Consolidating event data from different sources

• US 9,154,539 B2
• Filed: 03/21/2011
• Issued: 10/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Balasubramanian, Viswanathan, Gonzalez, Miguel A., Assadi, Gholamreza
• Primary Examiner(s): Mahmoudi, Tony
• Assistant Examiner(s): PHAN, TUANKHANH D
• Application Number:
  US13/052,714
• Publication Number:
  US 20120246200A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,660 Days
• Field of Search: 707/809, 707600-694
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/552 involving long-term monitoring or reporting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2151 Time stamp
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/146 Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

Networked application event data associated with a session of a networked application is identified and provided to an event data collection system in one format. Web service event data associated with an event of a Web service and also associated with the session is also identified and provided to another event data collection system in another format. The networked application event data and the Web service event data associated with the session identifier are merged into a consolidated storage of event data in a common format.

Claims

1. A method implemented in one or more devices, the method comprising:

receiving, in a first format from a networked application instrumentation module, networked application event data associated with an event of a networked application corresponding to the networked application instrumentation module, the networked application event data also being associated with a session identifier of a session of the networked application;

receiving, in a second format from a Web service instrumentation module, Web service event data associated with an event of a Web service corresponding to the Web service instrumentation module, the Web service event data also being associated with the session identifier, the second format being a different format than the first format; and

merging, into a consolidated storage of event data in a common format comprising text, the networked application event data and the Web service event data associated with the session identifier, including storing;

a value from the networked application event data under a Web service event data name;

or

a value from the Web service event data under a networked application event data name.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first format includes receiving the networked application data via an unsecure communication channel, and the second format includes receiving the Web service event data via a secure communication channel.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the Web service event data includes data previously received from the user as part of establishing an account with the Web service.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the networked application instrumentation module identifies event data associated with first events, the Web service instrumentation module identifies event data associated with second events, the first events and second events being different events.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the networked application comprises a client application running on one of the one or more devices.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the networked application comprises a Web application running in a Web browser of one of the one or more devices.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, the session identifier having been provided to the Web service by the networked application.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising converting the networked application event data received in the first format into the common format, and converting the Web service event data received in the second format to the common format.

9. A method as recited in claim 8, the common format comprising name-value pairs in which for networked application event data the name is an identifier of the networked application event data and the value is the networked application event data, and for Web service event data the name is an identifier of the Web service event data and the value is the Web service event data.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, in a third format from an additional Web service instrumentation module, additional Web service event data associated with an event of an additional Web service corresponding to the additional Web service instrumentation module, the additional Web service event data also being associated with the session identifier, the third format being different from the first format and the second format; and

the merging further comprising merging, into the consolidated storage of event data in the common format, the additional Web service event data associated with the session identifier.

11. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, in the second format from an additional Web service instrumentation module, additional Web service event data associated with an event of an additional Web service corresponding to the additional Web service instrumentation module, the additional Web service event data also being associated with the session identifier; and

the merging further comprising merging, into the consolidated storage of event data in the common format, the additional Web service event data associated with the session identifier.

12. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising supporting adding additional instrumentation modules identifying additional events, and the merging comprising merging, into the consolidated storage of event data in the common format, event data associated with the additional events.

13. One or more computer hardware storage media having stored thereon multiple instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of one or more devices, cause the one or more processors to:

identify networked application event data associated with a session of a networked application;

associate, in at least one of the one or more devices, a session identifier of the session with the networked application event data;

provide, to a first event data collection system, the networked application event data and associated session identifier;

provide, to a Web service, the session identifier in response to a user request to access the Web service;

continue to provide the networked application event data and associated session identifier to the first event data collection system while the Web service provides Web service event data to a second event data collection system; and

consolidate the networked application event data and Web service event data in a third event data collection system when the networked application event data and the Web service event data are associated with a same session identifier by at least;

associating an item of the networked application event data with a Web service event, the item of the networked application event data not previously included in Web service event data associated with the Web service event; and

associating an item of the Web service event data with a networked application event, the item of the Web service event data not previously included in networked application event data associated with the networked application event.

14. One or more computer hardware storage media as recited in claim 13, the multiple instructions further causing the one or more processors to provide, as associated with the networked application event data, a timestamp of when an event associated with the networked application event data occurred.

15. One or more computer hardware storage media as recited in claim 13, the networked application event data excluding an identifier of a user of the networked application.

16. One or more computer hardware storage media as recited in claim 13, wherein the networked application comprises a client application running on one of the one or more devices.

