Dynamic path flow reports

• US 7,644,375 B1
• Filed: 09/18/2006
• Issued: 01/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Anderson, Joel, Wong, Catherine Jen, Stair, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Lo; Weilun
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hassan; Rashedul
• Application Number:
  US11/523,783
• Time in Patent Office: 1,205 Days
• Field of Search: 715853-855, 715/738, 715733-736, 715/760, 702/182, 707/5, 707/10, 707/102, 707/104.1, 709/203, 709/219, 709224-225, 709/227, 709/230, 709/238, 709/242, 709/250
• US Class Current: 715/853
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/875 Monitoring of systems including the internet

Abstract

A report shows website visitation statistics including page visits before and after a path that can include one or more pages. The report responds to user selection of a page by adding the selected page to the path and regenerating the report. The user can click on pages to add them to the path, or to replace existing pages in the path. The user can also request and receive additional information about any page represented in the report.

Claims

1. A method of displaying a dynamic path flow report, comprising:

in a first display area, displaying a representation of a first path comprising at least two pages in a defined sequence;

displaying a representation of at least one of a next page and a previous page with respect to the first path, wherein;

each previous page representation is displayed in a second display area and comprises a page visitation statistic indicating how many site visitation paths included a visit to the previous page prior to a traversal of the pages of the first path in the defined sequence; and

each next page representation is displayed in a third display area and comprises a page visitation statistic indicating how many site visitation paths included a visit to the next page after a traversal of the pages of the first path in the defined sequence;

receiving user selection of at least one displayed page representation in at least one of the second and third display areas; and

responsive to the user selection;

adding a page corresponding to each user-selected page representation to the first path;

in the first display area, displaying an updated representation of the first path, the updated representation comprising a representation of the added page; and

repeating the step of displaying a representation of at least one of a next page and a previous page with respect to the first path.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying a representation of at least one of a next page and a previous page with respect to the first path comprises:

displaying a representation of at least one next page with respect to the first path; and

displaying a representation of at least one previous page with respect to the first path.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a representation of the first path comprising the at least two pages in the defined sequence and the page corresponding to each user-selected page.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

each page visitation statistic for a previous page indicates how many site visitation paths included a visit to the previous page followed consecutively by a traversal of the first path; and

each page visitation statistic for a next page indicates how many site visitation paths included a traversal of the first path followed consecutively by a visit to the next page.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

each page visitation statistic for a previous page representation comprises a cardinal number indicating a quantity of site visitation paths that included a visit to the previous page prior to a traversal of the pages of the first path in the defined sequence; and

each page visitation statistic for a next page representation comprises a cardinal number indicating a quantity of site visitation paths that included a visit to the next page after a traversal of the pages of the first path in the defined sequence.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

each page visitation statistic for a previous page representation indicates a percentage of site visitation paths that included a visit to the previous page prior to a traversal of the pages of the first path in the defined sequence, among site visitation paths that included a traversal of the first path; and

each page visitation statistic for a next page representation indicates a percentage of site visitation paths that included a visit to the previous page after a traversal of the pages of the first path in the defined sequence, among site visitation paths that included a traversal of the first path.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one user-selected page representation corresponds to a previous page, and wherein adding a page corresponding to each user-selected page representation to the first path comprises, for at least one user-selected page representation, adding the page corresponding to the user-selected page representation to the beginning of the first path.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one user-selected page representation corresponds to a next page, and wherein adding a page corresponding to each user-selected page representation to the first path comprises, for at least one user-selected page representation, adding the page corresponding to the user-selected page representation to the end of the first path.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving user input requesting additional information about a page corresponding to a page representation; and

responsive to the user input, displaying additional information about the page.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein:

receiving user input requesting additional information comprises receiving user input causing a cursor to hover over a page representation; and

displaying additional information comprises displaying additional information in a tooltip.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying at least one link corresponding to a previous state of the report; and

responsive to user input selecting a link corresponding to a previous state of the report, restoring the report to the corresponding previous state.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first display area comprises a first column;

the second display area comprises a second column; and

the third display area comprises a third column.

