U.S. patent application number 09/851029 was filed with the patent office on 2002-01-10 for method and apparatus for transaction tracking over a computer network.
Invention is credited to Addante, Frank.
Application Number | 20020004733 09/851029 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 22748956 |
Filed Date | 2002-01-10 |
United States Patent
Application |
20020004733 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Addante, Frank |
January 10, 2002 |
Method and apparatus for transaction tracking over a computer
network
Abstract
An apparatus and a method for tracking transactions over a
computer network is provided. An advertisement is provided to a
user using a web client, such as a web browser, at a user node. The
user selects the advertisement, e.g., by clicking on the
advertisement, to request to an ad server for redirection to a
transaction node associated with the advertisement. The ad server
formats a cookie and provides to the user node. When the user
requests a transaction after the redirection, the transaction node
sends a transaction confirmation after performing the transaction.
The transaction confirmation includes a command to record the
transaction. In response to the command, the user node provides a
query string and the cookie to the ad server for the transaction to
be recorded.
Inventors: |
Addante, Frank; (Los
Angeles, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
CHRISTIE, PARKER & HALE, LLP
P.O. BOX 7068
PASADENA
CA
91109-7068
US
|
Family ID: |
22748956 |
Appl. No.: |
09/851029 |
Filed: |
May 7, 2001 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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60202221 |
May 5, 2000 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/14.51 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0253 20130101;
G06Q 30/02 20130101; H04L 69/329 20130101; G06Q 30/0241 20130101;
H04L 67/02 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/7 |
International
Class: |
G06F 017/60 |
Claims
1. A computer network comprising: a user node to provide a request
to perform a transaction and a request to record the transaction; a
transaction node to receive the request to perform the transaction,
to perform the transaction in response, and to provide a
transaction confirmation to the user node, the transaction
confirmation including a command to record the transaction; and a
monitor node to receive the request to record the transaction
provided by the user node in response to the command to record the
transaction, and to record the transaction in response to the
request to record the transaction.
2. The computer network of claim 1 wherein the user node includes a
web client, the web client being used to provide the request to
perform the transaction and the request to record the
transaction.
3. The computer network of claim 2 wherein the web client is a web
browser.
4. The network of claim 1 wherein the transaction includes an
inquiry.
5. The computer network of claim 1 wherein the monitor node
includes a sale log program, the sale log program being used to
record the transaction between the user node and the transaction
node.
6. The computer network of claim 5 wherein the sale log program
includes a CGI script.
7. The computer network of claim 1 wherein the transaction
confirmation is a confirmation web page.
8. The computer network of claim 7 wherein the command to record
the transaction is an HTML tag included in the confirmation web
page.
9. The computer network of claim 1 further comprising a content
node providing a content to the user node, wherein the content has
a space for an advertisement, and wherein the user node receives
the content and the advertisement.
10. The computer network of claim 9 wherein the advertisement
includes a graphics file.
11. The computer network of claim 10 wherein the graphics file
includes an ad banner.
12. The computer network of claim 9 wherein the advertisement
includes a multimedia file.
13. The computer network of claim 12 wherein the multimedia file
includes a java script.
14. The computer network of claim 9 wherein the content node
includes the advertisement, and wherein the content node provides
the advertisement to the user node.
15. The computer network of claim 9 further comprising an
advertisement data base, wherein the advertisement database
provides the advertisement to the user node.
16. The computer network of claim 9 further comprising an
advertisement database, wherein the advertisement database provides
the advertisement to the content node, and wherein the content node
provides the advertisement to the user node.
17. The computer network of claim 15 wherein the user node provides
a first request for the advertisement to the monitor node, the
monitor node provides a second request for the advertisement to the
advertisement database in response to the first request, the
advertisement database provides the advertisement to the monitor
node, and the monitor node provides the advertisement to the user
node.
18. The computer network of claim 9 wherein the transaction node is
associated with the advertisement, and the user node provides to
the monitor node a request for redirection to the transaction
node.
