Browser activity replay with advanced navigation

• US 9,609,075 B1
• Filed: 09/21/2015
• Issued: 03/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2015
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Brooks, Damie L., Maddali, Lalith K., Punjabi, Manoj, Singh, Sukhbir
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Faber, David
• Application Number:
  US14/859,400
• Publication Number:
  US 20170083485A1
• Time in Patent Office: 554 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/34 Recording or statistical evaluation of computer activity, e.g. of down time, of input/output operation ; Recording or statistical evaluation of user activity, e.g. usability assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3414 Workload generation, e.g. scripts, playback
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3438 monitoring of user actions tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9562 Bookmark management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/875 Monitoring of systems including the internet
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

Aspects include capturing and replaying activities conducted during a web browsing session. Activities conducted by a user via browser application at a website are received at a computer processor. The activities occur across multiple web pages and span multiple windows during a single browsing session. The activities associated with corresponding web pages, and the activities are ordered in chronological order for each of the web pages. User interface events corresponding to the ordered activities are displayed via a browser based interface. The user interface events are selectable by an end user of the browser based interface.

Claims

1. A method for capturing and replaying activities conducted during a web browsing session, the method comprising:

receiving, by a computer processor, the activities conducted by a user via a browser application at a website, the activities occurring across multiple web pages and spanning multiple windows during the web browsing session, wherein the receiving includes receiving messages including load messages and unload messages with respect to the activities, the load messages including load events indicating loading of the web pages and the unloaded messages including unload events indicating unloading of the web pages;

associating the activities with corresponding web pages;

ordering the activities in chronological order for each of the web pages;

displaying, via a browser based interface, user interface events corresponding to the ordered activities, the user interface events selectable by an end user of the browser based interface, wherein the displaying, via the browser based interface, the user interface events includes presenting the user interface events in a navigation list via the browser based interface and displaying the load and unload events in chronological order of occurrence; and

upon receiving a selected user interface event, determining a number of active windows that are active at the time the activities were captured, the determining implemented by traversing upward in the navigation list and identifying each load message that does not have a matching unload message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the activities span multiple tabs across the multiple web pages, and the associating includes associating the activities spanning the multiple tabs with corresponding tabs.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the activities include one or more of scrolling through a web page, selecting a tab, selecting a link on the web page, advancing to a different web page, returning to a previous web page, logging in to a web site, logging out of a web site, entering data into a form, or creating a message.

4. The method of claim of claim 1, wherein each message includes a respective timestamp indicating when a corresponding activity of the activities occurred, wherein the activities are ordered based on each respective timestamp.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the displaying further includes:

creating hypertext markup language (HTML) popup windows with iframes pointing to a most recent replay of each active window; and

overlaying the popup windows on top of each other with an ordered index of the popup windows, to indicate most recent activities on each active window.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected user interface event is a first user interface event, and wherein the displaying further includes:

displaying the active windows as tabs;

receiving a selection of a second user interface event associated with a particular tab; and

presenting a replay of an active window corresponding to the second user interface event.

7. A computer system for capturing and replaying activities conducted during a web browsing session, the computer system comprising:

a memory having computer readable instructions; and

a processor configured to execute the computer readable instructions to;

receive the activities conducted by a user via a browser application at a website, the activities occurring across multiple web pages and spanning multiple windows during the web browsing session, wherein the receiving includes receiving messages including load messages and unload messages with respect to the activities, the load messages including load events indicating loading of the web pages and the unloaded messages including unload events indicating unloading of the web pages;

associating the activities with corresponding web pages;

ordering the activities in chronological order for each of the web pages;

displaying, via a browser based interface, user interface events corresponding to the ordered activities, the user interface events selectable by an end user of the browser based interface, wherein the displaying, via the browser based interface, the user interface events includes presenting the user interface events in a navigation list via the browser based interface and displaying the load and unload events in chronological order of occurrence; and

upon receiving a selected user interface event, determining a number of active windows that are active at the time the activities were captured, the determining implemented by traversing upward in the navigation list and identifying each load message that does not have a matching unload message.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the activities span multiple tabs across the multiple web pages, and the associating includes associating the activities spanning the multiple tabs with corresponding tabs.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the activities include one or more of scrolling through a web page, selecting a tab, selecting a link on the web page, advancing to a different web page, returning to a previous web page, logging in to a web site, logging out of a web site, entering data into a form, or creating a message.

10. The system of claim of claim 7, wherein each message includes a respective timestamp indicating when a corresponding activity of the activities occurred, wherein the activities are ordered based on each respective timestamp.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the displaying further includes:

creating hypertext markup language (HTML) popup windows with iframes pointing to a most recent replay of each active window; and

overlaying the popup windows on top of each other with an ordered index of the popup windows, to indicate most recent activities on each active window.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the selected user interface event is a first user interface event, and wherein the displaying further includes:

displaying the active windows as tabs;

receiving a selection of a second user interface event associated with a particular tab; and

presenting a replay of an active window corresponding to the second user interface event.

13. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

receiving the activities conducted by a user via a browser application at a website, the activities occurring across multiple web pages and spanning multiple windows during the web browsing session, wherein the receiving includes receiving messages including load messages and unload messages with respect to the activities, the load messages including load events indicating loading of the web pages and the unloaded messages including unload events indicating unloading of the web pages;

associating the activities with corresponding web pages;

ordering the activities in chronological order for each of the web pages;

displaying, via a browser based interface, user interface events corresponding to the ordered activities, the user interface events selectable by an end user of the browser based interface, wherein the displaying, via the browser based interface, the user interface events includes presenting the user interface events in a navigation list via the browser based interface and displaying the load and unload events in chronological order of occurrence; and

upon receiving a selected user interface event, determining a number of active windows that are active at the time the activities were captured, the determining implemented by traversing upward in the navigation list and identifying each load message that does not have a matching unload message.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the activities span multiple tabs across the multiple web pages, and the associating includes associating the activities spanning the multiple tabs with corresponding tabs.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the activities include one or more of scrolling through a web page, selecting a tab, selecting a link on the web page, advancing to a different web page, returning to a previous web page, logging in to a web site, logging out of a web site, entering data into a form, or creating a message.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein each message includes a respective timestamp indicating when a corresponding activity of the activities occurred, wherein the activities are ordered based on each respective timestamp.