System and method for filtering non-invasive data collection

• US 20040215511A1
• Filed: 04/28/2003
• Published: 10/28/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Leah, Robert C., Joshi, Niraj P., Ehrich, Nathanael F.
• Granted Patent: US 7,519,704 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search

Abstract

A system and method for filtering non-invasive data collection is presented. A server segments a web page into regions and sends the segmented web page along with a data collector program to a client. The client loads the web page whereupon the data collector program detects a user event corresponding to one of the regions. The data collector program uses one or more collection threshold settings to filter user event data corresponding to the user event. The server receives collected user event data and sends an acknowledgement message to the client whereby indicating that the server received the user event data intact. The server may also adjust one or more collection threshold settings and include the adjusted collection threshold settings in the acknowledgement message.

Claims

1. A method of filtering user event data occurring on a client computer system, said method comprising:

sending a page of data to the client computer system, the page of data divided into a plurality of regions;

transmitting a data collection program to the client computer system, the data collection program adapted to identify user events performed by a user of the client computer system and also adapted to identify a region, selected from the plurality of regions, in which the user events were performed;

identifying one or more filter threshold settings corresponding to the user event; and

filtering user event data based upon the identified filter threshold settings, the user event data including the identified user events and regions.

2. The method as described in claim 1 wherein at least one of the filter threshold settings is selected from the group consisting of a region identifier, an in-region time, an out-of-region time, a mouse click interval, and an event interval.

3. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the data collection program is adapted to filter user event data and wherein the identifying and the filtering are performed at the client computer system.

4. The method as described in claim 3 further comprising:

receiving, from the client computer system, the filtered user event data;

verifying whether the filtered user event data is intact; and

sending an acknowledgement message to the client computer system in response to the verification.

5. The method as described in claim 4 further comprising:

adjusting one or more of the filter threshold settings in response to the receiving; and

including the adjusted filter threshold settings in the acknowledgement message.

6. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the filtering further comprises:

retrieving a location collection flag that corresponds to the identified region, the location collection flag selected from a plurality of location collection flags; and

identifying whether the location collection flag is clear.

7. The method as described in claim 6 further comprising:

retrieving one or more collection threshold settings that correspond to the identified region;

comparing at least one of the collection threshold settings with the user event that corresponds to the identified region; and

clearing the location collection flag in response to the comparing.

8. An information handling system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory accessible by the processors;

one or more nonvolatile storage devices accessible by the processors; and

a data filtering tool to filter user event data occurring on a client computer system, the data filtering tool including;

transmission logic for sending a page of data to the client computer system over a computer network, the page of data divided into a plurality of regions;

transmission logic for transmitting a data collection program to the client computer system over the computer network, the data collection program adapted to identify user events performed by a user of the client computer system and also adapted to identify a region, selected from the plurality of regions, in which the user events were performed;

identification logic for identifying one or more filter threshold settings corresponding to the user event; and

filtering logic for filtering user event data based upon the identified filter threshold settings, the user event data including the identified user events and regions.

9. The information handling system as described in claim 8 wherein at least one of the filter threshold settings is selected from the group consisting of a region identifier, an in-region time, an out-of-region time, a mouse click interval, and an event interval.

10. The information handling system as described in claim 8 wherein the data collection program is adapted to filter user event data and wherein the identifying and the filtering are performed at the client computer system.

11. The information handling system as described in claim 10 further comprising:

reception logic for receiving, from the client computer system, the filtered user event data;

verification logic for verifying whether the filtered user event data is intact; and

transmission logic for sending an acknowledgement message to the client computer system in response to the verification.

12. The information handling system as described in claim 11 further comprising:

adjustment logic for adjusting one or more of the filter threshold settings in response to the receiving; and

combination logic for including the adjusted filter threshold settings in the acknowledgement message.

13. The information handling system as described in claim 8 wherein the filtering further comprises:

retrieval logic for retrieving a location collection flag that corresponds to the identified region, the location collection flag selected from a plurality of location collection flags; and

identification logic for identifying whether the location collection flag is clear.

14. The information handling system as described in claim 13 further comprising:

retrieval logic for retrieving one or more collection threshold settings that correspond to the identified region;

comparison logic for comparing at least one of the collection threshold settings with the user event that corresponds to the identified region; and

clearing logic for clearing the location collection flag in response to the comparing.

15. A computer program product stored on a computer operable media for filtering user event data, said computer program product comprising:

means for sending a page of data to the client computer system, the page of data divided into a plurality of regions;

means for transmitting a data collection program to the client computer system, the data collection program adapted to identify user events performed by a user of the client computer system and also adapted to identify a region, selected from the plurality of regions, in which the user events were performed;

means for identifying one or more filter threshold settings corresponding to the user event; and

means for filtering user event data based upon the identified filter threshold settings, the user event data including the identified user events and regions.

16. The computer program product as described in claim 15 wherein at least one of the filter threshold settings is selected from the group consisting of a region identifier, an in-region time, an out-of-region time, a mouse click interval, and an event interval.

17. The computer program product as described in claim 15 wherein the data collection program is adapted to filter user event data and wherein the identifying and the filtering are performed at the client computer system.

18. The computer program product as described in claim 17 further comprising:

means for receiving, from the client computer system, the filtered user event data;

means for verifying whether the filtered user event data is intact; and

means for sending an acknowledgement message to the client computer system in response to the verification.

19. The computer program product as described in claim 18 further comprising:

means for adjusting one or more of the filter threshold settings in response to the receiving; and

means for including the adjusted filter threshold settings in the acknowledgement message.

20. The computer program product as described in claim 15 wherein the filtering further comprises:

means for retrieving a location collection flag that corresponds to the identified region, the location collection flag selected from a plurality of location collection flags; and

means for identifying whether the location collection flag is clear.

21. The computer program product as described in claim 20 further comprising:

means for retrieving one or more collection threshold settings that correspond to the identified region;

means for comparing at least one of the collection threshold settings with the user event that corresponds to the identified region; and

means for clearing the location collection flag in response to the comparing.

22. A method of filtering user event data occurring on a client computer system, said method comprising:

sending a page of data to the client computer system, the page of data divided into a plurality of regions;

transmitting a data collection program to the client computer system, the data collection program adapted to filter user event data corresponding to user events performed by a user of the client computer system and also adapted to identify a region, selected from the plurality of regions, in which the user events were performed;

receiving, from the client computer system, the filtered user event data;

adjusting one or more filter threshold settings in response to the received filtered user event data; and

sending the adjusted filter threshold settings to the client computer system.

23. A computer program product stored on a computer operable media for filtering user event data, said computer program product comprising:

means for sending a page of data to the client computer system, the page of data divided into a plurality of regions;

means for transmitting a data collection program to the client computer system, the data collection program adapted to filter user event data corresponding to user events performed by a user of the client computer system and also adapted to identify a region, selected from the plurality of regions, in which the user events were performed;

means for receiving, from the client computer system, the filtered user event data;

means for adjusting one or more filter threshold settings in response to the received filtered user event data; and

means for sending the adjusted filter threshold settings to the client computer system.