Method and system of capturing data for automating internet interactions

• US 20040230647A1
• Filed: 05/13/2003
• Published: 11/18/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mercury Kingdom Assets Limited
• Original Assignee: AOL LLC (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rawat, Jai
• Granted Patent: US 7,281,029 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation

Abstract

A method and system for capturing data for automating interactions occurring across the Internet includes storing data at a central Web server adapted for maintaining a database. Responsive to a program script requesting data, computer program code at the central Web server selectively extracts stored data from the database, manipulates the data in accordance with the request, and supplies the manipulated data in a desired format. The program script is also able to capture manually entered data to the database when new request data is entered manually after the normal form submission.

Claims

1. A system for automating data transactions between computer servers comprising:

a first computer server maintaining a database having stored data recorded therein;

a program code residing on said first computer server for creating extracted data by selectively extracting said stored data responsive to a request;

a first additional program code residing on said first computer server for obtaining a blank form, and for parsing said blank form to identify which of said extracted data should be used to fill in at least a part of said blank form; and

a second additional program code residing on said first computer server for capturing manually entered data and recording said manually entered data to said first computer server.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said extracted data includes data for all fields in said blank form.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said blank form is obtained from a second computer server.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said blank form is a login form.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said first additional program code includes instructions for creating a filled form using said extracted data to fill in said blank form.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein said first additional program code further includes instructions for submitting said filled form to a second computer server.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an additional database maintained at said first computer server, said additional database having stored form data recorded therein, said stored form data relating to forms required by at least one other computer server.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein said first additional program code includes instructions for comparing data fields in said blank form with said stored form data recorded in said additional database.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein said stored form data includes parsed form data from said at least one other computer server.

10. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

form filling program instructions residing on said first computer server, using a result of said comparing data fields in said blank form with said stored form data, for creating a filled form by filling in said blank.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

form submitting program instructions residing on said first computer server, using a result of said form filling program instructions, for automatically submitting said filled form to a second computer server.

12. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

said manually entered data is manually submitted to said at least one other computer server when said stored form data does not include parsed form data from said at least one other computer server.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

said second additional program code parsing a response from said at least one other computer server.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

said second additional program code capturing said manually entered data and record said manually entered data to said first computer server.

15. A method for automating data transactions between computer servers comprising steps of:

maintaining a database having stored data recorded therein at a first computer server;

selectively extracting said stored data responsive to a request;

obtaining a blank form;

parsing said blank form to identify which of said stored data should be used to fill in at least a part of said blank form; and

capturing manually entered data and recording said manually entered data to said first computer server.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the steps are performed in the order recited.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein said step of selectively extracting includes extracting data for all fields in said blank form.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein said step of obtaining a blank form includes receiving form data from a second computer server.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein said step of obtaining a blank form includes receiving login form data from a second computer server.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of:

filling in said blank form using said extracted data to create a filled form.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising the step of:

automatically submitting the result of said filling to a second computer server.

22. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of:

maintaining an additional database at said first computer server, said additional database having stored form data recorded therein, said stored form data relating to forms required by at least one other computer server.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein said step of parsing includes comparing data fields in said blank form with said stored form data recorded in said additional database.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein said step of maintaining an additional database includes parsing form data from said at least one other computer server.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising the step of:

automatically submitting the result of said filling to a second computer server.

26. The method of claim 23, further comprising the step of:

submitting said manually entered data to said second computer server.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising the step of:

parsing a response from said second computer server.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising the step of:

capturing said manually entered data and recording said manually entered data to said first computer server.

29. A method for automating login transactions comprising the steps of:

maintaining a database having stored data recorded therein at a first computer server;

capturing manually entered data to said data to said database at said first computer server;

selectively extracting said stored data responsive to a request to submit recorded form data to a second computer server;

obtaining a blank login form;

parsing said blank login form to identify which of said stored data should be used to fill in at least a part of said blank login form;

filling in said blank login form using said stored data; and

employing program code residing on said first computer server for automatically submitting the result of said filling to said second computer server;

wherein a user has registered a registration identifier and a registration password at said first computer server.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein said first computer server allows said user to specify whether additional authentication is required when responding to said request from said second computer server.

31. The method of claim 29, further comprising an authentication step wherein said user is required to input said registration identifier and said registration password when submitting said request to said second computer server.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein said user only needs to input said registration password while said registration identifier has been entered and stored previously on the device from which said user is submitting said request.

33. The method of claim 29, wherein said step of selectively extracting includes extracting data for all fields in said blank login form.

34. The method of claim 29, wherein said step of obtaining a blank login form includes receiving form data from said second computer server.

35. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step of:

capturing manually entered data to said data to said database at said first computer server.

36. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step of:

maintaining an additional database at said first computer server;

said additional database having stored form data recorded therein;

said stored form data relating to login forms required by at least one other computer server.

37. The method of claim 33, wherein said step of parsing includes comparing data fields in said blank login form with said stored form data recorded in said additional database.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein said step of maintaining an additional database includes parsing login form data from said at least one other computer server.