19. The computer network of claim 18 wherein the request for
redirection is provided when a user at the user node makes a
selection of the advertisement.
20. The computer network of claim 19 wherein the user makes the
selection by clicking on the advertisement.
21. The computer network of claim 18 wherein the request for
redirection includes a URL.
22. The computer network of claim 18 wherein the request for
redirection includes an IP address.
23. The computer network of claim 19 wherein the monitor node
monitors the selection made by the user.
24. The computer network of claim 20 wherein the monitor node
includes a sale track program, and the monitor node uses the sale
track program to monitor the selection made by the user.
25. The computer network of claim 24 wherein the sale track program
includes a CGI script.
26. The computer network of claim 19 wherein the monitor node
compiles information related to the selection made by the user.
27. The computer network of claim 26 wherein the information
related to the selection made by the user is compiled into a block
of data.
28. The computer network of claim 27 wherein the block of data
includes a cookie.
29. The computer network of claim 28 wherein the cookie includes
information related to the content node.
30. The computer network of claim 28 wherein the cookie includes
information related to the advertisement.
31. The computer network of claim 28 wherein the cookie includes
information related to a cookie setting date.
32. The computer network of claim 28 wherein the cookie includes
information related to a cookie setting time.
33. The computer network of claim 28 wherein the cookie includes
information related to a campaign during which the advertisement is
provided.
34. The computer network of claim 28 wherein the monitor node
provides the cookie to the user node to be stored.
35. The computer network of claim 34 wherein the cookie is stored
at a hard drive of the user node.
36. The computer network of claim 18 wherein the monitor node
redirects the user node to the transaction node by providing a URL
of the transaction node.
37. The computer network of claim 18 wherein the monitor node
redirects the user node to the transaction node by providing an IP
address of the transaction node.
38. The computer network of claim 18 wherein the user node provides
a request to the transaction node to receive a transaction site
page upon redirection by the monitor node.
39. The computer network of claim 38 wherein the transaction node
provides the transaction site page to the user node in response to
the request to receive the transaction site page.
40. The computer network of claim 27 wherein the user node provides
a request for a GIF file from the monitor node.
41. The computer network of claim 40 wherein the GIF file is an
invisible GIF file, which has 1.times.1 dimension.
42. The computer network of claim 27 wherein the user node provides
a query string to the monitor node.
43. The computer network of claim 42 wherein the query string
includes information related to the transaction node.
44. The computer network of claim 42 wherein the query string
includes information related to a transaction type.
45. The computer network of claim 42 wherein the query string
includes information related to a transaction amount.
46. The computer network of claim 42 wherein the query string
includes information related to a transacted product.
47. The computer network of claim 42 wherein the user node provides
the block of data to the monitor node.
48. The computer network of claim 47 wherein the monitor node
records the transaction by extracting information from the block of
data and the query string.
49. The computer network of claim 48 wherein the monitor node
records the transaction into a transaction database.
50. The computer network of claim 49 wherein the recorded
transaction in the transaction database includes information
related to a current time.
51. The computer network of claim 49 wherein the recorded
transaction in the transaction database includes information
related to the content node.
52. The computer network of claim 49 wherein the recorded
transaction in the transaction database includes information
related to the advertisement.
53. The computer network of claim 49 wherein the recorded
transaction in the transaction database includes information
related to a cookie setting date.
54. The computer network of claim 49 wherein the recorded
transaction in the transaction database includes information
related to a cookie setting time.
55. The computer network of claim 49 wherein the recorded
transaction in the transaction database includes information
related to the transaction node.
56. The computer network of claim 49 wherein the recorded
transaction in the transaction database includes information
related to a transaction type.
57. The computer network of claim 49 wherein the recorded
transaction in the transaction database includes information
related to a transaction amount.
58. The computer network of claim 49 wherein the recorded
transaction in the transaction database includes information
related to a transacted product.
59. The computer network of claim 49 wherein the monitor node
provides the recorded transaction to the transaction node.
