Transaction management system

• US 7,287,071 B2
• Filed: 02/13/2001
• Issued: 10/23/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ip Ot Sub Ulc
• Original Assignee: Vignette Corporation (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: MacLean, John M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Najjar; Saleh
• Assistant Examiner(s): ISMAIL, SHAWKI SAIF
• Application Number:
  US09/782,477
• Publication Number:
  US 20020038363A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,443 Days
• Field of Search: 709223-226, 709/203, 709217-219, 709/227, 719/318, 705 26- 27
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2379 Updates performed during online database operations; commit processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24565 Triggers; Constraints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/389 Keeping log of transactions for guaranteeing non-repudiation of a transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

The systems and methods described herein relate to a system for documenting transactions. A filter is provided that captures content associated with transactions. The filter may be configured to start and stop the capture at predetermined times, and may be further configured to specify what content is to be captured during a transaction. The system may store any documents or data associated with a transaction, including dynamic content and user selections and inputs. A document repository may be provided for storing unstructured data representing data, text, forms, and so forth presented to a party during a transaction. A viewer may be provided for displaying data stored in the document repository.

Claims

1. A transaction management system comprising:

a server application that hosts an electronic commerce transaction comprising two or more sessions;

a network;

a client application connected in a communicating relationship with the server application over the network, and the client application participating in the transaction hosted by the server application; and

a filter application operating between the server application and the client application that initiates capture of data associated with the transaction upon the detection of a first event, wherein the captured data includes data captured in two or more sessions, preprocessed data passing between the client application, the server application and one or more additional server applications and any preprocessed data passing between the server application, the client application and the one or more additional server applications;

wherein the filter application stops the capture of the data communicated between the client application, the server application and the one or more additional server applications upon the occurrence of a second event;

wherein the filter application processes the captured data to associate the data captured during each of the two or more sessions with the electronic transaction; and

a repository for storing the captured transaction.

2. The transaction management system of claim 1 further comprising:

a client computer upon which the client application resides;

a server computer upon which the server application resides; and

wherein the filter application resides on the server computer.

3. The transaction management system of claim 1 further the comprising a second server application of the one or more additional server applications connected in a communicating relationship with the server application that hosts the transaction and further connected in a communicating relationship with the client application, wherein the filter application captures transaction data passed from the server application to the second server application to the client application.

4. The transaction management system of claim 1 wherein the repository stores data captured by the filter application, is indexed according to at least one of a transaction type, a transaction party, a transaction time, or a transaction identifier.

5. The transaction management system of claim 4 further comprising a viewer for viewing the captured transaction data stored in the repository.

6. The transaction management system of claim 5 wherein the captured transaction data includes a record of a transaction between the server application and the client application.

7. The transaction management system of claim 1 wherein the repository stores unstructured data captured by the filter application, the unstructured data including data having a plurality of formats.

8. The transaction management system of claim 1 wherein the preprocessed data includes at least one of facsimile data, print stream data, application document data, hypertext transfer protocol data, graphics data, and audio data.

9. The transaction management system of claim 1 further comprising a configuration interface with which a user selects data to be captured during the transaction.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the two or more sessions occurs at a different time.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the filter application is operable to associate an electronic document with the transaction, wherein the electronic document is an electronic version of a paper document associated with the transaction.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first event is an interaction with the client application.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein no data is captured before occurrence of the first event.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the captured data includes data passing between a second server application and the client application, the second server application distinct from the server application.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the server application is controlled by a first party and the second server application is controlled by a second part not controlled by the first party.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the captured data includes a GET command from the client application to the server application, the transmission of an HTML object from the server application to the client application and a set of requests from the client application to fetch additional objects referenced by the HTML object.

17. A method for managing transactions conducted over a network comprising:

detecting a first event;

in response to the first event, initiating a capture of data communicated between a client application participating in an electronic commerce transaction and a server application which hosts the transaction as the data is communicated between the client application and the server application, wherein the captured data includes data captured during two or more sessions, preprocessed data passing between the client application, the server application and one or more additional server applications and any preprocessed data passing between the server application, the client application and the one or more additional server applications;

detecting a second event;

in response to detection of the second event, stopping the capture of the data communicated between the client application, the server application and the one or more additional server applications;

processing the captured data to associate the data captured during each of the two or more sessions with the transaction; and

storing the captured transaction data in a repository.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein storing the captured data is performed after detecting the second event.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising retrieving the captured data and displaying the captured data in its preprocessed form.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the captured data includes a hypertext transfer protocol session.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

capturing a form from the server application;

capturing data relating to the form from the client application; and

storing the data relating to the form from the client application in the form as one or more default values of the form.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the content includes at least one of banner advertisements or price quotations.

