Dynamically configurable session agent

• US 8,898,275 B2
• Filed: 08/21/2013
• Issued: 11/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Acoustic, L.P.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Wenig, Robert I., Punjabi, Manoj
• Primary Examiner(s): CHEN, ALAN S
• Application Number:
  US13/972,776
• Publication Number:
  US 20130339428A1
• Time in Patent Office: 461 Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3438 monitoring of user actions tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/86 Event-based monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/875 Monitoring of systems including the internet
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/133 Protocols for remote procedure calls [RPC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• 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 monitoring system captures the behavior of distributed applications and also provides a framework for augmenting functionality of the application in response to user interactions and different states of the application and network. Network events exchanged between an application and an application server are captured and the local client events on the client device are also selectively captured. The different disparate network events and client events are then combined together during a replay operation to simulate the user experience during the previous application session.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

capturing, by a computing device, events from a web session;

sending, by the computing device, the events to a server, wherein the events identify a state of the web session;

receiving, by the computing device, feedback instructions back from the server, wherein the feedback instructions are based on the state of the web session;

capturing, by the computing device, at least some different events from the web session based on the feedback instructions; and

sending the different events to the server for replaying at least some of the web session.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device operates remotely from the server.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

sending, by the computing device, the events over a network connection to the server; and

receiving, by the computing device, the feedback instructions over the network connection from the server.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the feedback instructions are configured to change which sections of screen images are captured by the computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending time stamps to the server identifying a sequence for the events during the web session, wherein the feedback instructions are based on the sequence for the events.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising buffering at least some of the events during the web session based on the feedback instructions.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising sending the buffered events to the server or discarding the buffered events based on the feedback instructions.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing incentives for completing a transaction based on the feedback instructions.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein multiple feedback agents are loaded onto multiple clients and the feedback agents are configured to capture different percentages of the events from different web sessions based on the feedback instructions.

10. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program code embodied wherewith, the program code readable/executable by a computer to perform a method comprising:

detecting a first set of client events during an application session;

sending the first set of client events to a web server, wherein the first set of client events identify a state in the application session;

receiving feedback instructions back from the web server, wherein the feedback instructions are based on the state in the application session;

capturing a second set of client events during the application session based on the feedback instructions received back from the web server; and

sending the second set of client events to the web server.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein:

the first set of client events comprise a first set of user inputs and screen images; and

the second set of client events comprise a second different set of user inputs and screen images.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising:

storing screen images in a local buffer; and

sending, deleting, or maintaining the screen images in the local buffer based on the feedback instructions.

13. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising:

assigning time stamps to the first set of client events identifying an order of the first set of client events during the application sessions; and

sending the time stamps to the web server, wherein the feedback instructions are based on the order of the first set of client events.

14. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein:

the first set of client events and the second set of client events are captured by an agent operating on the computer; and

the web server is located remotely from the computer.

15. A computing device, comprising:

a processor configured to;

capture events from an application session, wherein the events identify at least some stages of the application session;

send the events to a server;

receive feedback instructions back from the server, wherein the feedback instructions are based on the stages of the application session and control at least some capture operations performed by the processor during the application session;

capture at least some different events from the application session based on the feedback instructions; and

send the different events to the server for replaying at least some of the application session using the events and the different events.

16. The computing device according to claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to vary an amount of the events captured during the application session based on a transaction completion rate associated with the application session.

17. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to store the events in a local buffer and send, delete, or maintain the events in the local buffer based on a communication bandwidth available for transmitting the events to the server.

18. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to store the events in a local buffer and send, delete, or maintain the events in the local buffer based on the feedback instructions received back from the server.

19. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to capture different sections of screen images displayed in the application session based on the feedback instructions.

20. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to send time stamps to the server identifying a sequence for the events during the application session and the feedback instructions are based on the sequence for the events.