METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR USING PROXIES TO INTERACT WITH WEBPAGE ANALYTICS

• US 20200133987A1
• Filed: 12/27/2019
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Acoustic, L.P.
• Original Assignee: Acoustic, L.P.
• Inventors: Cordasco, Matthew
• Granted Patent: US 10,949,491 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3438 monitoring of user actions tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/86 Event-based monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/88 Monitoring involving counting

Abstract

An overlay may be displayed over a webpage for displaying different analytics, such as displayed with heatmaps. The webpage is parsed to identify webpage objects. Proxy objects are generated for the identified webpage objects and displayed on Z-index layers above the overlay. The proxy objects are configured to detect and react to events on behalf of associated webpage objects. A mobile device proxy server may send mobile device requests on behalf of a desktop computing device and modify received webpages so the desktop computing device renders the webpages in substantially a same manner as a mobile device.

Claims

1-20. -20. (canceled)

21. A non-transitory computer readable medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by at least one processor to cause the at least one processor to:

identify webpage objects within a webpage, the webpage objects comprising visibly displayable content or visibly displayable items, the webpage objects configured to detect events associated with the webpage objects and initiate predetermined actions associated with the webpage objects in response to detecting the events, the webpage residing on a first layer of a stack order for displaying elements;

generate proxy objects associated with the webpage objects;

display an overlay over the webpage providing information pertaining to one or more of the webpage objects, the overlay residing on a second different layer of the stack order; and

display the proxy objects over the overlay on one or more third different layers of the stack order such that the proxy objects and the overlay are at least partially visible, the overlay of the second layer residing between the webpage of the first layer and the proxy objects of the one or more third layers and preventing the webpage objects from detecting the events, and the proxy objects configured to detect the events on the one or more third layers associated with the webpage objects of the first layer and provide the predetermined actions associated with the webpage objects of the first layer in response to detecting the events on the one or more third layers.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the program instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

receive a request from a desktop computing device for the webpage, wherein the webpage is configured for displaying on a mobile device;

send a mobile device request on behalf of the desktop computing device for the webpage;

receive back the webpage;

modify the webpage to render on the desktop computing device in substantially a same manner as on the mobile device; and

send the modified webpage to the desktop computing device for rendering by the desktop computing device.

23. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the program instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

display the visible content of the webpage objects or the visible items of the webpage objects;

display the overlay providing visible information pertaining to one or more of the webpage objects; and

visibly display the proxy objects associated with the webpage objects.

24. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the program instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

display the visible content of the webpage objects or the visible items of the webpage objects;

display the overlay providing visible information pertaining to one or more of the webpage objects;

visibly display the proxy objects associated with the webpage objects, wherein at least one of the proxy objects visibly outlines at least one of the webpage objects.

25. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the program instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

displaying the visible content of the webpage objects or the visible items of the webpage objects;

displaying the overlay providing visible information pertaining to one or more of the webpage objects; and

visibly displaying the proxy objects associated with the webpage objects so as to semi-transparently cover a portion of the visible content of webpage objects or the visible items of webpage objects.

26. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the program instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

display the visible content of the webpage objects or the visible items of the webpage objects;

display the overlay providing visible information pertaining to one or more of the webpage objects, wherein the visible information comprises a heatmap; and

visibly display the proxy objects associated with the webpage objects.

27. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the program instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

display the visible content of the webpage objects or the visible items of the webpage objects;

display the overlay providing visible information pertaining to one or more of the webpage objects, wherein the visible information comprises a heatmap and wherein the heatmap is displayed so as to partially or incompletely visibly cover visible content or visible items of at least one of the webpage objects; and

visibly display the proxy objects associated with the webpage objects.

