Professional time tracking and reporting system

• US 7,222,293 B1
• Filed: 08/11/2000
• Issued: 05/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AppliedE, Inc.
• Original Assignee: AppliedE, Inc.
• Inventors: Winwood, Mark, Zapiec, Charles J., Greenberg, Daniel A.
• Primary Examiner(s): RUDY, ANDREW J
• Application Number:
  US09/636,448
• Time in Patent Office: 2,475 Days
• Field of Search: 705/32, 705/9, 379/114.03, 455/406, 709/203, 709/223, 709/224, 709/229, 713/193, 715/503, 715/762
• US Class Current: 715/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3419 by assessing time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3438 monitoring of user actions tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/875 Monitoring of systems including the internet
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1091 Recording time for administrative or management purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1439 time-based
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

An apparatus and a method for tracking time spent on one or more Internet sites. The tracked information may then be used to generate detailed records containing the Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) of the sites visited, the exact time spent on each site, and a record of any downloads, file transfers, or other activities performed by the user. One or more reports may be generated from the detailed records and list the activity by each user, tabulating the web site accessed and the time spent on that web site. This information may then be utilized to generate an invoice for the work performed. The reports may be generated are stored electronically, and may be accessed by an invoicing program which uses stored hourly rates in conjunction with the information in the report to generate a detailed invoice for the client. The invention may be deployed on a personal computer, and enabled by a service operator who provides the time tracking and recouping system (e.g., a software means).

Claims

1. A method of automatically recording Internet activity performed by a user on behalf of a client of the user, comprising:

initiating, by the user, a client session by opening an Internet browser window;

denying user access to the Internet;

automatically prompting the user for a user identifier and at least one of a client identifier and a client matter identifier;

providing, by the user, at least one of the user identifier and the at least one of the client identifier and the client matter identifier;

allowing user access to the Internet on provision of the at least one of the user identifier and the at least one of the client identifier and the client matter identifier by the user;

performing Internet activity by the user on behalf of the client;

automatically generating a start time value based at least in part on a start time of the Internet activity;

automatically generating a completion time value based at least in part on a completion time of the Internet activity;

automatically generating an activity record corresponding to the Internet activity performed by the user between the start time and the completion time;

automatically storing a session record including the start time value, the completion time value, and a listing of pages and files accessed by the user while performing the Internet activity;

automatically generating at least one of a bill and a report based at least in part on said session record; and

forwarding, to the client, the at least one of the bill and the report;

wherein the Internet activity includes accessing at least one of publicly-available pages and files via the Internet.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the Internet activity further includes transmitting a request for data via the Internet, and at least one of data entry of a network address, data entry of a URL, data entry of at least one search term, data entry of at least one data instance, selection of a hyperlink, a data transfer, and an input device event.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating at least one of the bill and the report includes sorting the session record by at least one of the client identifier, the client matter identifier, and the user identifier.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the activity record includes information identifying at least one of network addresses accessed by the user, times of URL entries made by the user, a list of search terms entered by the user, captures of data instances accessed by the user, selections of hyperlinks by the user, data transfers made by the user, and input device events performed by the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the Internet activity includes data entry of a URL, selection of a hyperlink, and an input device event.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the activity record includes information identifying at least one of times of URL entries made by the user, selections of hyperlinks by the user, and input device events performed by the user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the client session is initiated on a computer that is connected directly to the Internet.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one respective Internet activity is not restricted to activity with a particular content provider.

9. A process of automatically recording Internet activity performed by a user on behalf of a client of the user, comprising:

providing a computer with communication connection to the Internet;

beginning a client session by launching a Web browser program on the computer;

automatically prompting the user for user identification information and at least one of client identification information and client matter identification information;

allowing the browser to fetch information via the Internet only on receipt of the user identification information and the at least one of client identification information and client matter identification information;

entering at least one request for information via the Internet though use of the Web browser program;

ending the client session;

automatically generating a session record of the client session, wherein the session record includes an indication of the time duration of the client session, and a listing of all requests for information entered during the client session;

automatically generating at least a portion of a bill based at least in part on the session record and on a billing rate for the user; and

sending the bill to the client.

10. The process of claim 9, wherein the request for information includes entry of an URL in the browser request field.

11. The process of claim 9, wherein the request for information includes clicking on a hyperlink.

12. The process of claim 9, wherein the request for information includes downloading a file.

13. The process of claim 9, wherein ending the client session includes closing the browser application.

14. The process of claim 9, further comprising automatically generating a session report based at least in part on the session record.

15. The process of claim 14, wherein the session report includes the listing of all requests for information entered during the client session.

16. The process of claim 15, wherein the session report includes an access time indication for each listed request for information.

17. The process of claim 15, wherein the session report includes a time duration indication for each listed request for information.

18. The process of claim 14, further comprising storing the session report.

19. The process of claim 15, further comprising retrieving the stored session report for use in a second client session.

20. A magnetic storage medium, comprising instructions that are readable by a processor and that cause the processor to execute the process of claim 9.