SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM FOR DETERMINING USER ATTENTION AREA FROM USER INTERFACE EVENTS

• US 20120047427A1
• Filed: 11/02/2011
• Published: 02/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Paul A. Lipari, Suboti, LLC
• Inventors: Hauser, Robert R.
• Granted Patent: US 9,891,779 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3438 monitoring of user actions tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03543 Mice or pucks G06F3/03541 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change

Abstract

During an interaction with a web page, user interface events are recorded and augmented with page layout data from the document object model. An event stream is formed with the page layout data and communicated to an event server. The event server processes the event stream to determine a location at which the events were generated, which can be used to predict an area of a user'"'"'s attention.

Claims

1. A method of processing user event data, the method comprising:

receiving a callback request for user data events corresponding to at least one logged user data event;

comparing a current web page document object model (DOM) structure with a previously logged web page DOM to determine whether any changes have occurred;

providing a DOM structure summary to an event observer module indicating results of the comparison; and

updating an event stream message to include the results of the comparison based on a DOM structure summary.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the comparing the current web page DOM structure with the previously logged web page DOM is performed based on an automated registration procedure configured to periodically observe changes between the current web page DOM and the previously logged web page DOM and to log any observed changes.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether any changes have occurred comprises determining that at least one predefined user initiated event has been logged, wherein the at least one predefined user initiated event comprises at least one of a mouse click, mouse movement, and key stroke.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the current web page document object model DOM structure with the previously logged web page DOM to determine whether any changes have occurred further comprises comparing a layout size of each element of the current web page DOM to the corresponding layout size of each element of the previously logged web page DOM.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein any changes between the layout size of each element of the current web page DOM are logged and inserted in the event stream message.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a plurality of user data events generated by the user corresponding to a viewport location history associated with a viewport window of the current web page DOM;

determining a location of the user data events in the event stream message relative to the web page DOM element location in the viewport window; and

computing a probabilistic locus of attention for the user based on the identified user data events.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein computing the probabilistic locus of attention further comprises computing an amount of user attention time per web page DOM element.

8. An apparatus configured to process user event data, the apparatus comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a callback request for user data events corresponding to at least one logged user data event; and

a processor configured to

compare a current web page document object model (DOM) structure with a previously logged web page DOM to determine whether any changes have occurred;

provide a DOM structure summary to an event observer module indicating results of the comparison; and

update an event stream message to include the results of the comparison based on a DOM structure summary.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the compare operation is performed based on an automated registration procedure configured to periodically observe changes between the current web page DOM and the previously logged web page DOM and to log any observed changes.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor determines whether any changes have occurred by determining that at least one predefined user initiated event has been logged, wherein the at least one predefined user initiated event comprises at least one of a mouse click, mouse movement, and key stroke.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein to compare the current web page document object model DOM structure with the previously logged web page DOM further comprises to compare a layout size of each element of the current web page DOM to the corresponding layout size of each element of the previously logged web page DOM.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein any changes between the layout size of each element of the current web page DOM are logged and inserted in the event stream message.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to

identify a plurality of user data events generated by the user corresponding to a viewport location history associated with a viewport window of the current web page DOM;

determine a location of the user data events in the event stream message relative to the web page DOM element location in the viewport window; and

compute a probabilistic locus of attention for the user based on the identified user data events.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein to compute the probabilistic locus of attention further comprises computing an amount of user attention time per web page DOM element.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium configured to store instructions that when executed causes a processor to process user event data, the processor being further configured to perform:

receiving a callback request for user data events corresponding to at least one logged user data event;

comparing a current web page document object model (DOM) structure with a previously logged web page DOM to determine whether any changes have occurred;

providing a DOM structure summary to an event observer module indicating results of the comparison; and

updating an event stream message to include the results of the comparison based on a DOM structure summary.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the comparing the current web page DOM structure with the previously logged web page DOM is performed based on an automated registration procedure configured to periodically observe changes between the current web page DOM and the previously logged web page DOM and to log any observed changes.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein determining whether any changes have occurred comprises determining that at least one predefined user initiated event has been logged, wherein the at least one predefined user initiated event comprises at least one of a mouse click, mouse movement, and key stroke.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein comparing the current web page document object model DOM structure with the previously logged web page DOM to determine whether any changes have occurred further comprises comparing a layout size of each element of the current web page DOM to the corresponding layout size of each element of the previously logged web page DOM.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein any changes between the layout size of each element of the current web page DOM are logged and inserted in the event stream message.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to perform:

identifying a plurality of user data events generated by the user corresponding to a viewport location history associated with a viewport window of the current web page DOM;

determining a location of the user data events in the event stream message relative to the web page DOM element location in the viewport window; and

computing a probabilistic locus of attention for the user based on the identified user data events.