28. A method comprising:

identifying webpage objects within a webpage, the webpage objects comprising visibly displayable content or visibly displayable items, the webpage objects configured to detect events associated with the webpage objects and initiate predetermined actions associated with the webpage objects in response to detecting the events, the webpage residing on a first layer of a stack order for displaying elements;

generating proxy objects associated with the webpage objects;

displaying an overlay over the webpage providing information pertaining to one or more of the webpage objects, the overlay residing on a second different layer of the stack order; and

displaying the proxy objects over the overlay on one or more third different layers of the stack order such that the proxy objects and the overlay are at least partially visible, the overlay of the second layer residing between the webpage of the first layer and the proxy objects of the one or more third layers and preventing the webpage objects from detecting the events, and the proxy objects configured to detect the events on the one or more third layers associated with the webpage objects of the first layer and provide the predetermined actions associated with the webpage objects of the first layer in response to detecting the events on the one or more third layers.

29. The method of claim 28, comprising:

receiving a request from a desktop computing device for the webpage;

sending a mobile device request for the webpage to a website;

receiving back the webpage, the webpage configured to be rendered by a mobile device;

modifying the webpage to render on the desktop computing device in substantially a same manner as on the mobile device; and

send the modified webpage to the desktop computing device for rendering by the desktop computing device.

30. The method of claim 28, comprising:

displaying the visible content of the webpage objects or the visible items of the webpage objects;

displaying the overlay providing visible information pertaining to one or more of the webpage objects; and

visibly displaying the proxy objects associated with the webpage objects.

31. The method of claim 28, comprising:

displaying the visible content of the webpage objects or the visible items of the webpage objects;

displaying the overlay providing visible information pertaining to one or more of the webpage objects;

visibly displaying the proxy objects associated with the webpage objects, wherein at least one of the proxy objects visibly outlines at least one of the webpage objects.

32. The method of claim 28, comprising:

displaying the visible content of the webpage objects or the visible items of the webpage objects;

displaying the overlay providing visible information pertaining to one or more of the webpage objects; and

visibly displaying the proxy objects associated with the webpage objects so as to semi-transparently cover a portion of the visible content of webpage objects or the visible items of webpage objects.

33. The method of claim 28, comprising:

displaying the visible content of the webpage objects or the visible items of the webpage objects;

displaying the overlay providing visible information pertaining to one or more of the webpage objects, wherein the visible information comprises a heatmap; and

visibly displaying the proxy objects associated with the webpage objects.

34. The method of claim 28, comprising:

displaying the visible content of the webpage objects or the visible items of the webpage objects;

displaying the overlay providing visible information pertaining to one or more of the webpage objects, wherein the visible information comprises a heatmap and wherein the heatmap is displayed so as to partially or incompletely visibly cover visible content or visible items of at least one of the webpage objects; and

visibly displaying the proxy objects associated with the webpage objects.

35. A method comprising:

receiving a request from a desktop computing device for an electronic page;

sending a mobile device request for the electronic page to a website;

receiving back the electronic page, the electronic page configured to be rendered by a mobile device;

modifying the electronic page to render on the desktop computing device in substantially a same manner as on the mobile device;

parsing a Document Object Model (DOM) for the modified electronic page for page elements, the page elements comprising visibly displayable content or visibly displayable items, the page elements configured to detect events associated with the page elements and initiate predetermined actions associated with the page elements in response to detecting the events;

modifying the electronic page to include an overlay over the electronic page when rendered by the desktop computing device, the electronic page residing on a first layer of a stack order for displaying objects, and the overlay providing information pertaining to one or more of the page elements and residing on a second different layer of the stack order;

modifying the electronic page to include proxy objects displayed over the overlay on one or more third different layers of the stack order when rendered by the desktop computing device, such that the proxy objects and the overlay are at least partially visible, the overlay of the second layer residing between the electronic page of the first layer and the proxy objects of the one or more third layers and preventing the page elements from detecting the events, and wherein the proxy objects are configured to detect the events associated with the page elements of the first layer and provide the predetermined actions associated with the page elements of the first layer in response to detecting the events on the one or more third layers; and

sending the modified electronic page to the desktop computing device for rendering by the desktop computing device.

36. The method of claim 35, comprising updating analytics for the associated webpage elements based on the proxy objects initiating the actions associated with the webpage elements.

37. The method of claim 35, comprising modifying the electronic page to include an overlay, wherein the overlay comprises a heatmap providing analytics for the electronic page, the heatmap preventing the page elements from detecting the events.