Image-based digital evidence system and associated method

• US 6,601,047 B2
• Filed: 03/08/2000
• Issued: 07/29/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: DigiMedia Tech, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Inbit Incorporated
• Inventors: Zheng, Joe, Wang, Jinsheng
• Primary Examiner(s): Hayes, John W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): HUSEMAN, MARIANNE
• Application Number:
  US09/521,864
• Publication Number:
  US 20020082929A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,238 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/75, 705/70, 705/76, 705/64, 707/217, 707/219
• US Class Current: 705/75
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/389 Keeping log of transactions for guaranteeing non-repudiation of a transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/401 Transaction verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A digital evidence system is disclosed. According to one embodiment, the digital evidence system records pertinent screen activities such as data entry into an electronic form, verification of a data transfer and a purchase order by capturing images of displayed web pages requiring interactions from the user. The captured images are transmitted back to the business and can be retrieved according to a query about any interaction so that the online business could determine what has happened on the user side when a transaction was engaged with the online business.

Claims

1. In a digital evidence system including a terminal device operable by a user to interact with a server device over a data network, wherein the terminal device includes a display screen, the server device comprising:

a memory for storing program code as a server module; and

a processor coupled to the memory and executing the program code to cause the server module to perform operations of;

uploading a page over the data network for display on the display screen of the terminal device when the user decides to enter a transaction with the server device, wherein the page is embedded with a screen capturing module requires an entry from the user;

activating the embedded screen capturing module to capture a display of the page off the display screen to produce an image when the user clicks a button to release the entry to the server device, wherein the embedded screen capturing module is associated with the button and the image includes the entry and all other information in the page presented in pixel;

receiving the image from the terminal device; and

associating the image with at least one identification identifying the transaction and an account identifying the user so that the image can be retrieved when there is a query related to the transaction.

2. The server device of claim 1, wherein the page includes elements based on a markup language.

3. The server device of claim 1, wherein the page includes a screen capturing application that can be automatically invoked to produce the image of the display of the page on the terminal display.

4. The server device of claim 1, wherein the image is a compressed representation of the display of the page.

5. The server device of claim 1, wherein the page is an electronic form requiring at least one of

(i) one or more selections from the user,

(ii) an electronic signature from the user,

(iii) quantity information, and

(iv) inputs from the user.

6. The server device of claim 5, wherein the entry includes at least one of the following:

(i) the one or more selections from the user,

(ii) the electronic signature from the user,

(iii) the quantity information, and

(iv) the inputs from the user.

7. In a digital evidence system including a terminal device operable by a user to interact with a server device over a data network, wherein the terminal device includes a display screen, the server device comprising:

an online transaction module;

an image database coupled to the online transaction module;

a memory for storing program code as a server module; and

a processor coupled to the memory and executing the program code to cause the server module to perform operations of;

uploading a page over the data network for display on the display screen of the terminal device when the user decides to enter a transaction with the server device, wherein the page requires an entry from the user;

capturing a display of the page off the display screen to produce an image by activating an embedded screen capturing module when the user clicks a button to release the entry to the server device, wherein the embedded screen capturing module is associated with the button, and the image includes the entry and other information in the page presented in pixel;

receiving the image from the terminal device; and

associating the image with at least one of an identification identifying the transaction and an account identifying the user so that the image can be retrieved when there is a query related to the transaction.

8. The server device of claim 7 wherein the online transaction module receives a request from the user over the data network when the transaction starts, the request including a piece of information indicating if the terminal device is equipped with a screen capturing application.

9. The server device of claim 8, wherein the online transaction module, in response to the request, sends a response that causes the terminal device to be loaded with the screen capturing application when the request shows that the terminal device is not equipped with such screen capturing application.

10. The server device of claim 7 wherein the page is based on a markup language.

11. The server device of claim 7 wherein the page comprises a screen capturing module that can be invoked to capture the image of the display on the terminal device when the user authorizes to release the entry entered in the display of the page.

12. The server device of claim 11 wherein the screen capturing module is an applet embedded in the page.

13. The server device of claim 7 wherein the page comprises a code that can invoke a screen capturing module resided in the terminal device.

14. A method for tracking screen activities engaged by a user for online transactions with a server device over a data network, the method comprising:

requiring an entry from the user to a display being displayed on a terminal device after the user decides to enter a transaction over the data network with a provider, wherein said requiring an entry comprises causing the client device to invoke an embedded screen capturing module associated with the display to take an image of the display when the user clicks a button to release the entry to the server device, wherein the screen capturing module is associated with the button, and wherein the image includes the entry and other information in the page presented in pixel;

receiving image data from the data network, the image data recording the display including the entry by the user; and

storing the image data associated with the transaction in a memory space.

15. The method of claim 14;

wherein said receiving image data comprises;

causing the image to be sent over the data network when the user decides to release the entry to the server device over the data network after the image is converted to the image data proper for transmission over the data network.

16. The method of claim 15;

wherein the image data is a compressed version of the image so that the transmission of the image over the data network can be efficient.

17. The method of claim 14;

wherein the display is one of

(i) an electronic form requiring one or more selections from the user,

(ii) an agreement requiring at least one electronic signature from the user,

(iii) an electronic form requiring at least quantity information, and

(iv) a displayed page requiring inputs from the user.

18. A method for tracking screen activities engaged by a user for online transactions with a server device over a data network, the method comprising:

requiring interactions from the user to one or more displays after the user decides to enter a transaction over the data network with a provider;

determining if the transaction is complete;

receiving image data from the data network if the transaction is complete, the image data recording the one or more displays including the interactions by the user; and

storing the image data associated with the transaction in a memory space.

