Mobile or user device authentication and tracking

• US 8,756,657 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2009
• Issued: 06/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Bijlsma, Lolke
• Primary Examiner(s): LEE, JASON T
• Application Number:
  US12/569,711
• Publication Number:
  US 20110078762A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,722 Days
• Field of Search: 726/3, 726/5, 709/223, 705/30, 713/176
• US Class Current: 726/3
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication

Abstract

A system and method, according to one or more embodiments, includes a server computing device configured to communicate with a network-based device via a network; a visitor identification, in which the system generates the visitor identification and the visitor identification corresponds to a piece of information that is unique to the network-based device; a mapping for which the system adds the generated visitor identification to the mapping so that the visitor identification uniquely identifies the network-based device from all other network-based devices in communication with the server computing device; and a database in which the system tracks the visitor identification among a plurality of visitor identifications in the database.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a server computing device configured to communicate with a network-based device via a network;

a visitor identification, wherein;

the system generates the visitor identification; and

the visitor identification corresponds to a piece of information that is unique to the network-based device;

a mapping table, wherein;

the system generates a mapping for which the visitor identification uniquely identifies the network-based device by, in response to determining that the uniquely identifying user device information is not mapped to a specific visitor identification, adding the generated visitor identification to the mapping table so that the visitor identification serves as a database key for tracking the network-based device by uniquely identifying the network-based device from all other network-based devices in communication with the server computing device; and

a database, wherein;

the system tracks the visitor identification among a plurality of visitor identifications in the database including;

storing a tracking data in the database so that the tracking data is keyed to the visitor identification, wherein the tracking data includes a purchase information for purchases made with the network-based device;

retrieving the tracking data for the network-based device, using the mapping for which the visitor identification uniquely identifies the network-based device and using the visitor identification as a key to find the tracking data; and

interacting with a user of the network-based device including providing a purchase recommendation based on the purchase information included in the retrieved tracking data.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a web server configured to send and receive information between the network and the server computing device.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an application programming interface (API) associated with a financial service provider.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein:

the information unique to the network-based device is transmitted to the server computing device in response to use of an API call.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the server computing device is an application server; and

the application server executes a tracking application.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a database server that provides the server computing device access to the database.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the visitor identification is generated so that the visitor identification is distinct from each of a plurality of visitor identifications stored in the system.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the visitor identification is generated based on the information that is unique to the network-based device.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the visitor identification is generated so that the visitor identification uniquely corresponds to the information that is unique to the network-based device.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the visitor identification is generated so that the visitor identification uniquely corresponds to the network-based device.

11. A method comprising:

gathering at least one piece of uniquely identifying user device information from a network-based device, wherein the uniquely identifying user device information is transmitted from the network-based device in response to the use of an application programming interface (API) call of a financial service provider on the network-based device;

checking whether the uniquely identifying user device information is mapped to a visitor identification by searching a database to determine whether the uniquely identifying user device information is already included in a mapping table;

authenticating the network-based device in response to determining that the uniquely identifying user device information is already included in the mapping table and mapped to a specific visitor identification;

generating a mapping for which the visitor identification uniquely identifies the network-based device by, in response to determining that the uniquely identifying user device information is not mapped to a specific visitor identification, generating a new visitor identification and adding the new visitor identification to the mapping, wherein;

the new visitor identification uniquely corresponds to the uniquely identifying user device information; and

the new visitor identification is added to the mapping by storing the uniquely identifying user device information along with the new visitor identification in the database;

storing a tracking data in the database so that the tracking data is keyed to the visitor identification, wherein the tracking data includes a purchase information for purchases made with the network-based device;

retrieving the tracking data for the network-based device, using the mapping for which the visitor identification uniquely identifies the network-based device and using the visitor identification as a key to find the tracking data; and

interacting with a user of the network-based device including providing a purchase recommendation based on the purchase information included in the retrieved tracking data.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

tracking the authenticated network-based device.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

interacting with a user based on data retrieved from the database using the specific visitor identification as a key.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein:

checking whether the uniquely identifying user device information is mapped to a visitor identification comprises searching a database table for a match to any of the uniquely identifying user device information.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein:

authenticating the network-based device comprises determining a mapped visitor identification from the database in response to finding a match to any of the uniquely identifying user device information.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein:

generating the new visitor identification comprises generating the visitor identification based on the uniquely identifying user device information.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein:

adding the new visitor identification to the mapping comprises storing the uniquely identifying user device information along with the generated visitor identification in a row of a database table.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein:

tracking the authenticated network-based device comprises retrieving information from the database using the specific visitor identification as a key.

19. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having computer readable and executable code for instructing a processor to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving uniquely identifying user device information transmitted from a network-based device in response to the use of an API call of a financial service provider on the network-based device;

checking whether the uniquely identifying user device information is mapped to a visitor identification by searching a database to determine whether the uniquely identifying user device information is already included in a mapping table;

authenticating the network-based device in response to determining that the uniquely identifying user device information is already included in the mapping table and mapped to a specific visitor identification;

generating a mapping for which the visitor identification uniquely identifies the network-based device by, in response to determining that the uniquely identifying user device information is not mapped to a specific visitor identification, generating a new visitor identification and adding the new visitor identification to the mapping, wherein;

the new visitor identification uniquely corresponds to the uniquely identifying user device information; and

the new visitor identification is added to the mapping by storing the uniquely identifying user device information along with the new visitor identification in the database,

storing a tracking data in the database so that the tracking data is keyed to the visitor identification, wherein the tracking data includes a purchase information for purchases made with the network-based device;

retrieving the tracking data for the network-based device, using the mapping for which the visitor identification uniquely identifies the network-based device and using the visitor identification as a key to find the tracking data; and

interacting with a user of the network-based device including providing a purchase recommendation based on the purchase information included in the retrieved tracking data.