Website monitoring and cookie setting

Apparatus for causing setting of a first domain first party cookie in a first domain on a client device, the apparatus comprising a first server and a second server, the first server comprising at least one computer and being arranged under the control of software to:

• receive an http message from an active page within a browser running on the client device, the http message including referrer information indicating a referrer in a second domain and the page being in the first domain;
• check the referrer information in the http message to determine (a) if the referrer is within a domain among a predetermined set of domains, and if the referrer is within a domain within the predetermined set of domains, then send a redirect message in accordance with the referrer information to the browser instructing the browser to resend the http message to a second server, the second server being in the second domain, or (b) if such is not the case, then sending a response without sending a redirect message;
• the second server comprising at least one computer and being arranged under the control of software to:
• receive the http message from the browser and extract data from a second domain first party cookie in the second domain present in the header of the http message;
• determine data which is to be included in the first domain first party cookie resident on the client device in dependence on the data extracted from the second domain first party cookie present in the header of the resent http message;
• and
• send a message to the active page in the first domain including an instruction comprising added computer instruction code executable by the browser which, when executed, generates the first domain first party cookie within the browser, including the data determined in the determining step.

Apparatus for causing setting of a first domain first party cookie in a first domain on a client device, the apparatus comprising a first server and a second server, the first server comprising at least one computer and having:

• a receive module configured to receive an http message from an active page within a browser running on the client device, the http message including referrer information indicating a referrer in a second domain and the page being in the first domain;
• a check module configured to check the referrer information in the http message to determine (a) if the referrer is within a domain among a predetermined set of domains, and if the referrer is within a domain within the predetermined set of domains then causing sending of a redirect message, by a send module, to the browser instructing the browser to resend the http message to a second server, the second server being in the second domain, or (b) if such is not the case, then sending a response without sending a redirect message;
• the second server comprising at least one computer and having:
• a receive module configured to receive the http message from the browser;
• an extract module configured to extract data from a second domain first party cookie in the second domain present in the header of the http message;
• a determination module configured to determine data which is to be included in the first domain first party cookie resident on the client device in dependence on the data extracted from the second domain first party cookie present in the header of the resent http message;
• and
• a send module configured to send a message to the active page in the first domain including an instruction comprising added computer instruction code executable by the browser which, when executed, generates the first domain first party cookie within the browser, including the data determined by the determination module.

A website monitoring method comprising the steps of:

• receiving at a first server, an http message from an active page within a browser running on a client device, the page being in a first domain and the http message including referrer information indicating a referrer in a second domain;
• checking the referrer information in the http message to determine (a) if the referrer is within a domain among a predetermined set of domains, and if the referrer is within a domain within the predetermined set of domains, then sending a redirect message to the browser instructing the browser to resend the http message to a second server, the second server being in the second domain, or (b) if such is not the case, then sending a response without sending a redirect message;
• receiving at the second server, the http message from the browser and extracting data from a second domain first party cookie in the second domain present in the header of the http message;
• determining data which is to be included in a first domain first party cookie in the first domain, resident on the client device in dependence on the data extracted from the second domain first party cookie present in the header of the resent http message;
• sending a message to the active page in the first domain including an instruction comprising added computer instruction code executable by the browser which, when executed, generates the first domain first party cookie within the browser, including the data determined in the determining step;
• and
• receiving at one of the first server and a separate collection server, from the browser running on the client device, messages including data derived from the first domain first party cookie and information concerning at least one of:
• interactions with and performance of at least one page browsed within the browser running on the client device.