17. One or more computer hardware storage media as recited in claim 13, wherein the networked application comprises a Web application running in a Web browser of one of the one or more devices.

18. One or more computer hardware storage media as recited in claim 13, the multiple instructions further causing the one or more processors to determine, after a threshold amount of time of inactivity of the networked application is detected, that the session ends, that a new session begins, and that a new session identifier is to be assigned to the new session.

19. One or more computer hardware storage media as recited in claim 13, the multiple instructions further causing the one or more processors to continue to provide the networked application event data to the event data collection system despite having no knowledge of the Web service event data being provided by the Web service.

20. A method implemented in one or more devices, the method comprising:

receiving, in a first format from a networked application instrumentation module and at a networked application event data collection system implemented by at least one of the one or more devices, networked application event data and both a session identifier of a current session of a networked application when a first event corresponding to the networked application event data occurred and a timestamp indicating when the first event occurred;

receiving, in a second format from a Web service instrumentation module and at a Web service event data collection system implemented by at least one of the one or more devices, Web service event data and both the session identifier of the current session of the networked application when a second event corresponding to the Web service event data occurred and a timestamp of when the second event occurred, the session identifier having been received by the Web service from the networked application, the second format being a different format than the first format;

merging the networked application event data and the Web service event data associated with the session identifier into a consolidated storage of event data, the consolidated storage using a common name-value pair format in which for the networked application event data the name is an identifier of the networked application event data and the value is the networked application event data, and for the Web service event data the name is an identifier of the Web service event data and the value is the Web service event data; and

enabling sharing of the networked application event data and the Web service event data in the consolidated storage, such that;

a value from the networked application event data may be stored under a Web service event data name; and

a value from the Web service event data may be stored under a networked application event data name.

21. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

memory storing instructions that, responsive to execution by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving, in a first format from a networked application instrumentation module, networked application event data associated with an event of a networked application corresponding to the networked application instrumentation module, the networked application event data also being associated with a session identifier of a session of the networked application;

receiving, in a second format from a Web service instrumentation module, Web service event data associated with an event of a Web service corresponding to the Web service instrumentation module, the Web service event data also being associated with the session identifier, the second format being a different format than the first format; and

merging, into a consolidated storage of event data in a common format comprising text, the networked application event data and the Web service event data associated with the session identifier, including storing;

a value from the networked application event data under a Web service event data name;

or

a value from the Web service event data under a networked application event data name.

22. A system as recited in claim 21, wherein the networked application comprises a client application.

23. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

memory storing instructions that, responsive to execution by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

identifying networked application event data associated with a session of a networked application;

associating, in at least one of the one or more devices, a session identifier of the session with the networked application event data;

providing, to a first event data collection system, the networked application event data and associated session identifier;

providing, to a Web service, the session identifier in response to a user request to access the Web service;

continuing to provide the networked application event data and associated session identifier to the first event data collection system while the Web service provides Web service event data to a second event data collection system; and

consolidating the networked application event data and Web service event data in a third event data collection system when the networked application event data and the Web service event data are associated with a same session identifier by at least;

associating an item of the networked application event data with a Web service event, the item of the networked application event data not previously included in Web service event data associated with the Web service event; and

associating an item of the Web service event data with a networked application event, the item of the Web service event data not previously included in networked application event data associated with the networked application event.

24. A system as recited in claim 23, wherein the networked application comprises a client application.

25. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

memory storing instructions that, responsive to execution by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving, in a first format from a networked application instrumentation module and at a networked application event data collection system implemented by at least one of the one or more devices, networked application event data and both a session identifier of a current session of a networked application when a first event corresponding to the networked application event data occurred and a timestamp indicating when the first event occurred;

receiving, in a second format from a Web service instrumentation module and at a Web service event data collection system implemented by at least one of the one or more devices, Web service event data and both the session identifier of the current session of the networked application when a second event corresponding to the Web service event data occurred and a timestamp of when the second event occurred, the session identifier having been received by the Web service from the networked application, the second format being a different format than the first format;

merging the networked application event data and the Web service event data associated with the session identifier into a consolidated storage of event data, the consolidated storage using a common name-value pair format in which for the networked application event data the name is an identifier of the networked application event data and the value is the networked application event data, and for the Web service event data the name is an identifier of the Web service event data and the value is the Web service event data; and

enabling sharing of the networked application event data and the Web service event data in the consolidated storage, such that;

a value from the networked application event data may be stored under a Web service event data name; and

a value from the Web service event data may be stored under a networked application event data name.

26. A system as recited in claim 25, wherein the networked application comprises a client application.