Dynamically configurable session agent

• US 8,583,772 B2
• Filed: 10/14/2010
• Issued: 11/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Acoustic, L.P.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Wenig, Robert I., Punjabi, Manoj
• Primary Examiner(s): CHEN, ALAN S
• Application Number:
  US12/904,356
• Publication Number:
  US 20110029665A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,125 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3438 monitoring of user actions tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/86 Event-based monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/875 Monitoring of systems including the internet
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/133 Protocols for remote procedure calls [RPC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A monitoring system captures the behavior of distributed applications and also provides a framework for augmenting functionality of the application in response to user interactions and different states of the application and network. Network events exchanged between an application and an application server are captured and the local client events on the client device are also selectively captured. The different disparate network events and client events are then combined together during a replay operation to simulate the user experience during the previous application session.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

monitoring, by a session monitor, network events exchanged between an application located on a client and an application server located on a web server device, wherein the session monitor monitors the network events remotely from the client;

identifying, by the session monitor, a state of the application session according to the network events; and

sending, by the session monitor, feedback instructions to a session agent on the client according to the state of the application session, wherein the feedback instructions dynamically determine what operations are performed by the session agent during the application session.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the session monitor, client events from the session agent over a network connection;

generating, by the session monitor, the feedback instructions based on the client events and the network events; and

sending, by the session monitor, the feedback instructions back over the network connection to the session agent, wherein the feedback instructions dynamically determine what client events are captured on the client by the session agent during the application session.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the feedback instructions are configured to cause the session agent to capture screen images during the application session.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the feedback instructions are configured to change which sections of the screen images are captured by the session agent.

5. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, by the session monitor, time stamps from the session agent associating the client events and the network events;

identifying a sequence for the client events and network events during the application session based on the time stamps; and

generating the feedback instructions based on the sequence for the client events and network events.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the feedback instructions are configured to direct the session agent to buffer at least some of the client events during the application session.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the feedback instructions are configured to control when the session agent sends the buffered client events to the session monitor or when the session agents discards the buffered client events.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the feedback instructions are configured to cause the session agent to activate a support window according to an identified state of the application session.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the feedback instructions are configured to cause the session agent to provide incentives for completing a transaction according to an identified state of the application session.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

loading additional feedback session agents onto additional clients; and

sending additional feedback instructions to the additional clients, wherein the additional feedback instructions are configured to cause the additional session agents to capture client events for a fixed percentage of the additional clients.

11. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

determining, by the session monitor, a capture operation length according to one or more of an amount of captured data, a time period, and/or a state of the application session; and

sending, by the session monitor, the feedback instructions to the session agent identifying the capture operation length.

12. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor configured to;

monitor network events sent from an application on a client to an application server during an application session, wherein the processor monitors the network events remotely from the client;

generate feedback instructions based on the network events, wherein the feedback instructions are generated independently of the client; and

send the feedback instructions over a network to an agent on the client, wherein the feedback instructions are configured to identify which types of screen images are captured by the agent during the application session.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive client events from the agent identifying user activities during the application session; and

generate the feedback instructions based on the network events and the client events.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the user activities comprise one or more of browsing, selecting, and/or ordering items displayed during the application session.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the feedback instructions are configured to control when the session agent captures the screen images during the application session.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to:

identify a communication bandwidth for the client; and

direct the agent in the feedback instructions to send, delete, and/or maintain the screen images in a client buffer according to the communication bandwidth.