US 7,003,565 B2 · Clickstream data collection technique

Abstract

Methods, systems, computer program products, and methods of doing business by improving collection of clickstream data in network exchanges comprising a plurality of related request and response messages. A clickstream cookie is created by an application, and contains a clickstream data collection correlator for messages of a particular transaction. A Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”) token is created, and is used both in URLs of messages and in cookies downstream of a cookie jar for locating the application-generated correlator. In preferred embodiments, this application-generated correlator is a unique value which is used to identify related clickstream data once it is collected. A flag may also be used to indicate whether data collection is enabled. No changes are required on client devices or in client software, and there is no dependency on a client to support cookies. Using the disclosed techniques, a particular application may specify varying clickstream data collection requirements for the transactions it generates.

Claims29

Dependent claims

A method of providing improved clickstream data collection over a series of related messages exchanged between computers in a networking environment, comprising:

determining at a server computer a clickstream correlator value to be applied to related messages sent from a client computer, wherein the clickstream correlator value indicates whether clickstream data collection is being performed;
annotating at the server computer at least one of the related messages sent from the client computer with information reflecting the determined clickstream correlator value by storing the information reflecting the determined clickstream correlator value as part of a routing token in the annotated messages, wherein the routing token further comprises information enabling identification of the client computer and server computer;
transmitting at least one of the annotated messages with the routing token containing the determined clickstream correlator value and the information enabling identification of the client computer and server computer for delivery to the client computer;
receiving at the server computer the clickstream correlator value and the information enabling identification of the client computer and server computer that are sent from the client computer with subsequent ones of the related messages;
and
using the clickstream correlator value at the server computer to collect clickstream data that is indicative of how a user at the client computer interacts with content at the server computer.

3 more elements

A computer program product for providing improved clickstream data collection over a series of related messages exchanged between computers in a networking environment, the computer program product embodied on one or more computer-readable media and comprising:

computer-readable program code that is configured to determine at a server computer a clickstream correlator value to be applied to the related messages sent from a client computer, wherein the clickstream correlator value indicates whether clickstream data collection is being performed and is used to correlate at the server computer stored log entries created for the related messages;
computer-readable program code that is configured to annotate at the server computer at least one of the related messages sent from the client computer with information reflecting the determined clickstream correlator value, and is configured to store the information reflecting the determined clickstream correlator value as part of a token in the annotated messages, wherein the token further comprises information enabling identification of the client computer and server computer;
and
computer-readable program code that is configured to transmit at least one of the annotated messages with the routing token containing the determined clickstream correlator value and the information enabling identification of the client computer and server computer for delivery to the client computer;
computer-readable program code that is configured to receive at the server computer the clickstream correlator value and the information enabling identification of the client computer and server computer that are sent from the client computer with subsequent ones of the related messages;
and
computer-readable program code that is configured to use the clickstream correlator value at the server computer to collect clickstream data that is indicative of how a user at the client computer interacts with content at the server computer.

4 more elements

A system for providing improved clickstream data collection over a series of related messages exchanged between computers in a networking environment, comprising:

means for determining at a server computer a clickstream correlator value to be applied to the related messages sent from a client computer, wherein the clickstream correlator value indicates whether clickstream data collection is being performed and is used to correlate at the server computer stored log entries created for the related messages;
means for annotating at the server computer at least one of the related messages sent from the client computer with information reflecting the determined clickstream correlator value, and for storing the information reflecting the determined clickstream correlator value as part of a token in the annotated messages, wherein the token further comprises information enabling identification of the client computer and server computer;
and
means for transmitting at least one of the annotated messages with the routing token containing the determined clickstream correlator value and the information enabling identification of the client computer and server computer for delivery to the client computer;
means for receiving at the server computer the clickstream correlator value and the information enabling identification of the client computer and server computer that are sent from the client computer with subsequent ones of the related messages;
and
means for using the clickstream correlator value at the server computer to collect clickstream data that is indicative of how a user at the client computer interacts with content at the server computer.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Clickstream data collection technique

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Clickstream data collection technique

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Abstract

Claims29