60. A method of tracking transactions over a computer network
comprising: providing a request to perform a transaction from a
user node to a transaction node; performing the transaction at the
transaction node; providing a transaction confirmation, including a
command to record the transaction, from the transaction node to the
user node; providing a request to record the transaction in
response to the command to record the transaction, from the user
node to a monitor node; and recording the transaction at the
monitor node.
61. The method of tracking transactions of claim 60 further
comprising: providing content having a space for an advertisement
from a content node to the user node; and providing the
advertisement to the user node.
62. The method of tracking a transaction of claim 61 further
comprising: providing the advertisement to the user node from the
content node.
63. The method of tracking a transaction of claim 61 further
comprising: providing the advertisement to the user node from an
advertisement database.
64. The method of tracking a transaction of claim 61 further
comprising: making a selection of the advertisement at the user
node.
65. The method of tracking a transaction of claim 64 wherein making
the selection of the advertisement includes clicking on the
advertisement by a user at the user node.
66. The method of tracking a transaction of claim 64 further
comprising: requesting a redirection from the user node to the
monitor node.
67. The method of tracking a transaction of claim 64 further
comprising: compiling information related to the selection of the
advertisement at the monitor node.
68. The method of tracking a transaction of claim 67 wherein
compiling information related to the selection includes formatting
a cookie using the information related to the selection.
69. The method of tracking a transaction of claim 68 wherein
formatting a cookie includes recording a cookie setting date to
indicate a date on which the cookie is formatted.
70. The method of tracking a transaction of claim 68 wherein
formatting a cookie includes recording a cookie setting time to
indicate a time at which the cookie is formatted.
71. The method of tracking a transaction of claim 68 wherein
formatting a cookie includes recording information related to the
content node.
72. The method of tracking a transaction of claim 68 wherein
formatting a cookie includes recording information related to the
advertisement.
73. The method of tracking a transaction of claim 68 further
comprising: providing the cookie from the monitor node to the user
node.
74. The method of tracking a transaction of claim 66 further
comprising: redirecting the user node to the transaction site.
75. The method of tracking a transaction of claim 73 further
comprising: sending the cookie from the user node to the monitor
node.
76. The method of tracking a transaction of claim 73 further
comprising: sending a query string from the user node to the
monitor node.
77. The method of tracking a transaction of claim 60 further
comprising: reporting the recorded transaction to the transaction
node.
78. A method of compiling transaction information comprising:
formatting a cookie at an ad server, the cookie including
information related to a selection of an advertisement at a content
site; storing a cookie at a user node of a user who made the
selection; and providing the cookie from the user node to the ad
server whenever the user makes a transaction at a sale site
associated with the advertisement.
79. The method of compiling transaction information of claim 78
wherein the cookie further includes information related to a time
at which the selection of the advertisement has been made.
80. The method of compiling transaction information of claim 78
further comprising providing a query string from the user node to
the ad server, wherein the query string includes information
related to the transaction made at the sale site.
81. The method of compiling transaction information of claim 80
wherein the information related to the transaction includes an
identification of a purchased product.
82. The method of compiling transaction information of claim 81
wherein the information related to the transaction includes a
purchase price of the purchased product.
83. The method of compiling transaction information of claim 80
further comprising recording at least a portion of the information
related to the selection of the advertisement and at least a
portion of the information related to the transaction into a data
structure for the transaction information in the transaction
database.
84. The method of compiling transaction information of claim 83
wherein the data structure for the transaction information includes
a time of the selection of the advertisement and a time of the
transaction, and the method further includes comparing the time of
the selection with the time of the transaction to assess time
elapsed between the selection and the transaction.
85. The method of compiling transaction information of claim 83
wherein the data structure for the transaction information includes
information related to the content site, and the method further
includes crediting the content site with the transaction.
86. The method of compiling transaction information of claim 83
wherein the data structure for the transaction information includes
information related to the advertisement, and the method further
includes assessing effectiveness of the advertisement by counting a
number of transactions related to the advertisement.