12. A computer program product for displaying a dynamic path flow report, comprising:

a computer-readable medium; and

computer program code, encoded on the medium, for;

in a first display area, displaying a representation of a first path comprising at least two pages in a defined sequence;

displaying a representation of at least one of a next page and a previous page with respect to the first path, wherein;

each previous page representation is displayed in a second display area and comprises a page visitation statistic indicating how many site visitation paths included a visit to the previous page prior to a traversal of the pages of the first path in the defined sequence; and

each next page representation is displayed in a third display area and comprises a page visitation statistic indicating how many site visitation paths included a visit to the next page after a traversal of the pages of the first path in the defined sequence;

receiving user selection of at least one displayed page representation in at least one of the second and third display areas; and

responsive to the user selection;

adding a page corresponding to each user-selected page representation to the first path;

the first display area, displaying an updated representation of the first path, the updated representation comprising a representation of the added page; and

repeating the step of displaying a representation of at least one of a next page and a previous page with respect to the first path.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the computer program code for displaying a representation of at least one of a next page and a previous page with respect to the first path comprises computer program code for:

displaying a representation of at least one next page with respect to the first path; and

displaying a representation of at least one previous page with respect to the first path.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising computer program code for displaying a representation of the first path comprising the at least two pages in the defined sequence and the page corresponding to each user-selected page.

15. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein:

each page visitation statistic for a previous page indicates how many site visitation paths included a visit to the previous page followed consecutively by a traversal of the first path; and

each page visitation statistic for a next page indicates how many site visitation paths included a traversal of the first path followed consecutively by a visit to the next page.

16. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein:

each page visitation statistic for a previous page representation comprises a cardinal number indicating a quantity of site visitation paths that included a visit to the previous page prior to a traversal of the pages of the first path in the defined sequence; and

each page visitation statistic for a next page representation comprises a cardinal number indicating a quantity of site visitation paths that included a visit to the next page after a traversal of the pages of the first path in the defined sequence.

17. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein:

each page visitation statistic for a previous page representation indicates a percentage of site visitation paths that included a visit to the previous page prior to a traversal of the pages of the first path in the defined sequence, among site visitation paths that included a traversal of the first path; and

each page visitation statistic for a next page representation indicates a percentage of site visitation paths that included a visit to the previous page after a traversal of the pages of the first path in the defined sequence, among site visitation paths that included a traversal of the first path.

18. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the user-selected page representation corresponds to a previous page, and wherein the computer program code for adding a page corresponding to each user-selected page representation to the first path comprises computer program code for, for at least one user-selected page representation, adding the page corresponding to the user-selected page representation to the beginning of the first path.

19. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the user-selected page representation corresponds to a next page, and wherein the computer program code for adding a page corresponding to each user-selected page representation to the first path comprises computer program code for, for at least one user-selected page representation, adding the page corresponding to the user-selected page representation page to the end of the first path.

20. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising computer program code for:

receiving user input requesting additional information about a page corresponding to a page representation; and

responsive to the user input, displaying additional information about the page.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein:

the computer program code for receiving user input requesting additional information comprises computer program code for receiving user input causing a cursor to hover over a page representation; and

the computer program code for displaying additional information comprises computer program code for displaying additional information in a tooltip.

22. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising computer program code for:

displaying at least one link corresponding to a previous state of the report; and

responsive to user input selecting a link corresponding to a previous state of the report, restoring the report to the corresponding previous state.

26. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein:

the first display area comprises a first column;

the second display area comprises a second column; and

the third display area comprises a third column.

23. A system of displaying a dynamic path flow report, comprising:

an output device, for;

in a first display area, displaying a representation of a first path comprising at least two pages in a defined sequence;

and for displaying a representation of at least one of a next page and a previous page with respect to the first path, wherein;

each previous page representation is displayed in a second display area and comprises a page visitation statistic indicating how many site visitation paths included a visit to the previous page prior to a traversal of the pages of the first path in the defined sequence; and

each next page representation is displayed in a third display area and comprises a page visitation statistic indicating how many site visitation paths included a visit to the next page after a traversal of the pages of the first path in the defined sequence; and

an input device, for receiving user selection of at least one displayed page representation in at least one of the second and third display areas;

wherein, responsive to the user selection, the output device;

adds a page corresponding to each user-selected page representation to the first path;

in the first display area, displays an updated representation of the first path, the updated representation comprising a representation of the added page; and

repeats the step of displaying a representation of at least one of a next page and a previous page with respect to the first path.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein:

the output device displays at least one link corresponding to a previous state of the report; and

responsive to the input device detecting user input selecting a link corresponding to a previous state of the report, the output device restores the report to the corresponding previous state.

27. The system of claim 23, wherein:

the first display area comprises a first column;

the second display area comprises a second column; and

the third display area comprises a third column.