Hypervideo tracking and reporting system

• US 8,271,487 B1
• Filed: 11/22/2000
• Issued: 09/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Hermush, Yossi A., Keret, Rottem, Weller, Shmuel, Harel, Dror
• Primary Examiner(s): Perveen, Rehana
• Assistant Examiner(s): Khong, Alexander
• Application Number:
  US09/721,503
• Time in Patent Office: 4,318 Days
• Field of Search: 707/734, 707/603
• US Class Current: 707/734
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234318 by decomposing into objects, e.g. MPEG-4 objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/252 Processing of multiple end-users' preferences to derive collaborative data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4725 using interactive regions of the image, e.g. hot spots details of information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/445 for displaying additional information H04N5/50 takes precedence

Abstract

A system for tracking and reporting of user behavior including tracking and recording of media viewed by a user. The media may include hypervideo video-enhanced pages and other media types. The system is operable to create a user-configurable report including data regarding user use of the media, such as indicating the number of times each media has been viewed and indicating the number of times each path has been taken through each hypervideo application.

Claims

1. A method of providing hypervideo application user information, comprising the acts of:

tracking and recording media viewed by a user, wherein the media comprises hypervideo applications; and

creating a user-configurable report, the report reflecting data regarding user access of the media,

wherein the creating act further comprises the acts of;

indicating, for each video-enhanced page in a hypervideo application, information regarding previous video-enhanced pages users viewed before a current video-enhanced page and from which the users proceeded to the current video-enhanced page;

indicating information regarding next video-enhanced pages to which the users proceeded from the current video-enhanced page; and

simultaneously displaying on a display the information regarding the previous video-enhanced pages, a list of media contained in the current video-enhanced page, and the information regarding the next video-enhanced pages,

wherein the information regarding the previous video-enhanced pages comprises information regarding how viewing the current video-enhanced page was initiated, including one of user initiated and automatic activation, and paths the users took from the previous video-enhanced pages to the current video-enhanced page,

wherein the information regarding the previous video-enhanced pages comprises percentage of total times when viewing the previous video-enhanced pages that users proceeded to the current video-enhanced page, and

wherein the information regarding the next video-enhanced pages further comprises percentage of total views of the current video-enhanced page that result in a user proceeding to each of the next video-enhanced pages.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user-configurable report comprises a report including data after a user-defined start date.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the user-configurable report comprises a report including data before a user-defined end date.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the report data comprises a number of times each media has been viewed.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the media further comprises at least one of video, image, HTML or audio.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the user configures which of the media types are to be included in the report.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein each type of the media is identified in the report via representation with a unique icon.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the number of times each media has been viewed does not include returning to a media in a path in a same session.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the number of media for which data is displayed in the report is selected by the user.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the report comprises a number of user sessions during which the media was viewed.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the report comprises a number of unique users to view a media.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the report comprises an average time users spent viewing each media.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the report sorts media by a number of times each media has been viewed.

14. The method of claim 4, wherein the number of times each media has been viewed comprises both a total number of times a looping video has been viewed including views that result from looping, and a number of times the looping video has been viewed not as a result of looping.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the report comprises an indication of whether views of a particular media were user-initiated or automatic.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the report comprises an indication of whether video media is looping media.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the report further reflects a number of times each path has been taken through each hypervideo application.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein indicating the number of times each path has been taken through each hypervideo application comprises displaying data for a user-selected number of paths.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein indicating the number of times each path has been taken through each hypervideo application comprises indicating data for only those paths exceeding a user-defined minimum path length.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein indicating the number of times each path has been taken through each hypervideo application comprises grouping paths together based on a user-defined number of same first pages in each path.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the information regarding the previous video-enhanced pages comprises data regarding the identity of the previous video-enhanced pages viewed before and linked to the current video-enhanced page.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the information regarding the previous video-enhanced pages comprises the average time users spent viewing the previous video-enhanced pages before proceeding to the current video-enhanced page.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the information regarding the previous video-enhanced pages comprises the number of user sessions for each previous video-enhanced page from which users have proceeded to the current video-enhanced page.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the information regarding the next video-enhanced pages comprises information about each hotspot on the current video-enhanced page and the next video-enhanced pages to which the hotspots are linked.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the information regarding the next video-enhanced pages comprises the media to which each hotspot is linked.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the information regarding the next video-enhanced pages further comprises an average time a user spends viewing the current video-enhanced page before progressing to each of the next video-enhanced pages.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the information regarding the next video-enhanced pages further comprises a number of user sessions in which a person proceeds from the current video-enhanced page to each of the next video-enhanced pages.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein the user-configurable report further comprises a hotspot report.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the hotspot report comprises number of sessions in which a user has selected each hotspot.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the hotspot report comprises number of times each hotspot has been viewed by a user.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein the hotspot report comprises an average view time that users spent viewing the content linked to each hotspot.

32. The method of claim 28, wherein the hotspot report comprises name and type of each hotspot.

33. The method of claim 28, wherein the hotspot report comprises a number of selections of each hotspot via a mouse.

34. The method of claim 28, wherein the hotspot report comprises percentage of viewers that clicked each hotspot.

84. The method of claim 28, the hotspot report comprising identification of an overlay used to represent the hotspot.

35. A non-transitory machine-readable medium with instructions stored thereon, the instructions when executed operable to cause a computer to provide hypervideo application user information by:

tracking and recording media viewed by a user, where media comprises hypervideo applications; and

creating a user-configurable report, the report reflecting data regarding user access of the media,

wherein the creating act further comprises the acts of;

indicating, for each video-enhanced page in a hypervideo application, information regarding previous video-enhanced pages users viewed before a current video-enhanced page and from which the users proceeded to the current video-enhanced page;

indicating information regarding next video-enhanced pages to which the users proceeded from the current video-enhanced page; and

simultaneously displaying on a display the information regarding the previous video-enhanced pages, a list of media contained in the current video-enhanced page, and the information regarding the next video-enhanced pages,

wherein the information regarding the previous video-enhanced pages comprises information regarding how viewing the current video-enhanced page was initiated, including one of user initiated and automatic activation, and paths the users took from the previous video-enhanced pages to the current video-enhanced page,

wherein the information regarding the previous video-enhanced pages comprises percentage of total times when viewing the previous video-enhanced pages that users proceeded to the current video-enhanced page, and

wherein the information regarding the next video-enhanced pages further comprises percentage of total views of the current video-enhanced page that result in a user proceeding to each of the next video-enhanced pages.

36. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the user-configurable report comprises a report including data after a user-defined start date.

37. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the user-configurable report comprises a report including data before a user-defined end date.

38. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 35, the report data comprising a number of times each media has been viewed.

39. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the media further comprises at least one of media types of video, image, HTML or audio.

40. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 39, wherein the user configures which of the media types are to be included in the report.

41. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 39, wherein each type of media is identified in the report via representation with a unique icon.

42. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 38, wherein the number of times each media has been viewed does not include returning to a media in a path in the same session.

43. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 35, wherein a number of media for which data is displayed in the report is selected by the user.

44. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the report comprises a number of user sessions during which the media was viewed.

45. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the report comprises a number of unique users to view a media.

46. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the report comprises an average time users spent viewing each media.

47. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the report sorts media by a number of times each media has been viewed.

48. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 35, wherein a number of times each media has been viewed comprises both a total number of times a looping video has been viewed including views that result from looping, and a number of times the looping video has been viewed not as a result of looping.

49. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the report comprises an indication of whether views of a particular media were user-initiated or automatic.

50. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the report comprises an indication of whether video media is looping media.

51. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 35, the report further reflecting a number of times each path has been taken through each hypervideo application.

52. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 51, wherein indicating the number of times each path has been taken through each hypervideo application comprises displaying data for a user-selected number of paths.

53. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 51, wherein indicating the number of times each path has been taken through each hypervideo application comprises indicating data for only those paths exceeding a user-defined minimum path length.

54. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 51, wherein indicating the number of times each path has been taken through each hypervideo application comprises grouping paths together based on a user-defined number of same first pages in each path.

55. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the information regarding the previous video-enhanced pages comprises data regarding the identity of the previous video-enhanced pages viewed before and linked to the current video-enhanced page.

56. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the information regarding the previous video-enhanced pages comprises an average time users spent viewing the previous video-enhanced pages before proceeding to the current video-enhanced page.

57. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the information regarding the previous video-enhanced pages comprises a number of user sessions for each previous video-enhanced page from which users have proceeded to the current video-enhanced page.

58. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the information regarding the next video-enhanced pages comprises information about each hotspot on the current video-enhanced page and the next video-enhanced pages to which the hotspots are linked.

59. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 58, wherein the information regarding the next video-enhanced pages comprises the media to which each hotspot is linked.

60. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 58, wherein the information regarding the next video-enhanced pages further comprises an average time a user spends viewing the current video-enhanced page before progressing to each of the next video-enhanced pages.

61. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 58, wherein the information regarding the next video-enhanced pages further comprises a number of user sessions in which a person proceeds from the current video-enhanced page to each of the next video-enhanced pages.

62. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 35, the user-configurable report further comprising a hotspot report.

63. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 62, the hotspot report comprising a number of sessions in which a user has selected each hotspot.

64. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 62, the hotspot report comprising a number of times each hotspot has been viewed by a user.

65. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 62, the hotspot report comprising an average view time that users spent viewing the content linked to each hotspot.

66. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 62, the hotspot report comprising name and type of each hotspot.

67. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 62, wherein the hotspot report comprises a number of selections of each hotspot via a mouse.

68. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 62, wherein the hotspot report comprises a percentage of viewers that clicked each hotspot.

69. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 62, wherein the hotspot report comprises identification of overlay used to represent the hotspot.

70. A method of providing hypervideo application user information, comprising the acts of:

tracking and recording media viewed by a user, where media comprises hypervideo applications; and

creating a user-configurable report, the report reflecting data regarding user viewing of advertising media via hotspots,

wherein the creating act further comprises the acts of;

indicating, for each video-enhanced page in a hypervideo application, information regarding previous video-enhanced pages users viewed before a current video-enhanced page and from which the users proceeded to the current video-enhanced page;

indicating information regarding next video-enhanced pages to which the users proceeded from the current video-enhanced page; and

simultaneously displaying on a display the information regarding the previous video-enhanced pages, a list of media contained in the current video-enhanced page, and the information regarding the next video-enhanced pages,

wherein the information regarding the previous video-enhanced pages comprises information regarding how viewing the current video-enhanced page was initiated, including one of user initiated and automatic activation, and paths the users took from the previous video-enhanced pages to the current video-enhanced page,

wherein the information regarding the previous video-enhanced pages comprises percentage of total times when viewing the previous video-enhanced pages that users proceeded to the current video-enhanced page, and

wherein the information regarding the next video-enhanced pages further comprises percentage of total views of the current video-enhanced page that result in a user proceeding to each of the next video-enhanced pages.

71. The method of claim 70, wherein the report comprises the advertising media and an overlay image name.

72. The method of claim 70, wherein the report comprises a click-through URL (Uniform Resource Locator) linked to each advertising media hotspot.

73. The method of claim 70, wherein the report comprises a number of times each advertising media was retrieved within a user session.

74. The method of claim 70, wherein the report comprises a number of times each advertising media was retrieved by a unique user.

75. The method of claim 70, wherein the report comprises a percentage of times that a user who viewed the advertising hotspot has selected the hotspot.

76. The method of claim 70, wherein the report comprises an average amount of time that users view each advertising media hotspot.

77. A non-transitory machine-readable medium with instructions thereon, the instructions when executed operable to cause a computer to provide hypervideo application user information by:

tracking and recording media viewed by a user, where media comprises hypervideo applications; and

creating a user-configurable report, the report reflecting data regarding user viewing of advertising media via hotspots,

wherein the creating act further comprises the acts of;

indicating, for each video-enhanced page in a hypervideo application, information regarding previous video-enhanced pages users viewed before a current video-enhanced page and from which the users proceeded to the current video-enhanced page;

indicating information regarding next video-enhanced pages to which the users proceeded from the current video-enhanced page; and

simultaneously displaying on a display the information regarding the previous video-enhanced pages, a list of media contained in the current video-enhanced page, and the information regarding the next video-enhanced pages,

wherein the information regarding the previous video-enhanced pages comprises information regarding how viewing the current video-enhanced page was initiated, including one of user initiated and automatic activation, and paths the users took from the previous video-enhanced pages to the current video-enhanced page,

wherein the information regarding the previous video-enhanced pages comprises percentage of total times when viewing the previous video-enhanced pages that users proceeded to the current video-enhanced page, and

wherein the information regarding the next video-enhanced pages further comprises percentage of total views of the current video-enhanced page that result in a user proceeding to each of the next video-enhanced pages.

78. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein the report comprises the advertising media and an overlay image name.

79. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein the report comprises a click-through URL (Uniform Resource Locator) linked to each advertising media hotspot.

80. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein the report comprises a number of times each advertising media was retrieved within a user session.

81. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein the report comprises a number of times each advertising media was retrieved by a unique user.

82. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein the report comprises a percentage of times that a user who viewed the advertising hotspot has selected the hotspot.

83. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein the report comprises an average amount of time that users view each advertising media hotspot.