Affiliate investigation system and method
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for identifying an affiliate ID associated with an advertisement for an e-commerce merchant website, the advertisement comprising a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) referring to a target resource that is not part of the e-commerce merchant website, the method comprising:
- determining, by the computer, that the URI does not include an affiliate ID; and
consequentlydetermining whether said affiliate ID has been hidden by a rogue affiliate by analyzing, by the computer, a redirect chain corresponding to the target resource by iteratively performing a resource-processing sub-method comprising steps i-vi until said affiliate ID is identified;
i) comparing the URI to some or all of a plurality of patterns corresponding to a respective plurality of trusted URIs referring to trusted resources provided by at least one of a trusted affiliate network, a trusted advertising-management service, a trusted advertisement-tracking service, and the e-commerce merchant; and
determining that said target resource is a known-trusted resource when the URI matches at least one of said plurality of patterns;
ii) selecting a request method from a group comprising a trusted-resource request method and a non-trusted-resource request method, said request method being selected from said group according to whether said target resource is determined to be a known-trusted resource;
iii) requesting the target resource according to said selected request method;
iv) receiving a response corresponding to the requested target resource;
v) determining whether said response indicates a redirect to a redirect URI; and
vi) when said response indicates said redirect to said redirect URI, repeating at least steps i-vi to process said redirect URI unless said redirect URI includes said affiliate ID, in which case, associating said affiliate ID with the advertisement in an affiliate-tracking database.
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0 Petitions
Reexamination
Accused Products
Abstract
Given an advertisement placed by a rogue affiliate that takes steps to hide its affiliate ID from affiliate investigators, the affiliate ID may be identified using a step-wise link follower to process the advertisement'"'"'s target URIs. For each redirection step inclusively between the original target URI and the ultimate destination URI, the current URI is analyzed and requested according to either a trusted request method or a non-trusted request method depending on whether the resource to which the URI refers is known to be a trusted resource. The non-trusted request method is designed to thwart the rogue affiliate'"'"'s efforts to identify an affiliate investigator as the source of the request.
41 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for identifying an affiliate ID associated with an advertisement for an e-commerce merchant website, the advertisement comprising a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) referring to a target resource that is not part of the e-commerce merchant website, the method comprising:
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determining, by the computer, that the URI does not include an affiliate ID; and
consequentlydetermining whether said affiliate ID has been hidden by a rogue affiliate by analyzing, by the computer, a redirect chain corresponding to the target resource by iteratively performing a resource-processing sub-method comprising steps i-vi until said affiliate ID is identified; i) comparing the URI to some or all of a plurality of patterns corresponding to a respective plurality of trusted URIs referring to trusted resources provided by at least one of a trusted affiliate network, a trusted advertising-management service, a trusted advertisement-tracking service, and the e-commerce merchant; and
determining that said target resource is a known-trusted resource when the URI matches at least one of said plurality of patterns;ii) selecting a request method from a group comprising a trusted-resource request method and a non-trusted-resource request method, said request method being selected from said group according to whether said target resource is determined to be a known-trusted resource; iii) requesting the target resource according to said selected request method; iv) receiving a response corresponding to the requested target resource; v) determining whether said response indicates a redirect to a redirect URI; and vi) when said response indicates said redirect to said redirect URI, repeating at least steps i-vi to process said redirect URI unless said redirect URI includes said affiliate ID, in which case, associating said affiliate ID with the advertisement in an affiliate-tracking database. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon instructions including instructions that, when executed by a processor, configure the processor to:
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a) determine that the URI does not include an affiliate ID; and
consequentlydetermine whether said affiliate ID has been hidden by a rogue affiliate by analyzing a redirect chain corresponding to the target resource by further configuring the processor to iteratively perform at least steps i-vi until said affiliate ID is identified; i) compare the URI to some or all of a plurality of patterns corresponding to a respective plurality of trusted URIs referring to trusted resources provided by at least one of a trusted affiliate network, a trusted advertising-management service, a trusted advertisement-tracking service, and the e-commerce merchant; and
determine that said target resource is a known-trusted resource when the URI matches at least one of said plurality of patterns;ii) select a request method from a group comprising a trusted-resource request method and a non-trusted-resource request method, said request method being selected from said group according to whether said target resource is determined to be a known-trusted resource; iii) request the target resource according to said selected request method; iv) receive a response corresponding to the requested target resource; v) determine whether said response indicates a redirect to a redirect URI; and vi) when said response indicates said redirect to said redirect URI, repeat at least steps i-iv to process said redirect URI unless said redirect URI includes said affiliate ID, in which case, associating said affiliate ID with the advertisement in an affiliate-tracking database.
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17. A computing apparatus for identifying an affiliate ID associated with an advertisement for an e-commerce merchant website, the advertisement comprising a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) referring to a target resource that is not part of the e-commerce merchant website, the apparatus comprising a processor and a memory storing instructions including instructions that, when executed by the processor, configure the apparatus to perform at least steps a-c:
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a) determine that the URI does not include an affiliate ID; and
consequentlydetermine whether said affiliate ID has been hidden by a rogue affiliate by analyzing a redirect chain corresponding to the target resource by further configuring the apparatus to iteratively perform at least steps i-vi until said affiliate ID is identified; i) compare the URI to some or all of a plurality of patterns corresponding to a respective plurality of trusted URIs referring to trusted resources provided by at least one of a trusted affiliate network, a trusted advertising-management service, a trusted advertisement-tracking service, and the e-commerce merchant; and
determine that said target resource is a known-trusted resource when the URI matches at least one of said plurality of patterns;ii) select a request method from a group comprising a trusted-resource request method and a non-trusted-resource request method, said request method being selected from said group according to whether said target resource is determined to be a known-trusted resource; iii) request the target resource according to said selected request method; iv) receive a response corresponding to the requested target resource; v) determine whether said response indicates a redirect to a redirect URI; and vi) when said response indicates said redirect to said redirect URI, repeat at least steps to i-iv process said redirect URI unless said redirect URI includes said affiliate ID, in which case, associating said affiliate ID with the advertisement in an affiliate-tracking database.
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Specification