Method and Apparatus for Correlating Multiple Cookies as Having Originated from the Same Device Using Device Fingerprinting
First Claim
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1. A method for recognizing repeat visitors to a website among a plurality of visitors to the website, comprising:
- if a visitor to the website fails to present a cookie, issuing a new cookie and collecting device fingerprint information about the visitor'"'"'s computer;
storing the new cookie and the device fingerprint information in a database;
tracking activities of each tracked visitor of the plurality of visitors by the tracked visitor'"'"'s cookie; and
computing a number of unique visitors to the website by reducing a count of tracked visitors to the website by a number of cookie-clearing visitors having different cookies but similar device fingerprints.
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Abstract
Information that is useful to distinguish between two or more computer devices (a “device fingerprint”) is collected and stored in a database with corresponding state-management tokens such as HTTP cookies. The database is searched for a fingerprint, and if the fingerprint is found, the corresponding stored token is delivered to a computer device for the device'"'"'s use in making subsequent requests for resources or services.
51 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method for recognizing repeat visitors to a website among a plurality of visitors to the website, comprising:
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if a visitor to the website fails to present a cookie, issuing a new cookie and collecting device fingerprint information about the visitor'"'"'s computer; storing the new cookie and the device fingerprint information in a database; tracking activities of each tracked visitor of the plurality of visitors by the tracked visitor'"'"'s cookie; and computing a number of unique visitors to the website by reducing a count of tracked visitors to the website by a number of cookie-clearing visitors having different cookies but similar device fingerprints. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method comprising:
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transmitting an executable program to a web browser at a client computer, the executable program to cause the web browser to collect information about the client computer; receiving identifying information about the client computer that was collected by the executable program; correlating the identifying information about the client computer with previously-collected identifying information about a plurality of computers; and associating a first browser activity sequence linked with a first persistent activity token with a second browser activity sequence linked with a second, different persistent activity token. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A system comprising:
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a web server to receive requests from clients and deliver requested digital content to the clients; a database to record information about the requests and the clients; and client correlation means to collect distinguishing information from the clients and assign unique identifiers to the clients. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
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17. A computer-readable medium containing instructions to cause a programmable processor to perform operations comprising:
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receiving a device fingerprint from a client computer; locating a similar device fingerprint in a database; extracting a persistent token corresponding to the similar device fingerprint in the database; and transmitting a message to cause the client computer to adopt the persistent token for a future sequence of requests for digital resources. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification