Method and apparatus for monitoring and synchronizing user interface events with network data

• US 8,127,000 B2
• Filed: 12/27/2006
• Issued: 02/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Acoustic, L.P.
• Original Assignee: Tealeaf Technology Incorporated (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Wenig, Robert, Dawes, John, Berkley, John, Gettier, Al, Saathoff, Kirk, Herda, Wolf, Austin, Paul, Knudsen, Ted
• Primary Examiner(s): Neurauter, George C
• Assistant Examiner(s): JOSHI, SURAJ M
• Application Number:
  US11/616,616
• Publication Number:
  US 20080005793A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,889 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3438 monitoring of user actions tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/875 Monitoring of systems including the internet

Abstract

Network data associated with a network session is captured at a first location. The network data includes, but is not limited to, web page data transmitted over a network between a web server and a user terminal. User interface events associated with the same network session are separately captured at a second user terminal location. The user interface events include, but are not limited to, user inputs for interacting with the web page data. Both the captured network data and the separately captured user interface events are then used for analyzing the network session.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

monitoring and capturing network data with a first computing device at a first network location, the network data transmitted over a network between a web server and a user terminal during a network session and including web page data, network session requests, and network session responses transmitted over the network between the web server and the user terminal, wherein the first location is either at the web server or at an intermediate location between the web server and the user terminal;

separately and independently from the first computing device, monitoring and capturing user interface events with a second computing device at a second user terminal location different from the first network location where the network data is monitored and captured with the first computing device, wherein the user interface events captured by the second computing device are associated with the same network session and include at least some user inputs configured to interact with the web page data at the user terminal location during the network session but are different from the network data captured with the first computing device, are never transferred between the user terminal and the web server during the network session, and are never captured with the first computing device; and

replaying the network session by synchronizing rendering of at least some of the network data captured by the first computing device with replay of at least some of the user interface events captured by the second computing device in a same order as previously occurring during the network session.

2. The method according to claim 1 including sending a user interface monitor along with some of the web page data sent to the user terminal, the user interface monitor capturing the user interface events for the network session at the second user terminal location independently of a network session monitor that monitors and captures the network data at the first network location.

3. The method according to claim 2 including:

using the network session monitor either at the web server location or at another network location remote from the user terminal to capture the network data;

automatically sending the captured network data along a first network path from the network session monitor to a session archive independently from the user interface monitor;

using the user interface monitor independently of the network session monitor to capture the user interface events at the user terminal; and

automatically sending the captured user interface events from the user interface monitor to the session archive along a second network path independently of the first network path between the network session monitor and the session archive.

4. The method according to claim 1 including tracking and capturing Document Object Models (DOMs) produced from the replayed network session.

5. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

capturing with the second computing device, for substantially the entire network session, the user inputs that only occur locally at the user terminal;

capturing substantially all other network data and user interface events for the network session with the first computing device; and

replaying substantially the entire network session in a same sequence as originally rendered during the network session.

6. The method according to claim 1 including:

receiving a request to replay a particular time window or a particular portion or stage of the network session; and

synchronizing replay of the captured user inputs with the captured web page data to virtually recreate a rerendering of the network session for the particular time window or for the particular portion or stage of the network session.

7. The method according to claim 6 including:

receiving a request to scan particular messages or events during the rerendering of the network session;

scanning the rerendering of the network session for the particular messages or events identified in the request; and

archiving the particular messages or events scanned from the rerendering.

8. A monitoring system, comprising:

a first processing device configured to capture network data at a first network location during a web session as the network data is being transferred between a server and a terminal over a network during the web session, wherein the network data comprises web pages transferred between the server and the terminal;

a second processing device configured to separately and independently capture local input events during the web session that are generated by a terminal at a second different terminal location when local input events are interacting with the web pages from the network data during the web session sufficient for replaying a simulation of the web session, wherein at least some of the local input events captured at the terminal by the second processing device are not included with the network data and cannot be captured by the first processing device, and wherein the captured web pages and captured local input events are sufficient to reproduce the monitored web session; and

a session analyzer configured to synchronize replay of the local input events captured by the second processing device with the rerendering of web pages from the network data captured by the first processing device in substantially the same sequence as previously occurring during the web session to virtually recreate a rerendering of the web session.