87. The method of compiling transaction information of claim 83
wherein the data structure for the transaction information includes
information related to a campaign during which the advertisement is
provided, and the method further includes assessing effectiveness
of the campaign by counting a number of transactions related to the
campaign.
88. The method of compiling transaction information of claim 83
wherein the data structure for the transaction information includes
information related to an amount of time taken to make the
transaction, and the method further includes assessing customer
serving capabilities of the sale site by analyzing the amount of
time taken to make the transaction.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application claims the priority of U.S.
Provisional Application No. 60/202,221 entitled "Method and
Apparatus for Transaction Tracking over a Computer Network" filed
May 5, 2000, the contents of which are fully incorporated by
reference herein.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present application relates to the field of digital
advertising via computer networks, and more particularly, to a
method and system for monitoring and recording transactions of a
user who is redirected to a transaction site after selecting an
advertisement, e.g., an ad banner, at a content site.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] With the growth and commercialization of global computer
networks, such as, for example, the Internet, delivery of
advertisements over a computer network has become commonplace. Much
of the content on the Internet is located on the World Wide Web,
the often graphical portion of the Internet, which has become one
of the most popular venue for accessing information. A user
visiting a content site, which is a node on the computer network,
and viewing an advertisement, known in the industry as a
"creative," is often invited to select the advertisement, e.g., by
clicking on the creative such as an ad banner. Many creatives
contain click-thru code in addition to the advertisement comprised
of graphic and/or text. Click-thru code automatically redirects the
user to another network site when the user clicks on the creative.
Thus, upon selecting a particular advertisement, the user is
typically redirected to another network site associated with the
particular advertisement.
[0004] To assess effectiveness of an advertisement or a campaign,
it is often desirable to gather some information about the
advertisement viewed and/or selected by a particular user. In
conventional systems, the number of times the particular user views
a particular advertisement is typically tracked. The number of
times the particular user selects the particular advertisement is
also typically tracked in the conventional systems.
[0005] For more thorough assessment of effectiveness of an
advertisement or a campaign, however, it is desirable to monitor
and track not only the number of times each advertisement has been
viewed or selected by a user, but also the transactions of the user
while visiting the redirected network site. For example, purchases
made by the user while at the redirected network site may be
important for compiling user statistics such as spending habits, as
well as for measuring ad effectiveness.
[0006] Further, advertising rates charged by a content site to
advertisers, in many instances, are at least partly based on the
effectiveness of the advertisements on the content site. Thus, any
monitoring or tracking of user transactions at the network site
being monitored should ensure that the user has been redirected to
the network site, at least initially, by the advertisements viewed
and selected at the content site.
[0007] Therefore, it is desirable for a content site to monitor
and/or track transactions by a user redirected from the content
site to the network site.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] One embodiment of the present invention is a computer
network. The computer network includes a user node, which provides
a request to perform a transaction. The computer network also
includes a transaction node. The transaction node receives the
request to perform the transaction, performs the transaction in
response to the request and provides a transaction confirmation to
the user node. The transaction confirmation includes a command to
record the transaction. The user node provides a request to record
the transaction in response to the command to record the
transaction. In addition, the computer network includes a monitor
node. The monitor node receives the request to record the
transaction provided by the user node and records the transaction
in response to the request.
[0009] In another embodiment of the present invention, the computer
network includes a content node. The content node provides a
content having a space for an advertisement to the user node. The
user node receives the content having a space for an advertisement
as well as the advertisement. A user selects the advertisement.
Upon selection, the monitor node formats a small data block, known
as a "cookie", with the selection information using a sale track
program and sends the cookie to the user, and the user is
redirected to the transaction node, at which the user may request
for transaction. The transaction node provides a transaction
confirmation to the user node upon transaction. The transaction
confirmation includes a command to record the transaction. In
response to the command to record the transaction, the user node
provides a request to record the transaction to the monitor node.
In addition, the user node provides a query string and the cookie
to the monitor node. The monitor node compiles information from the
query string and the cookie to update a transaction database.
