Method and Device for Tracking Interactions of a User with an Electronic Document

• US 20100005169A1
• Filed: 07/01/2009
• Published: 01/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Philipp Von Hilgers
• Original Assignee: Philipp Von Hilgers
• Inventors: VON HILGERS, Philipp
• Application Number:
  US12/495,879
• Publication Number:
  US 20100005169A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management

Abstract

A method (100) for tracking interactions of a user with an electronic document displayed in a browser, wherein the browser is executed on a computer, comprises the steps of:

• • determining (110) a state of visibility of the electronic document;
  • detecting (120) a browser event;
  • deciding, whether the event belongs to a set of pre-determined browser events indicative of the user'"'"'s reading behaviour; and
  • logging (150) the state of visibility to a machine-readable medium, if yes.

Claims

1. Method (100) for tracking interactions of a user with an electronic document displayed in a browser, wherein the browser is executed on a computer, comprising the steps of:

determining (110) a state of visibility of the electronic document;

detecting (120) a browser event;

deciding, whether the event belongs to a set of pre-determined browser events indicative of the user'"'"'s reading behaviour; and

logging (150) the state of visibility to a machine-readable medium, if yes.

6. Method according to claim 1, wherein the set of pre-determined browser events comprises browser events indicating that the user has stopped reading the electronic document.

7. Method according to claim 6, wherein the browser events indicating that the user has stopped reading the electronic document comprise

a browser event indicating that the electronic document has lost focus;

a browser event indicating that the user loads a new electronic document;

or

a browser event indicating the user is typing.

8. Method according to claim 6, wherein the browser events indicating that the user has stopped reading the electronic document comprises a timeout.

9. Method according to claim 8, wherein the timeout is set based on a length of a visible portion of the document.

10. Method according to claim 1, wherein the state of visibility of the electronic document comprises the portion of the electronic document that is currently visible to the user.

11. Method according to claim 10, wherein the state of visibility of the electronic document further comprises a timestamp of when the portion has become visible to the user.

12. Method according to claim 9, wherein the state of visibility of the electronic document further comprises a timestamp of when the portion has become visible to the user for the first time.

13. Method for ranking a plurality of documents, wherein the rank of a document is determined based on a log generated by a method according to claim 1.

14. Method according to claim 1, wherein logging the browser state comprises transmitting the state of visibility to a remote host.

2. Method according to claim, wherein the set of pre-determined browser events comprises a scroll event (130).

3. Method according to claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

deciding (140) whether the user is reading the electronic document, based on a velocity and direction of a plurality of scroll events (130); and

logging (150) the state of visibility to a machine-readable medium, if yes.

4. Method according to claim 3, wherein the step of deciding is based on a Hidden Markov Model (HMM).

5. Method according to claim 3, wherein deciding (140) whether the user is reading comprises determining the presence of an accurate overlap of the currently visible portion of the electronic document and a previously visible portion.

15. Device for tracking interactions of a user with an electronic document displayed in a browser, wherein the browser is executed on a computer, comprising:

means for determining (110) a state of visibility of the electronic document;

means for detecting (120) a browser event;

means for deciding, whether the event belongs to a set of pre-determined browser events indicative of the user'"'"'s reading behaviour; and

means for logging (150) the state of visibility to a machine-readable medium, if yes.