23. The method of claim 17 further comprising in response to the first event, initiating capture of data communicated between the client application and a third-party provider of content.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the third-party provider is distinct from the server application.

25. The method of claim 17 wherein the first event includes navigation by the client application to one or more predetermined addresses and wherein the second event includes navigation by the client application to one or more predetermined addresses.

26. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

configuring the first event and the second event to correspond to one or more predetermined universal resource locators; and

configuring one or more attributes by which the data is indexed.

27. The method of claim 17 further comprising configuring the capture of data to include a portion of the data communicated between the client application and the server application, the portion being less than all of the data communicated between the client application and the server application.

28. The method of claim 17, wherein each of the two or more sessions occurs at a different time.

29. The method of claim 17, wherein no data is captured before occurrence of the first event.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the first event is an interaction with the client application.

31. The method of claim 17, further comprising associating an electronic document with the transaction, wherein the electronic document is an electronic version of a paper document associated with the transaction.

32. The method of claim 17, wherein the captured data includes a GET command from the client application to the server application, the transmission of an HTML object from the server application to the client application and a set of requests from the client application to fetch additional objects referenced by the HTML object.

33. A method for managing transactions comprising:

processing an electronic commerce transaction between a client application participating in the electronic commerce transaction and a server application which hosts the electronic commerce transaction;

upon detection of a first event, capturing data associated with the electronic commerce transaction, wherein the captured data includes data captured during two or more sessions, preprocessed data passing between the client application, the server application and one or more additional server applications and any preprocessed data passing between the server application, the client application and the one or more additional server applications;

the captured data is processed to associate the data captured during each of the two or more sessions with a transaction and the data is captured in a form that permits review of the transaction as displayed during the transaction;

stopping the capture of data communicated between the client application, the server application and the one or more additional server applications upon the occurrence of a second event; and

storing the captured transaction in a repository.

34. The method of claim 33 further comprising:

providing a viewer for reviewing the transaction stored in the document repository.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein access to the document repository is provided as a service to at least one of the client application or the server application and wherein one or more types of data are included in the capture of the transaction data.

36. The method of claim 33 wherein the capturing of data is performed by a filter application that resides on a client system and the filter application operates as a proxy to the server that hosts the electronic commerce transaction.

37. The method of claim 33 wherein the filter resides on a second server, the second server operating as a proxy to a server that hosts the electronic commerce transaction.

38. The method of claim 33 further comprising using the captured electronic commerce transaction to verify the transaction after the transaction has been completed.

39. A transaction management system comprising:

a server application that hosts an electronic commerce transaction comprising two or more sessions;

a client application in communication with the server application over a network, thereby forming a communication path between the client application and server application, wherein the client application is participating in the transaction hosted by the server application;

a filter application operating between the server application and the client application that initiate capture of data associated with the transaction upon the detection of a first event, wherein the captured data includes data captured in two or more sessions, preprocessed data passing between the client application, the server application and one or more additional server applications and any preprocessed data passing between the server application, the client application and the one or more additional server applications;

wherein the filter application stops the capture of the data communicated between the client application, the server application and the one or more additional server applications upon the occurrence of a second event;

wherein the filter application process the captured data to associate the data captured during each of the two or more sessions with the electronic transaction; and

a repository for storing the captured transaction.

40. A transaction management system comprising:

a server application operable to host a transaction comprising two or more sessions;

one or more additional server applications;

a network;

a client application connected via a communication path with the server application over the network, wherein the client application participates in the transaction hosted by the server application;

a filter application operating between the server application and the client application that initiate capture of data associated with the transaction upon the detection of a first event, wherein the captured data includes data captured in two or more sessions, preprocessed data passing between the client application, the server application and one or more additional server applications and any preprocessed data passing between the server application, the client application and the one or more additional server applications;

wherein the filter application stops the capture of the data communicated between the client application, the server application and the one or more additional server applications upon the occurrence of a second event;

wherein the filter application process the captured data to associate the data captured during each of the two or more sessions with the electronic transaction; and

a repository for storing the captured transaction.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein the transaction data can pass between the client application and the server application and between the server application and the client application, wherein the filter application captures transaction data passing from the client application to the server application after the client application sends the transaction data to the server application and before the transaction data arrives at the server application and the filter application captures transaction data passing from the server application to the client application after the server application sends the transaction data to the client application and before the transaction data arrives at the client application.

42. The system of claim 40, further comprising:

a client computer upon which the client application resides;

a server computer upon which the server application resides; and

wherein the filter application resides on either the client computer or the server computer.

43. The system of claim 40, wherein the captured transaction data includes preprocessed data that is processed at the server application if the transaction data is sent from the client application to the server application or is processed at the client application if the transaction data is sent from the server application to the client application.

44. The system of claim 40, wherein the filter application evaluates the transaction data prior to capturing the transaction data.