19. The method of claim 18;

wherein said requiring interactions from the user comprises;

causing the client device to capture an image of each of the one or more displays including the interactions by the user; and

causing the client device to store the image in a local memory thereof.

20. The method of claim 18;

wherein each of the one or more displays is one of

(i) an electronic form requiring one or more selections from the user,

(ii) an agreement requiring at least one electronic signature from the user,

(iii) an electronic form requiring at least quantity information, and

(iv) a displayed page requiring inputs from the user.

21. A method for tracking screen activities engaged by a user for online transactions with a server device over a data network, the method comprising:

executing a browsing application to contact the server device over the data network by sending out a request;

displaying a page from the server device after the server device responds to the request;

the page requiring inputs from the user;

invoking a screen capturing application to capture an image of the page including the inputs as soon as the user authorizes to release the inputs to the server device; and

transmitting image data representing the image together with the inputs over the data network to the server device.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the page is an electronic form that must be filled with the inputs from the user.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein said transmitting image data comprises converting locally the image to the image data.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the image data is a compressed version of the image.

25. A method for tracking screen activities engaged by a user for online transactions with a server device over a data network, the method comprising:

receiving respectively a sequence of web pages from a server device after the server device is contacted for conducting a transaction over the data network;

displaying individually the web pages for inputs from the user;

accepting the inputs by showing where the inputs are entered in the web pages;

activating a screen capturing application to capture an image of each of the web pages including the inputs every time the user authorizes to release the inputs to one of the web pages to the server device;

storing images of the web pages including the inputs in a local memory space; and

releasing the images to the server device after the transaction is complete.

26. The method of claim 25 further comprising compressing the images locally according to a predefined compression standard so that said releasing the images to the server device is performed more efficiently over the data network.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein the screen capturing application is embedded as an executable application in each of the web pages.

28. A computer program product for tracking screen activities engaged by a user for online transactions with a server device over a data network, the computer program product comprising:

program code for requiring an entry from the user to a display being displayed on a terminal device after the user decides to enter a transaction over the data network with a provider, wherein the program code for requiring an entry comprises program code for causing the client device to invoke an embedded screen capturing module to take an image of the display when the user clicks a button to release the entry to the server device, and

wherein the image includes the entry and other information in the page presented in pixel;

program code for receiving image data from the data network, the image data recording the display including the entry by the user; and

program code for storing the image data associated with the transaction in a memory space.

29. The computer program product of claim 28;

wherein the program code for receiving image data comprises;

program code for causing the image to be sent over the data network when the user decides to release the entry to the server device over the data network after the image is converted to the image data proper for transmission over the data network.

30. The computer program product of claim 28;

wherein the image data is a compressed version of the image so that the transmission of the image over the data network can be efficient.

31. The computer program product of claim 28;

wherein the display is an electronic document that requires at least one of

(i) one or more selections from the user,

(ii) an electronic signature from the user,

(iii) quantity information, and

(iv) inputs from the user.

32. The computer program product of claim 28, wherein the computer program product can be obtained in one of the following ways:

downloadable from the data network and in a computer readable medium.

33. A computer program product for tracking screen activities engaged by a user for online transactions with a server device over a data network, the computer program product comprising:

program code for requiring interactions from the user to one or more displays after the user decides to enter a transaction over the data network with a provider;

program code for determining if the transaction is complete;

program code for receiving image data from the data network if the transaction is complete, the image data recording the one or more displays including the interactions by the user; and

program code for storing the image data associated with the transaction in a memory space.

34. The computer program product of claim 33;

wherein the program code for requiring interactions from the user comprises;

program code for causing the client device to capture an image of each of the one or more displays including the interactions by the user; and

program code for causing the client device to store the image in a local memory thereof.

35. The computer program product of claim 33;

wherein each of the one or more displays is an electronic document that requires at least one of

(i) one or more selections from the user,

(ii) an electronic signature from the user,

(iii) quantity information, and

(iv) inputs from the user.

36. A computer program product for tracking screen activities engaged by a user for online transactions with a server device over a data network, the computer program product comprising:

program code for executing a browsing application to contact the server device over the data network by sending out a request;

program code for displaying a page from the server device after the server device responds to the request;

the page requiring inputs from the user;

program code for invoking a screen capturing application to capture an image of the page including the inputs as soon as the user authorizes to release the inputs to the server device; and

program code for transmitting image data representing the image together with the inputs over the data network to the server device.

37. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the page is an electronic form that must be filled with the inputs from the user.

38. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein said transmitting image data comprises converting locally the image to the image data.

39. The computer program product of claim 38, wherein the image data is a compressed version of the image.

40. A computer program product for tracking screen activities engaged by a user for online transactions with a server device over a data network, the computer program code comprising:

program code for receiving respectively a sequence of web pages from a server device after the server device is contacted for conducting a transaction over the data network;

program code for displaying individually the web pages for inputs from the user;

program code for accepting the inputs by showing where the inputs are entered in the web pages;

program code for activating a screen capturing application to capture an image of each of the web pages including the inputs every time the user authorizes to release the inputs to one of the web pages to the server device;

program code for storing images of the web pages including the inputs in a local memory space; and

program code for releasing the images to the server device after the transaction is complete.

41. The computer program product of claim 40 further comprising program code for compressing the images locally according to a predefined compression standard so that the program code for releasing the images to the server device can be executed more efficiently over the data network.

42. The computer program product of claim 40 wherein the screen capturing application is embedded as an executable application in each of the web pages.