Method and system for identifying website visitors

• US 8,386,561 B2
• Filed: 11/06/2008
• Issued: 02/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ip Ot Sub Ulc
• Original Assignee: Open TEXT SA (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Artz, John Curtis Jr., Bender, William, Pathak, Heeren
• Primary Examiner(s): Duong, Oanh
• Application Number:
  US12/266,129
• Publication Number:
  US 20090083269A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,573 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709/219, 709223-224, 709/229, 707/688, 707/999.01, 725/34
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A website server computer hosting a website can identify a visitor to the website by using information provided by a visitor server computer that interacts with the visitor. The information provided by the server computer, in some embodiments, can be a combination of an IP address and characteristics of a computing device from where the visitor visits the website. In some embodiments, the IP address of the visitor server computer is used. In embodiments where the visitor may be sharing the computing device with other users, the characteristics may include at least one characteristic that is uniquely associated with the visitor. The website server computer can use a visitor identifier thus generated to start tracking the pages that the visitor requests during the session and can generate and customize pages for the visitor by using characteristics originated from the visitor.

Claims

1. A method of identifying a website visitor, comprising:

at a web site server computer communicatively coupled to a visitor server computer via a first network, the visitor server computer being communicatively connected to a requesting visitor computer over a second network;

generating a visitor identifier for the website visitor using a combination of information from the visitor server computer and the requesting visitor computer and without using an address of the requesting visitor computer or a cookie, wherein the combination of information includes;

an IP address assigned by or belonging to the visitor server computer; and

at least one unique browsing environment characteristic associated with a user account on the requesting visitor computer of the website visitor, the requesting visitor computer having one or more user accounts;

determining whether the visitor identifier has been used at the website server computer based in part on the at least one unique browsing environment characteristic associated with the user account on the requesting visitor computer of the website visitor; and

if the visitor identifier has been used at the website server computer, starting session tracking using the visitor identifier;

if the visitor identifier has not been used at the website server computer;

storing the visitor identifier; and

starting session tracking using the visitor identifier.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the visitor computer is shared by a plurality of individual users and configured with a plurality of user accounts, wherein each individual user account results in different browsing environment characteristics for each of the plurality of individual users, and wherein at least one browsing environment characteristic is different between the plurality of individual users.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the visitor identifier to a database, wherein determining whether the visitor identifier has been used at the website server computer comprises comparing the visitor identifier with existing visitor identifiers within the database.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising tracking pages that the website visitor requests during the same session.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating and customizing a page for the website visitor using the at least one unique browsing environment characteristic associated with the user account of the website visitor.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating and sending a request to the visitor server computer for one or more additional browsing environment characteristics associated with the website visitor, wherein generating the visitor identifier further comprises using the additional browsing environment characteristics associated with the website visitor received from the requesting visitor computer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the web site server computer is configured to generate web pages and the visitor computer is configured to request web pages using a browser, further comprising:

generating a web page request to the web site server computer at the visitor computer, the web page request comprising the at least one unique browsing environment characteristic associated with the user account on the requesting visitor computer of the website visitor.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

storing a history of web pages requested by the website visitor during the tracking session in a database, wherein the storing is performed by the web site server computer.

9. A non-transitory tangible computer readable storage medium storing computer instructions executable by a processor to cause a web site server computer to perform a method comprising:

generating a visitor identifier for a website visitor at a requesting visitor computer using a combination of information from a visitor server computer and the requesting visitor computer, and without using an address of the requesting visitor computer or a cookie, wherein the combination of information includes;

an IP address assigned by or belonging to the visitor server computer; and

at least one unique browsing environment characteristic associated with a user account on the requesting visitor computer of the website visitor, the requesting visitor computer having one or more user accounts; and

determining whether the visitor identifier has been used at the website server computer based in part on the at least one unique browsing environment characteristic associated with the user account on the requesting visitor computer of the website visitor; and

if the visitor identifier has been used at the website server computer, starting session tracking using the visitor identifier;

if the visitor identifier has not been used at the website server computer;

storing the visitor identifier; and

starting session tracking using the visitor identifier.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the requesting visitor computer is shared by a plurality of individual users, wherein each individual user account results in different browsing environment characteristics for each of the plurality of individual users, and wherein at least one browsing environment characteristic is different between the plurality of individual users.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the computer instructions when executed by the processor further cause the computer to transmit the visitor identifier to a database, wherein determining whether the visitor identifier has been used at the website server computer comprises comparing the visitor identifier with existing visitor identifiers within the database.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the computer instructions when executed by the processor further cause the computer to track pages that the website visitor requests during the same session.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the computer instructions when executed by the processor further cause the computer to generate and customize a page for the website visitor using the at least one unique browsing environment characteristic associated with the user account of the website visitor.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the computer instructions when executed by the processor further cause the web site server computer to generate and send a request to the visitor server computer for one or more additional browsing environment characteristics associated with the website visitor;

wherein the visitor identifier is generated using the IP address assigned by or belongs to the visitor server computer and the additional browsing environment characteristics associated with the website visitor.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the computer instructions implement a communication component, a visitor identifier generator component, and a session tracking component at the web site server computer, and wherein:

the communication component receives web page requests from the requesting visitor computer and returns web pages to the requesting visitor computer;

the visitor identifier generator component generates the visitor identifier; and

the session tracking component tracks web pages requested by the requesting visitor computer using the visitor identifier.

16. A system for identifying a website visitor comprising:

a website server computer hosting a website; and

a visitor server computer communicatively coupled to the website server computer over a first network, the visitor server computer being communicatively coupled to a requesting visitor computer over a second network, wherein;

the visitor server computer is programmed with a first software component for sending a combination of information to the website server computer and for preventing transmission of an actual address of the requesting visitor computer, wherein the combination of information includes an IP address assigned by or belonging to the visitor server computer and at least one unique browsing environment characteristic associated with a user account on the requesting visitor computer of the website visitor, the requesting visitor computer having one or more user accounts; and

the website server computer is programmed with a second software component for generating a visitor identifier from the IP address assigned by or belonging to the visitor server computer and the at least one unique browsing environment characteristic associated with the user account of the website visitor without using the actual address of the requesting visitor computer or a cookie;

determining whether the visitor identifier has been used at the website server computer based in part on the at least one unique browsing environment characteristic associated with the user account on the requesting visitor computer of the website visitor; and

if the visitor identifier has been used at the website server computer, starting session tracking using the visitor identifier;

if the visitor identifier has not been used at the website server computer;

storing the visitor identifier; and

starting session tracking using the visitor identifier.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the requesting visitor computer is shared by a plurality of individual users and configured with a plurality of user accounts, wherein each individual user account results in different browsing environment characteristics for each of the plurality of individual users, and wherein at least one characteristic is different between the plurality of individual users.

18. The system of claim 16, further comprising a plurality of requesting visitor computers coupled to the visitor computer, wherein one of the plurality of requesting visitor computers is configured with the user account of the website visitor.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein each of the plurality of requesting visitor computers has its own unique combination of an IP address and browsing environment characteristics.