[0010] Yet another embodiment of the present invention is a method
of tracking transactions over a computer network. The method
includes providing a request to perform a transaction from a user
node to a transaction node. The method also includes performing the
transaction at the transaction node. The method also includes
providing a transaction confirmation, which includes a command to
record the transaction. In addition, the method includes providing
a request to record the transaction, in response to the command to
record the transaction, and recording the transaction at the
monitor node.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the
present invention will become better understood with regard to the
following description and accompanying drawings wherein:
[0012] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of nodes in a transaction tracking
network;
[0013] FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram illustrating monitoring and
recording of transactions initiated by clicking on a creative;
[0014] FIG. 3A is a data structure for one embodiment of
cookie;
[0015] FIG. 3B is a data structure for one embodiment of query
string; and
[0016] FIG. 3C is a data structure for one embodiment of recorded
transaction in a transaction database.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0017] In the following embodiments of the present invention,
common reference numerals are used to represent the same
components. If the features of described embodiments are
incorporated into a single system, these components may be shared
and perform all the functions of the described embodiments.
[0018] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of nodes coupled together in a
transaction tracking network in one embodiment according to the
present invention. A user node 100 is coupled to a computer network
101. The computer network 101 may be a global computer network such
as, for example, the Internet. As such, the computer network 101
may include many other nodes (e.g., servers, clients, databases,
etc.) that are not illustrated in FIG. 1. The user node 100
typically includes a web client, which is used to retrieve
information over the computer network. The web client may include
web browsers such as, for example, Netscape Communicator or
Internet Explorer.
[0019] Using the web client, a user at the user node 100 is capable
of retrieving information from other nodes on the computer network
101. In one embodiment of the present invention, other nodes on the
computer network include a sale (transaction) site 102, a content
site 104, an ad server 106 and a creative database 108. Other
embodiments of the present invention may include a subset of these
nodes. Other embodiments may also include additional nodes. In
addition, other embodiments may have one or more nodes coupled to
the computer network other than the nodes that comprise the
computer network of the present invention. Further, processes
running on different nodes may be run at a single node, reducing
the number of nodes in the transaction tracking network of the
present invention.
[0020] The user at the user node 100 may receive a sale site page
from the sale site 102. Based on information provided on the sale
site page, the user may perform one or more transactions. For
example, a transaction may be purchase of goods.
[0021] The user at the user node 100 may also receive a content
site page from the content site 104. The content site page
preferably includes one or more spaces for creatives, e.g.,
advertisements or transaction creatives. The creatives are
typically provided by the creative database 108. However, creatives
may also be provided by any of the other nodes, such as the sale
site 102.
[0022] The ad server 106 preferably tracks transactions made by the
user at the user node 100. In other words, the ad server 106 may
include a monitor node that monitors and records the transactions.
The ad server 106 in one embodiment of the present invention tracks
transactions only after the user selects a creative associated with
the transactions by, for example, clicking on the creative. In
another embodiment of the present invention, the ad server includes
two programs: a sale track program and a sale log program. The sale
track program preferably formats an ad server cookie and stores the
ad server cookie in the user node 100 when the user selects any of
the creatives being monitored. The sale log program preferably
records transactions between the user and the sale site after the
user selects a creative associated with the sale site. The ad
server 106 may also report the recorded transactions to the user
node 100, the sale site 102 or to any other node on the computer
network.
[0023] Communications between various nodes, e.g., the user node
100 and the sale site 102, on the computer networks, such as the
Internet, typically take place using the TCP/IP (Transfer Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol) communications protocols as the base
layer. At higher layer, the communications typically use HTTP
(HyperText Transfer Protocol) and HTML (HyperText Markup Language).
The communications may also use, but are not limited to, UDP (User
Datagram Protocol), XML (Extensible Markup Language) or other SGML
(Standard Generalized Markup Language) formats. A detailed
description of the IP communications protocol is discussed in
Internetworking with TCP/IP, 3rd ed., Douglas Comer, Prentice Hall,
1995, which is fully incorporated herein by reference.
