Method and system for identifying website visitors
First Claim
1. A method of identifying a website visitor, comprising:
- at a server computer associated with a network site in a first computing environment, receiving from a second computing environment a server computer address and an end user computer characteristic, the end user computer characteristic comprising a unique hardware or firmware configuration of a device;
the server computer in the first computing environment generating a visitor identifier using the server computer address, the end user computer characteristic from the second computing environment, and at least one unique browsing environment characteristic associated with a user account on the device; and
the server computer in the first computing environment utilizing the visitor identifier to determine whether a user in the second computing environment associated with the user account on the device has visited the network site.
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Accused Products
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.
98 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of identifying a website visitor, comprising:
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at a server computer associated with a network site in a first computing environment, receiving from a second computing environment a server computer address and an end user computer characteristic, the end user computer characteristic comprising a unique hardware or firmware configuration of a device; the server computer in the first computing environment generating a visitor identifier using the server computer address, the end user computer characteristic from the second computing environment, and at least one unique browsing environment characteristic associated with a user account on the device; and the server computer in the first computing environment utilizing the visitor identifier to determine whether a user in the second computing environment associated with the user account on the device has visited the network site. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions translatable by at least one processor to cause a server computer in a first computing environment to perform:
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receiving from a second computing environment a server computer address and an end user computer characteristic, the end user computer characteristic comprising a unique hardware or firmware configuration of a device; generating a visitor identifier using the server computer address, the end user computer characteristic from the second computing environment, and at least one unique browsing environment characteristic associated with a user account on the device; and utilizing the visitor identifier to determine whether a user in the second computing environment associated with the user account on the device has visited a network site associated with the server computer in the first computing environment. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A system for identifying a website visitor comprising:
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at least one processor; and at least one non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions translatable by the at least one processor to cause a server computer in a first computing environment to perform; receiving from a second computing environment a server computer address and an end user computer characteristic, the end user computer characteristic comprising a unique hardware or firmware configuration of a device; generating a visitor identifier using the server computer address, the end user computer characteristic from the second computing environment, and at least one unique browsing environment characteristic associated with a user account on the device; and utilizing the visitor identifier to determine whether a user in the second computing environment associated with the user account on the device has visited a network site associated with the server computer in the first computing environment. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification