Method and system for monitoring online behavior at a remote site and creating online behavior profiles

• US 7,360,251 B2
• Filed: 09/27/2005
• Issued: 04/15/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Connexity Audience, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Hitwise Pty. Ltd. (Experian plc)
• Inventors: Gullette, Brian R. D., Nortman, Randall C., Spalink, Jan-Dieter, Hatchell, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Barrón, Jr.; Gilberto
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dinh; Minh
• Application Number:
  US11/236,482
• Publication Number:
  US 20060070117A1
• Time in Patent Office: 931 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 726/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6254 by anonymising data, e.g. decorrelating personal data from the owner's identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/383 Anonymous user system
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/102 applying security measure for e-commerce data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for e-commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/55 Testing of service level quality, e.g. simulating service usage
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0421 Anonymous communication, i.e. the party's identifiers are hidden from the other party or parties, e.g. using an anonymizer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/126 the source of the received data

Abstract

A method and system for monitoring users on one or more computer networks, disassociating personally identifiable information from the collected data, and storing it in a database so that the privacy of the users is protected. The system includes monitoring transactions at both a client and at a server, collecting network transaction data, and aggregating the data collected at the client and at the server. The system receives a user identifier and uses it to create an anonymized identifier. The anonymized identifier is then associated with one or more users'"'"' computer network transactions. The data is stored by a collection engine and then aggregated to a central database server across a computer network.

Claims

1. A method for collecting transaction data generated by users accessing a network through an internet service provider without associating personally identifiable information with the transaction data, comprising:

obtaining an identifier from an internet service provider representing one or more users of a computer network;

creating an anonymized identifier using the obtained identifier at the internet service provider;

collecting data being transmitted across the computer network from the internet service provider;

collecting transaction data associated with a merchant system on the network which is separate from the internet service provider, for transactions conducted between the merchant and one or more users of the computer network;

creating one or more transaction codes using the collected transaction data;

associating the anonymized identifier with the collected data and the one or more transaction codes;

creating a transaction record including one or more transaction codes and an anonymized identifier; and

storing the transaction record.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the anonymized identifier is created by applying a one-way hashing function to the obtained identifier.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the anonymized identifier is created by applying a one-way hashing function to the obtained identifier and a security key.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the one-way hashing function is the Secure Hashing Algorithm 1 (SHA-1) algorithm.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the one-way hashing function is the Message Digest 4 (MD4) algorithm.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the one-way hashing function is the Message Digest 5 (MD5) algorithm.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of obtaining an identifier representing one or more users of a computer network includes:

receiving packets sent from an authentication server; and

extracting an identifier from the received packets.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the authentication server is a RADIUS authentication server.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the received packets are RADIUS authentication timestamp packets.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction code identifies whether a purchase was made.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction code identifies one or more categories of services or merchandise.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier is a network address.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the network address is an Internet Protocol (IP) address.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said storing of the transaction record is conducted in a database.