RELIABLE AND ACCURATE USAGE DETECTION OF A SOFTWARE APPLICATION
First Claim
1. A method for detecting software application usage on a client device, the method comprising the steps of:
- categorizing components of applications that are instantiated on the client device, the categorization being performed based on at least one of usage pattern of the components or correlation of the components to active usage;
providing the categorized components as elements in a usage manifest that is published to the client device; and
implementing a software usage detection service on the client device, the software usage detection service arranged for monitoring one or more of the components according to the usage manifest to detect usage of the applications.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Use of software applications is detected by categorizing components of applications into a usage manifest and implementing a usage detection background service on a client PC that monitors the components according to the usage manifest. The application components are categorized based on the mode of user interaction as well as the component'"'"'s correlation to active use of an application. The background service tracks events and activities associated with the application components to generate usage metrics that include the frequency of unique launches of an application and the duration of each unique use. A usage manager for the background service may utilize the usage metrics for a component independently, or combine metrics for multiple components in cases where applications work in an interactive manner (such as a plug-in to a web browser) in order to compute application usage by comparing the metrics against predefined thresholds.
57 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for detecting software application usage on a client device, the method comprising the steps of:
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categorizing components of applications that are instantiated on the client device, the categorization being performed based on at least one of usage pattern of the components or correlation of the components to active usage; providing the categorized components as elements in a usage manifest that is published to the client device; and implementing a software usage detection service on the client device, the software usage detection service arranged for monitoring one or more of the components according to the usage manifest to detect usage of the applications. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A computer-readable medium containing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors disposed on an electronic device, implements a software application usage detection service arranged for performing a method comprising the steps of:
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implementing a plurality of usage counters that monitor respective components of applications that are instantiated on the electronic device, the components being described by a usage manifest, the usage manifest including elements for categorized components, the categorization being performed based on at least one of usage pattern of the components or correlation of the components to active usage, the usage counters further generating usage metrics responsively to the monitoring; and implementing a usage manager that is configured for receiving the usage metrics from one or more of the usage counters, and for computing application usage by comparing the received usage metrics against one or more predetermined thresholds. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for measuring usage of a composite software application, the method comprising the steps of:
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identifying components in the application by the components'"'"' correlation with active user interaction and further by a mode of interaction of the components in order to derive usage patterns for the components; classifying the components by the usage patterns; implementing one or more monitoring techniques that are specific to each of the classified components; collecting usage metrics from the monitoring; and computing a usage for the application based on the usage metrics, the usage metrics including frequency of unique launches of the application or duration of each unique use of the application. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification