Method and apparatus for real-time reporting of electronic commerce activity

• US 7,562,030 B1
• Filed: 11/06/2000
• Issued: 07/14/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: WebTrends Incorporated (WebTrends Holding, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lu, Victor, Shapira, Elijahu
• Primary Examiner(s): MEINECKE DIAZ, SUSANNA M
• Application Number:
  US09/707,541
• Time in Patent Office: 3,172 Days
• Field of Search: 705/35, 705/36, 705/37, 705/10, 705/26, 705/27, 705/14, 707/104.1, 707 1- 10, 707/102, 707/104
• US Class Current: 705/7.29
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

A method and apparatus is disclosed for tracking and reporting electronic commerce activity over a web site that is stored on a first server coupled to a wide area network. The web page is programmed to include data fields reflecting commerce transaction activity and data mining code. The web page is uploaded to a visitor computer responsive to a request over the wide area network from the visitor computer. Commerce information is accepted within the data fields of the web page at the visitor computer to form a completed web page. The data mining code is operated on the visitor computer to obtain technical and commercial data and sent to a second server on the wide area network for logging and analysis.

Claims

1. A method for tracking and reporting electronic commerce activity over a web site comprising:

storing a web page on a first server coupled to a wide area network, said web page including data fields reflecting commerce transaction activity and data mining code;

uploading the web page including the data fields and data mining code to a visitor computer responsive to a request over the wide area network from the visitor computer;

accepting commerce information within the data fields of the web page at the visitor computer to form a completed web page;

operating the data mining code on the visitor computer to obtain technical and commercial data; and

receiving the technical and commercial data at a second server.

2. The method for tracking and reporting electronic commerce activity of claim 1 further including the steps of:

receiving the completed web page at the first server;

generating an order confirmation web page incorporating the commerce information from the data fields of the completed web page, said order confirmation web page including the data mining code; and

uploading the order confirmation web page to the visitor computer.

3. The method for tracking and reporting electronic commerce activity of claim 2, further including the steps of:

associating variables within the data mining code to the commerce information within the order confirmation page;

confirming the commerce information at the visitor computer;

receiving the order confirmation page from the visitor computer at the first server responsive to the step of confirming the commerce information; and

receiving the associated variables at the second server responsive to the step of confirming the commerce information.

4. The method for tracking and reporting electronic commerce activity of claim 3, wherein the step of associating variables includes the steps of associating a variable with a product name of the commercial transaction.

5. The method for tracking and reporting electronic commerce activity of claim 3, wherein the step of associating variables includes the steps of associating a variable with a product category of the commercial transaction.

6. The method for tracking and reporting electronic commerce activity of claim 3, wherein the step of associating variables includes the steps of associating a variable with a number of products purchased in the commercial transaction.

7. The method for tracking and reporting electronic commerce activity of claim 3, wherein the step of associating variables includes the steps of associating a variable with a unit price of the commercial transaction.

8. The method of claim 3, further comprising the steps of:

compiling the variables into a commercial transaction report; and

posting the report for viewing over the wide area network.

9. The method of claim 1 further including the step of embedding the commercial data within a URL request directed at the second server.