usage of the web document, wherein the report comprises the document identifier and information relating to at least one user.

15. The method of claim 10, comprising the additional step of creating a report of document usage, wherein the report comprises the document identifier and an analysis of a number of users of the web document at a point in time or in a time period.

16. A computer-readable carrier containing computer instructions that are capable of causing a computer to implement a method of monitoring user activities corresponding to at least one document, the instructions capable of causing the computer to perform steps including:

maintaining, on a first-computing apparatus, a document that is accessible via a global communication network, the document including a tag;

receiving information corresponding to a user of the document; and

delivering the information to a second computing apparatus.

17. A system for monitoring usage of a web document, comprising a processor programmed to perform the steps including:

maintaining, on a first computing apparatus, a web document having a document identifier;

receiving information relating to a user of the web document;

communicating the information relating to the user and the document identifier to a second computing apparatus having a memory; and

recording, in a database contained within the memory, the information and the document identifier.

18. A system for monitoring usage of a web document, comprising:

means for displaying a document on a first computer apparatus;

means, integral within the document, for receiving information corresponding to a user of the document; and

means for electronically transmitting said information to a second computer apparatus.