[0024] The user typically begins the communication by transmitting
a request, e.g., an HTML request, for content to one of the other
nodes on the computer network. To initiate the communication, the
user typically instructs a web client, e.g., software program such
as a web browser, to transmit the request for content. Hereafter
for the sake of clarity, the term user will be used to identify the
user node as well as the web client on the user node. The request
for content is typically in the form of an HTTP request for a URL
(Universal Resource Locator).
[0025] In response to the request for content, the node receiving
the request typically returns the requested content, which
typically includes a web page containing HTML code. The node
receiving the request may also send a redirection command to
redirect the user to one of the other nodes on the computer
network. Typical redirection commands include HTML <href> or
<img> commands, or an HTTP redirect command containing a
fully qualified URL. HTML and HTTP are well known in the art.
Comprehensive documentation about HTML, HTTP and related topics are
disclosed in HTML 4.0 Sourcebook, Ian S. Graham, John Wiley and
Sons, Inc., 1998, which is fully incorporated herein by
reference.
[0026] FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram of a sale tracking operation in
an embodiment according to the present invention. At the request
198 of the user 100, the content site 104 provides content in step
200. The content typically includes a web page requested by the
user 100, and may include a space for one or more creatives, e.g.,
advertisements. The creatives may be provided by the content site
104; the creatives, however, preferably are provided by the
creative data base 108, as indicated in step 206.
[0027] In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the user provides a
request for advertisement 202, to be placed in the space of the
content, to the ad server 106. In other embodiments, the user 100
may provide a request for advertisement directly to the creative
data base 108. For example, the transaction tracking network of the
present invention also contains certain features, including
requesting, selecting, transmitting, receiving and displaying of
creatives, disclosed in commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser.
No. 09/757,389 filed Jan. 8, 2001 and entitled "Method and
Apparatus for Selecting and Delivering Internet Based Advertising,"
the contents of which are fully incorporated herein by
reference.
[0028] Referring back to FIG. 2, when the user 100 provides a
request for advertisement 202 to the ad server 106, the user sends
a cookie associated with the ad server 106 if one is available.
Cookies are typically written by a web server, e.g., the ad server
106, on a hard drive of the node that runs a web client, e.g., the
user 100, requesting to the web server. Once a cookie has been
created, the web client typically sends it to the web server that
created the cookie every time the web client requests content from
that web server. A cookie may be overwritten by the web server the
next time the web server that created the cookie is accessed. Each
cookie typically has an expiration date, which may be determined by
the web server creating it. Upon reaching the expiration date, the
web client typically erases the cookie from the hard drive. Use of
cookies in client-server interface is well known to those skilled
in the art.
[0029] Upon receiving the request for advertisement 202 from the
user 100, the ad server 106 preferably provides a request for
creative 204 to the creative database 108. In response, the
creative database 108 in step 206 provides a creative to the ad
server 106. In turn, the ad server 106 in step 208 provides the
creative to the user 100. The creative received by the user 100 may
be an ad banner or a java script, e.g., multimedia creative,
depending on the HTML tag used in the content with space for
creative provided by the content site 104. The creative may also be
an HTML file.
[0030] As long as the user 100 does not select the creative, e.g.,
by clicking on an ad banner, the user typically does not make any
additional requests to the ad server 106. When the user selects the
creative in step 210, however, the user is requesting to be
redirected to a site associated with the creative. In the
embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIG. 2, the user
makes a request to be redirected to the sale site 102. Upon
receiving the request for redirection to the sale site 102, the ad
server 106 formats an ad server cookie to be written to a hard
drive associated with the user. More specifically, the ad server
106 includes a sale track program for tracking user's selection of
creatives. The sale track program formats the ad server cookie in
step 212. In this embodiment, the sale track program is a CGI
(Common Gateway Interface) script. The sale track program may also
be written using other software programming/scripting languages
such as Perl.
