Method and apparatus for intelligent capture of document object model events

• US 8,868,533 B2
• Filed: 03/13/2012
• Issued: 10/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Acoustic, L.P.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Powell, Travis Spence, Caspi, Nadav, Singhania, Ashwin, Wenig, Robert I.
• Primary Examiner(s): CHEN, ALAN S
• Application Number:
  US13/419,179
• Publication Number:
  US 20120173966A1
• Time in Patent Office: 952 Days
• US Class Current: 707/705
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/194 Calculation of difference between files
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/00 Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/028 by filtering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms

Abstract

A monitoring system intelligently captures Document Object Model (DOM) events. The DOM events may provide state information that may not usually be captured during a web session. To reduce processing bandwidth, content identifiers may be used to represent some DOM events. Checkpoints may be identified during the web session and a current state of the webpage may be captured to provide replay synchronization. Different data may be captured based on a sequence and timing of the DOM events during the original web session. Data exchanged with third party websites also may be selectively captured to provide a more through simulation of the original web session.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

monitoring, by a processing device, a web session;

detecting, by the processing device, a webpage displayed during the web session;

identifying, by the processing device, changes in a first set of content within the webpage, wherein the first set of content within the webpage was previously archived;

identifying, by the processing device, content identifiers associated with the first set of content within the webpage

archiving, by the processing device, the content identifiers associated with the first set of content within the webpage;

identifying, by the processing device, changes in a second set of content within the webpage, wherein the second set of content was not previously archived and not represented by associated content identifiers; and

archiving, by the processing device, a copy of the second set of content within the webpage, wherein the web session is replayed by using the content identifiers as indexes for identifying and displaying the previously archived first set of content with the copy of the second set of content.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

configuring an agent to monitor for the changes in the webpage; and

configuring the agent to send the content identifiers representing the the first set of content in the webpage to an archive server.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying actions, time stamps, and locations associated with the content identifiers; and

archiving the actions, times, and locations with the associated content identifiers.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying metadata for the webpage; and

determining which changes in the webpage to capture and archive based on the metadata for the webpage.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying network events for the web session;

identifying websites associated with the network events; and

capturing the changes in the webpage based on the websites associated with the network events.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the websites comprise a primary website providing the webpage and third party websites providing content for the webpage.

7. An apparatus, comprising:

logic circuitry configured to;

monitor a webpage;

detect changes in content items within the webpage;

identify a first set of the content items that were previously stored and associated with identifier values;

capture the identifier values as a first part of a captured web session;

identify a second set of the content items that were not previously stored and not associated identifier values; and

copy the second set of content items as a second part of the captured web session.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the logic circuit is further configured to:

replay the web session by using the identifier values as indexes for identifying the previously stored first set of content items and displaying the previously stored first set of content items with the second set of copied content items.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the logic circuitry is further configured to use a JavaScript object to identify the identifier values for the changes in the first set of content items within the webpage.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the logic circuitry is further configured to:

identify a sequence of events for the web session; and

determine which changes in the webpage to capture based on the sequence of events for the web session.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the logic circuitry is further configured to:

identify a checkpoint event for the web session; and

copy all of the content items within the webpage in response to identifying the checkpoint event.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the logic circuitry is further configured to:

identify metadata in the webpage; and

determine which changes in the webpage to capture and archive based on the metadata in the webpage.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the logic circuitry is further configured to:

identify actions, time stamps, and locations associated with the identifier values; and

archive the actions, times, and locations with the associated identifier values.

14. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the logic circuitry is further configured to:

monitor events for the web session;

send the events to a session analyzer;

receive a control message back from the session analyzer, wherein the control message is based on the events; and

capture changes in the webpage based on the control message.

15. A method, comprising:

archiving, by a processing device, content for a webpage in a reference table;

receiving, by the processing device, content identifier values associated with the content for the webpage displayed during a web session;

archiving, by the processing device, the content identifier values as web session data;

using, by the processing device, the content identifier values in the web session data as indexes for identifying the associated content for the webpage in the reference table; and

replaying, by the processing device, the web session by displaying from the reference table the content for the webpage identified by the content identifier values.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving content identifiers identifying changes in the webpage; and

archiving the content identifiers instead of the associated changes.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

monitoring webpage events during the web session;

identifying changes in the webpage to capture based on the webpage events; and

sending a control message directing an agent to capture the identified changes.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving metadata for the webpage;

identifying changes in the webpage to capture based on the metadata; and

sending control message directing an agent to capture the identified changes.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving timestamps associated with changes in the webpage; and

archiving the timestamps associated with the changes for subsequent replaying of the web session.

20. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

monitoring events during the web session;

identifying a checkpoint based on the events; and

initiating capture of the entire webpage in response to identifying the checkpoint.