Method and apparatus for tracking client interaction with a network resource and creating client profiles and resource database
First Claim
1. In a computer network having one or more servers connectable to one or more clients, a method of monitoring the amount of time a user interacts with and displays a file downloaded from a server, comprising the steps of:
- using a client to specify an address of a resource located on a first server;
downloading a file corresponding to the resource from the first server in response to specification of the address;
using the client to specify an address of a first executable program located on a second server, the address of the first executable program being embedded in the file downloaded from the first server, the first executable program including a software timer for monitoring the amount of time the client spends interacting with and displaying the file downloaded from the first server;
downloading the first executable program from the second server to run on the client so as to determine the amount of time the client interacts with the file downloaded from the first server;
using a server to acquire client identifying indicia from the client; and
uploading the amount of time determined by the first executable program to a third server.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for monitoring client interaction with a resource downloaded from a server in a computer network includes the steps of using a client to specify an address of a resource located on a first server, downloading a file corresponding to the resource from the first server in response to specification of the address, using the client to specify an address of a first executable program located on a second server, the address of the first executable program being embedded in the file downloaded from the first server, the first executable program including a software timer for monitoring the amount of time the client spends interacting with and displaying the file downloaded from the first server, downloading the first executable program from the second server to run on the client so as to determine the amount of time the client interacts with the file downloaded from the first server, using a server to acquire client identifying indicia from the client, and uploading the amount of time determined by the first executable program to a third server. The first executable program may also monitor time, keyboard events, mouse events, and the like, in order to track choices and selections made by a user in the file, and may execute upon the occurrence of a predetermined event, as well as monitoring or determining the amount of information downloaded by the client. The monitored information and client identifying indicia is stored on a database in a server for use in analysis and for automatically serving out files assembled according to user interests and preferences.
2168 Citations
71 Claims
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1. In a computer network having one or more servers connectable to one or more clients, a method of monitoring the amount of time a user interacts with and displays a file downloaded from a server, comprising the steps of:
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using a client to specify an address of a resource located on a first server; downloading a file corresponding to the resource from the first server in response to specification of the address; using the client to specify an address of a first executable program located on a second server, the address of the first executable program being embedded in the file downloaded from the first server, the first executable program including a software timer for monitoring the amount of time the client spends interacting with and displaying the file downloaded from the first server; downloading the first executable program from the second server to run on the client so as to determine the amount of time the client interacts with the file downloaded from the first server; using a server to acquire client identifying indicia from the client; and uploading the amount of time determined by the first executable program to a third server. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. In a computer network having one or more servers connectable to one or more clients, a method of monitoring client use and interaction with a resource located on a server, comprising the steps of:
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using a server to monitor requests for the resource; downloading a file corresponding to the resource to a client in response to a request for the resource transmitted to the server; downloading a first executable program to the client, the address of the first executable program being embedded in the file downloaded to the client, the first executable program including a software timer for monitoring the amount of time the client spends interacting with and displaying the file; counting the number of times the file has been downloaded; and storing an address of the file, an amount of time the file has been interacted with and displayed by clients, and the number of times the file has been downloaded in a first database on a server. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68)
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69. In a computer network having one or more servers connectable to one or more clients, a method for monitoring the interaction of a user with a file downloaded from a server, comprising the steps of:
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using a TCP/IP connection to pass a request for an HTML document from a client to a first server using an HTTP protocol, the HTML document containing text and embedded URLs, one or more of the URLs for pointing to a graphical image located on a second server, the image being embedded inside the HTML document using an HTML <
IMG>
tag to specify the source URL for an image and predetermined layout parameters, a second URL for pointing to a first executable program that runs on a server, the first executable program being embedded inside the HTML document using an HTML <
IMG>
tag to specify the source URL for the program, and being executable upon the server in response to a TCP/IP request by a client, and a third URL for pointing to a second executable program that runs on the client, the second executable program being embedded inside the HTML document using an HTML <
APPLET>
tag to specify the source URL for the program and being executable on a client in response to a TCP/IP request;downloading the HTML document to the client; using a TCP/IP connection to fetch the graphical images located on the second server specified by the one or more first URLs embedded in the HTML document; displaying the text and graphical images on the client in accordance with the formatting and layout parameters specified in the HTML document; using a TCP/IP connection to fetch the first executable program to execute the first executable program on the server and a return of information output from the first executable program to the client in the form of a transparent GIF image type and obtaining information from the HTTP request header including browser type, at least one of network ID, client ID, time of execution and URL of the HTML document and storing said information in a database indexed by at least one of the network ID of the client machine, the client ID of the client machine, and the URL of the HTML document; using a TCP/IP connection to fetch the second executable program for execution on the client, wherein the second executable program includes a software timer for determining the amount of time the client spends interacting with the HTML document; and uploading the time determined by the tracking program to the server. - View Dependent Claims (70)
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71. In a computer network having one or more servers connectable to one or more clients, a method of monitoring user interaction with a file downloaded from a server, comprising the steps of:
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using a client to specify an address of a resource located on a first server; downloading a file corresponding to the resource from the first server in response to specification of the address; using the client to monitor the amount of time the user spends interacting with and displaying the file downloaded from the first server; using a server to acquire client identifying indicia from the client; and uploading the amount of time determined by the first executable program to a server.
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Specification