System and Method for Centrally Collecting Real-Time Information Regarding Consumer Click-Through Traffic

• US 20080294711A1
• Filed: 05/22/2008
• Published: 11/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kount Incorporated (Equifax, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Kount Incorporated (Equifax, Inc.)
• Inventors: Barber, Timothy P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,145,762 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/903 Querying for retrieval from the web G06F16/953
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0217 involving input on products or services in exchange for incentives or rewards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0248 Avoiding fraud
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A method and system for providing the centralized collection of click-through traffic information. The method includes receiving a DNS query for a domain name at a third party auditing service from a requesting computing resource. The domain name is configured to include click-through information as a subdomain, and wherein a URL associated with the domain name provides content. The click-through information is parsed from the domain name without establishing a connection between said third party auditing server and any web server providing the content. An IP address for the web server associated with the domain name is sent to the requesting computing resource.

Claims

1. A method for collection, comprising:

receiving at a first server a first request for content that is associated with a first URL from a requesting computing resource;

collecting information from a first header of said first request;

sending a URL redirect command to said requesting computing resource so that said computing resource issues a second request for said content from a second URL associated with a second server;

including said information in a domain name of said second URL in said URL redirect command for enabling transfer of said information to a third party auditing server supporting domain name resolution for said second URL without establishing a connection between said third party auditing server and any web server providing said content;

receiving a DNS query for said domain name of said second URL at said third party auditing server from said requesting computing resource;

parsing said information from said DNS query; and

sending an IP address for said domain name to said requesting computing resource.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving at said second server said second request for said second URL for delivery of said content to said requesting computing resource.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said including said information further comprises:

configuring said domain name of said second URL such that said information defines a subdomain of said domain name.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said including said information further comprises:

enabling transfer of said information without establishing a connection between said third party auditing server and said first server or said second server.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

configuring said third party auditing server as an authoritative name server for domain names configured to include subdomains comprising a delimiter separating a string of click-through information and a sub-level domain of a corresponding domain name.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

configuring said third party auditing server as said authoritative name server for said domain names configured as “

*.k.websitename,”

wherein “

*”

comprises said string of click-through information, “

k”

comprises said delimiter, and “

websitename”

comprises said sub-level domain comprising a first-level domain of said corresponding domain name.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said second server comprises said first server.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing said information.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said parsing said information further comprises:

parsing said information that comprises click-through information associated with said first request.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein said information comprises at least one of a group consisting essentially of the following:

consumer agent string;

customer remote IP address;

customer proxy IP address;

URL of referring page; and

a condensed version of said URL of said referring page.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein said information comprises at least one of a group consisting essentially of the following:

TCP/IP stack information;

target IP address;

client identification;

campaign identification.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a second URL redirect command to said requesting computing resource so that said computing resource issues a third request for said content from a third URL associated with a third server, wherein a domain name of said third URL is stripped of said information.

13. A method for collecting information, comprising:

receiving a DNS query for a domain name at a third party auditing server from a requesting computing resource, wherein said domain name is configured to include click-through information as a subdomain, and wherein a URL associated with said domain name provides content;

parsing said click-through information from said domain name without establishing a connection between said third party auditing server and any web server providing said content;

accessing an IP address for a web server associated with said domain name; and

sending said IP address to said requesting computing resource.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said receiving a DNS query further comprises:

receiving said DNS query, wherein said domain name is associated with a redirected request for a second URL providing content and is configured to include click-through information from a header associated with an original request for a first URL providing said content that is redirected.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

configuring said third party auditing server as an authoritative name server for domain names configured to include subdomains comprising a delimiter separating a string of click-through information and a sub-level domain of said domain name.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

configuring said third party auditing server as an authoritative name server for domain names configured as “

*.k.websitename,”

wherein “

*”

includes said click-through information configured in a string, “

k”

comprises a delimeter, and “

websitename”

comprises a sub-level domain of said domain name.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

storing said click-through information from said domain name for later access.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving an original request for a first URL providing said content from said requesting computing resource;

collecting said click-through information from a header of said original request;

sending a URL redirect command to said requesting computing resource so that said computing resource issues a redirected request for said URL that is associated with said domain name providing said content; and

including said click-through information in said domain name of said URL in said URL redirect command for enabling transfer of said click-through information to said third party auditing server supporting domain name resolution for said URL without establishing a connection between said auditing server and any server providing said content.

19. A system for collection, comprising:

a third party auditing service supporting domain name resolution for domain names configured to include subdomains comprising a delimiter separating a string of click-through information and a sub-level domain of a corresponding domain name, wherein said third party auditing service is configured to parse said string of click-through information from said corresponding domain name when responding to a corresponding DNS query without establishing a connection between said third party auditing server and any web server providing content associated with said corresponding DNS query.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

a first server for receiving from a requesting computing resource a first request for said content that is associated with a first URL, wherein said first server is configured to collect said click-through information from a first header of said first request, wherein said first server is configured to send a URL redirect command name to said requesting computing resource so that said computing resource issues a second request for said content from a second URL including said corresponding domain name and associated with a second server, and wherein said first server is configured to include said click-through information in said corresponding domain name.

21. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

a second server configured to receive said second request for delivery of said content to said requesting computing resource.