45. The system of claim 44, wherein based on the evaluation, the filter application only captures a portion of the transaction data.

46. The system of claim 40, wherein each of the two or more sessions occurs at a different time.

47. The system of claim 40, wherein the first event is an interaction with the client application.

48. The system of claim 47, wherein no data is captured before occurrence of the first event.

49. The system of claim 40, wherein the filter is operable to associate an electronic document with the transaction, wherein the electronic document is an electronic version of a paper document associated with the transaction.

50. The system of claim 40, wherein the captured data includes a GET command from the client application to the server application, the transmission of an HTML object from the server application to the client application and a set of requests from the client application to fetch additional objects referenced by the HTML object.

51. A method for managing transactions conducted over a network comprising:

upon occurrence of a first event, initiating a capture of data communicated between a client application participating in an electronic commerce transaction and a server application hosting the transaction as the data is communicated between the client application and server application, wherein the captured data includes data captured during two or more sessions, preprocessed data passing between the client application, the server application and one or more additional server applications and any preprocessed data passing between the server application, the client application and the one or more additional server applications;

stopping the capture of the data communicated between the client application, the server application and the one or more additional server application;

processing the captured data to associate the captured data with the transaction, wherein the captured data includes data captured during two or more sessions; and

storing the captured data in a repository.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein the stored data comprises data evidencing authentication of the transaction by a user using the client application.

53. A transaction management system comprising:

a server application that hosts an electronic commerce transaction comprising two or more sessions;

one or more additional server applications a network;

a client application connected via a communication path with the server application over the network, wherein the client application participates in the a transaction with the server application that involves passing data between the client application and the server application; and

between the server application and the client application; and

a filter application in the communication path between the server application and the client application that initiates capture of data associated with the transaction upon the detection of a first event, wherein the filter application captures the transaction data passing in either direction between the client application and the server application or one or more additional server applications, wherein the captured data includes data captured in two or more sessions, preprocessed data passing between the client application, the server application and one or more additional server applications and any preprocessed data passing between the server application, the client application and the one or more additional server application;

wherein the filter application stops the capture of the data communicated between the client application, the server application and the one or more additional server applications upon the occurrence of a second event;

wherein the filter application processes the captured data to associate the captured data with the transaction, wherein the captured data includes data captured during each of the two or more sessions; and

a repository for storing the captured transaction.

54. The system of claim 53, wherein the captured transaction data includes preprocessed data that is subsequently processed at the server application when the transaction data is sent from the client application to the server application and that is subsequently processed at the client application when the transaction data is sent from the server application to the client application.

55. The system of claim 54, wherein the transaction data includes data evidencing authentication of the transaction.

56. The system of claim 55, wherein the network is the Internet.

57. A method of managing transaction data, comprising:

initiating an electronic commerce transaction between a server application which host the transaction and a client application participating in the transaction over a network;

passing transaction data between the client application, the server application and one or more additional server applications and between the server application, the client application and the one or more additional server applications and the client application;

upon detecting the occurrence of a first event, capturing the transaction data as the transaction data passes between the client application and the server application or the one or more additional server applications wherein the captured data includes data captured during two or more sessions;

preprocessed data passing between the client application, the server application and one or more additional server applications and any preprocessed data passing between the server application, the client application and the one or more additional server applications;

stopping the capture of data upon the occurrence of a second event;

processing the captured data to associate the data captured in each of the two or more sessions with the transaction; and

storing the captured transaction in a repository.

58. The method of claim 57, further comprising:

processing a first portion of the transaction data at the server application, wherein the first portion of the transaction data is sent from the client application to the server application;

processing a second portion of the transaction data at the client application, wherein the second portion of the transaction data is sent from the server application to the client application.

59. The method of claim 57, wherein the captured transaction data includes data evidencing authentication of the transaction.

60. The method of claim 57, wherein the network is the Internet.

61. A method for managing transactions conducted over a network comprising:

transmitting an object from a server application hosting an electronic commerce transaction comprising two or more sessions to a client application participating in the transaction in response to a request from the client application;

detecting a first interaction with the object at the client application;

in response to the first interaction, initiating a capture of data associated with the transaction data communicated to the client application and from the client application from the server application or one or more additional server applications after the data is sent from the client application and before data is received at the client application, wherein the captured data includes data captured in two or more sessions, preprocessed data passing between the client application, the server application and one or more additional server applications and any preprocessed data passing between the server application, the client application and the one or more additional server applications, wherein no data is captured before the first interaction;

detecting a second event; and

in response to detection of the second event, stopping the capture of the data communicated between the client application, the server application and the one or more additional server applications;

processing the captured data to associate the data captured during the two or more sessions with the transaction; and

storing the captured transaction in a repository.