A website monitoring apparatus, the apparatus comprising:

• a first server, a second server, and a collection server, the first server including at least one computer and being arranged under the control of software to:
• receive an http message from an active page within a browser running on a client device, the page being in a first domain and the http message including referrer information indicating a referrer in a second domain;
• check the referrer information in the http message to determine (a) if the referrer is within a domain among a predetermined set of domains, and if the referrer is within a domain within the predetermined set of domains, then send a redirect message to the browser instructing the browser to resend the http message to a second server, the second server being in the second domain, or (b) if such is not the case, then sending a response without sending a redirect message;
• the second server including at least one computer and being arranged under the control of software to:
• receive the http message from the browser and extract data from a second domain first party cookie in the second domain present in the header of the http message;
• determine data which is to be included in a first domain first party cookie in the first domain, resident on the client device in dependence on the data extracted from the second domain first party cookie present in the header of the resent http message;
• and
• send a message to the active page in the first domain including an instruction comprising added computer instruction code executable by the browser which, when executed, generates the first domain first party cookie within the browser, including the data determined in the determining step;
• and
• the collection server including at least one computer and being in the first domain and arranged under the control of software to:
• receive, from the browser running on the client device, messages including data derived from the first domain first party cookie, and information concerning at least one of:
• interactions with and performance of at least one page browsed within the browser running on the client device;
• and
• determine whether received messages are from the same browser session in dependence on the data derived from the first domain first party cookie present in each message.

A website monitoring apparatus, the apparatus comprising:

• a first server, a second server, and a collection server, the first server including at least one computer and having:
• a receive module for receiving an http message from an active page within a browser running on a client device, the page being in a first domain and the http message including referrer information indicating a referrer in a second domain;
• a check module for checking the referrer information in the http message to determine (a) if the referrer is within a domain among a predetermined set of domains, and if the referrer is within a domain within the predetermined set of domains then causing sending of a redirect message, by a send module, to the browser instructing the browser to resend the http message to the second server, the second server being in the second domain, or (b) if such is not the case, then sending a response without sending a redirect message;
• the second server including at least one computer and having:
• a receive module for receiving the http message from the browser;
• an extract module for extracting data from a second domain first party cookie in the second domain present in the header of the http message;
• a determination module for determining data which is to be included in a first domain first party cookie in the first domain, resident on the client device in dependence on the data extracted from the second domain first party cookie present in the header of the resent http message;
• and
• a send module for sending a message to the active page in the first domain including an instruction comprising added computer instruction code executable by the browser which, when executed, generates the first domain first party cookie within the browser, including the data determined by the determination module;
• and
• the collection server comprising:
• a receive module for receiving, from the browser running on the client device, messages including data derived from the first domain first party cookie and information concerning at least one of:
• interactions with and performance of at least one page browsed within the browser running on the client device;
• and
• a determination module for determining whether received messages are from the same browser session in dependence on the data derived from the first domain first party cookie present in each message.

A method for setting a first domain first party cookie in a first domain on a client device comprising:

• sending from an active page, in the first domain, within a browser running on the client device, to a first server, an http message including referrer information indicating a referrer in a second domain;
• receiving a redirect message in the browser, from the first server, instructing the browser to resend the http message to a second server, the second server being in the second domain;
• resending from the browser, the http message to the second server including a second domain first party cookie in the second domain in the header of the http message;
• receiving a message, from the second server, in the active page in the first domain including an instruction comprising added computer instruction code executable by the browser which, when executed, generates the first domain first party cookie within the browser, including the data determined in dependence on the content of the second domain first party cookie as received by the second server;
• and
• generating within the browser running on the client device, the first domain first party cookie in response to the received instruction.

A client device including at least one computer and arranged under the control of software to:

• send from an active page, in a first domain, within a browser running on the client device, to a first server, an http message including referrer information indicating a referrer in a second domain;
• receive a redirect message in the browser, from the first server, instructing the browser to resend the http message to a second server, the second server being in the second domain;
• resend from the browser, the http message to the second server including a second domain first party cookie in the second domain in the header of the http message;
• receive a message, from the second server, in the active page in the first domain including an instruction comprising added computer instruction code executable by the browser which, when executed, generates a first domain first party cookie in the first domain within the browser, including the data determined in dependence on the content of the second domain first party cookie as received by the second server;
• and
• generate within the browser running on the client device, the first domain first party cookie in response to the received instruction.