METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MONITORING A WORKSTATION

• US 20100293267A1
• Filed: 05/13/2009
• Published: 11/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Tzadok, Asaf, Ribak, Amnon, Drory, Tal, Walach, Eugene
• Granted Patent: US 8,086,730 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3414 Workload generation, e.g. scripts, playback
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3438 monitoring of user actions tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3447 Performance evaluation by modeling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/87 Monitoring of transactions

Abstract

A method and system for monitoring a workstation. The system includes a monitoring system for monitoring activity on a workstation and an analysis module for comparing a monitored activity to specified activities in a work profile. The system may include an alert generator for generating an alert if the monitored activity does not conform to the work profile. The work profile may be a user profile of specified activities allowed to be performed by a user, and/or a transaction profile of a sequence of specified activities to be performed in a transaction by a user. The monitoring system includes an inputs monitor for monitoring inputs by the user into the workstation, a screen monitor which extracts content from a screen display viewed by a user, and a physical presence monitor to determine if a user is at his workstation.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring a workstation, comprising:

a processor;

a monitoring system for monitoring activity on a computer workstation;

an abstraction module that provides functional interpretation of the activity; and

an analysis module for comparing the functional interpretation of the activity to specified activities in a work profile;

wherein any of said monitoring system, abstraction module, and analysis module are implemented in either computer hardware or computer software and embodied in a computer readable medium.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, including an alert generator for generating an alert if the monitored activity does not conform to the work profile.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a work profile is a user profile of specified activities allowed to be performed by a user.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a work profile is a transaction profile of a sequence of specified activities to be performed in a transaction by a user.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the monitoring system includes an inputs monitor for monitoring inputs by a user into the workstation by an input device.

6. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the inputs monitor monitors one or more of the group of:

keystrokes, pointer device movement and input, touch screen input, joystick input.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the monitoring system includes a screen monitor which extracts content from a screen display viewed by a user.

8. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the screen monitor uses optical character recognition (OCR) based content extraction.

9. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the monitoring system includes a physical presence monitor to determine if a user is at his workstation.

10. The system as claimed in claim 1, including a log of monitored data for analysis.

11. The system as claimed in claim 1, including an active monitoring system including a test pattern generator, wherein the test pattern calls for a required response.

12. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the system is a training system for a user to monitor and analyse their own activities.

13. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the system includes a privacy configuration means to restrict monitoring to work related activities.

14. A method for monitoring a workstation, comprising:

monitoring activity on a computer workstation, including inputs by the user using input devices;

converting the activity to a functional interpretation of the activity; and

comparing the functional interpretation of the activity to specified activities in a work profile;

wherein any of said steps are implemented in either of computer hardware or computer software and embodied in a computer-readable medium.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14, including generating an alert if the monitored activity does not conform to the work profile.

16. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein a work profile is a user profile of specified activities allowed to be performed by a user.

17. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein a work profile is a transaction profile of a sequence of specified activities to be performed in a transaction by a user.

18. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein monitoring activity includes monitoring a screen display viewed by a user including extracting content from the screen display.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein extracting content from the screen display uses optical character recognition (OCR) based content extraction.

20. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein monitoring activity includes monitoring the physical presence of a user at his workstation.

21. The method as claimed in claim 14, including active monitoring including generating a test pattern, wherein the test pattern calls for a required response.

22. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the method is used for training a user to monitor and analyse their own activities.

23. The method as claimed in claim 14, including configuring the monitoring to restrict monitoring to work related activities.

24. A computer program product for monitoring a workstation, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium;

computer program instructions operative to;

monitor activity on a computer workstation, including inputs by the user using input devices;

convert the activity to a functional interpretation of the activity; and

compare the functional interpretation of the activity to specified activities in a work profile.

25. A method of providing a service to a customer over a network, the service comprising:

monitoring activity on a computer workstation, including inputs by the user using input devices;

converting the activity to a functional interpretation of the activity; and

comparing the functional interpretation of the activity to specified activities in a work profile;

wherein any of said steps are implemented in either of computer hardware or computer software and embodied in a computer-readable medium.