9. The monitoring system according to claim 8 wherein:

the first processing device is configured to capture the network data for substantially the entire web session;

the second processing device is configured to capture the local input events for substantially the entire web session; and

the session analyzer is configured to synchronize replay of the captured network data and captured local input events to recreate a previous rendering of substantially the entire web session.

10. The monitoring system according to claim 8 wherein the session analyzer is configured to receive a request identifying a time window for replaying the web session and replay the captured local input events with the captured network data to virtually recreate the rerendering of the web session for the time window identified in the request.

11. The monitoring system according to claim 10 wherein the session analyzer is configured to periodically monitor the captured network data and captured local input events for a particular portion or stage of the web session and, when identified, archive the particular portion or stage of the web session in an archive system.

12. The monitoring system according to claim 8 including a processing device configured to send a monitoring script along with some of the network data sent to the terminal that captures the local input events for the web session at the terminal.

13. The monitoring system according to claim 10 wherein the first and second processing devices apply time stamps in the captured network data and the captured local input events and the session analyzer uses the time stamps to identify the time window for replaying the web session.

14. A network monitoring system, comprising:

a processing device configured to;

receive network data for a network session captured by a first monitoring computer at a first remote monitoring location, wherein the network data includes web pages sent over a network from a web server to a client during the network session and web page requests sent over the network from the client to the web server during the network session;

receive user interface events for the network session captured by a second monitoring computer at a second user terminal location, wherein the second monitoring computer operates separately and independently from the first monitoring computer at the first remote monitoring location, and wherein the user interface events include at least some user inputs that interact locally at the client with the web pages sent by the web server, and are not sent over the network from the client to the web server; and

synchronize a rendering of at least some of the network data captured by the first monitoring computer with replay of at least some of the user interface events captured by the second monitoring computer so that the network session is re-rendered in substantially the same manner as originally rendered during the network session, wherein the user interface events are captured and replayed with the network data to recreate events in the network session that are not reproducible only with the network data.

15. The network monitoring system according to claim 14 wherein the processing device is configured to replay a selectable time window or a selectable portion or stage of the network data and user interface events for the re-rendered network session.

16. The network monitoring system according to claim 14 wherein the processing device is further configured to synchronize a rendering of the captured network data for substantially the entire network session with execution of the captured user interface events for substantially the entire network session so that substantially the entire network session is rerendered in substantially the same manner as originally rendered during the network session.

17. The network monitoring system according to claim 15 wherein the processing device is further configured to:

receive a request to scan particular messages or events for a particular time period of the rerendered network session;

scan the re-rendered network session for the particular messages or events for the particular time period; and

archive the particular messages or events scanned from the rerendered network session.

18. A method, comprising:

receiving network data that was captured by a first computer while being transmitted over a network during a network session;

receiving user inputs that were independently captured at a user terminal by a second computer while a user was interacting with the network data during the network session, wherein the second computer captures the user inputs separately and independently from any of the network data captured by the first computer while the network data is being transmitted over the network and wherein at least some of the user inputs can only be captured locally at the user terminal by the second computer and are not part of any of the network data and cannot be captured by the first computer; and

virtually replaying the network session by synchronizing rendering of the network data captured by the first computer with the replaying of the user inputs captured at the user terminal by the second computer.

19. The method according to claim 18 including:

receiving a request to replay a particular time window or a particular portion or stage of the network session; and

rendering the network data and replaying the user inputs for the particular time window or for the particular portion or stage of the network session identified in the request.

20. The method according to claim 18 including:

at least initially conducting the network session with a first web application operating on a first web server;

capturing the user inputs associated with the first web application at the user terminal and capturing the network data exchanged over the network between the first web application and the user terminal;

conducting at least a portion of the network session with a second web application on a second different web server;

capturing the user inputs associated with the second different web application; and

using the captured user inputs and network data associated with the first web application and the captured user inputs associated with the second web application to analyze the network session.

21. The method according to claim 18 including:

capturing the network data exchanged over the network between a web application and the user terminal during the network session;

assigning time stamp values to the captured network data;

capturing the user inputs at the user terminal that interact with the network data;

assigning time stamp values to the captured user inputs; and

comparing the time stamp values for the captured network data with the time stamp values for the captured user inputs to synchronize replaying of the network session.