[0031] In this embodiment, the ad server cookie is set using a
format including the following: Set-Cookie: <sale site
code>=<content site code>.about.<content site category
code>.vertline.<creat- ive code>.vertline.<campaign
code>.vertline.<cookie ID>.vertline.<cookie setting
date>.vertline.<cookie setting time>.vertline.. Each of
the fields of the creative typically contains an alphanumeric
content comprised of numbers, letters or both. FIG. 3A is a block
diagram that shows data structure of an ad server cookie 300 in one
embodiment of the present invention. The ad server cookie 300 is
associated with a sale site code. The sale site preferably is a
destination specified by the tag associated with the creative. The
sale site code preferably uniquely identifies the sale site.
[0032] The ad server cookie 300 includes a content site code 302,
which is typically associated with the content site 104 that
provides the content with space for creative. The ad server cookie
may also include a content site category code 304 and a content
site subcategory code 306. The content site category code 304 is
typically associated with a specific area, such as a particular
page, at the content site 104. The content site subcategory code
306 may be associated with a more specific area of the content site
104.
[0033] A creative code 308 preferably is associated with the
creative that has been selected by the user. A campaign code 310
preferably is associated with an advertising campaign during which
the creative was viewed and selected. A cookie ID 312 is an
identification of the ad server cookie. A cookie setting date 314
signifies the date at which the ad server cookie has been created.
A cookie setting time 316 signifies the time at which the ad server
cookie has been created. The ad server cookie may optionally
include a keyword 318. The keyword 318 may be used to track
transactions by keyword when the keyword is provided.
[0034] Referring back to FIG. 2, the ad server 106 preferably
provides the formatted ad server cookie in step 214 to the user 100
to write to the hard drive. The user 100 typically has an option
(through setting options in the web browser) not to accept the ad
server cookie. If the user refuses to accept the ad server cookie,
it is not written to the hard drive, and the ad server typically is
unable to continue monitoring and recording transactions beyond
this point. If the user accepts the ad server cookie, it is written
to the hard drive, and is typically transmitted back to the ad
server when the user requests content, e.g., a web page, from the
ad server.
[0035] When providing the ad server cookie to the user 100, the ad
server 106 preferably also transmits a redirection command to the
user. The redirection command typically contains a URL to a
specific server (or a site) on the computer network. In this
embodiment, the redirection command contains the URL of the sale
site at which the user may make purchases or perform other
transactions such as product and price inquiries.
[0036] The user 100 provides a request for sale site page in step
216 using the URL provided by the ad server 106. Upon receiving the
request for sale site page, the sale site 102 provides the sale
site page in step 218 to the user 100. While browsing the sale site
page using a web client, the user may provide a request for
transaction 220 to perform transactions such as purchases or
inquiries. The sale site 102 confirms the transaction by
transmitting a transaction confirmation page to the user in step
222.
[0037] The transaction confirmation page contains HTML tags that
calls the ad server 106. For example, in one embodiment of the
present invention, the transaction confirmation page includes a tag
to request for invisible GIF's, such as 1.times.1 GIF's, from the
ad server 106. If the user accepted the ad server cookie earlier,
the ad server cookie is provided to the ad server 106 in step 224
along with the request for GIF's.
[0038] In addition to the request for GIF's and the ad server
cookie, the web client 100 provides a query string to the ad server
106. The query string may be in any format and may include such
transaction information as purchased products and purchase prices.
FIG. 3B is a data structure for a query string 320 in one
embodiment of the present invention. The query string has a format
<sale (transaction) site
code>.vertline.<PAGE>.vertline.<SIGNUPS>.vertline.<AMOU-
NT>.vertline.<PRODUCT>.
[0039] A sale (transaction) site code field 322 includes the
identity of the transaction site where the user makes transactions.
A PAGE field 324 may include any pre-determined information such as
time elapsed during transactions. A SIGNUPS field 326 may include
any pre-determined information such as type of sale. An AMOUNT
field 328 may include any pre-determined information such as
purchase price. A PRODUCT field 330 may include any pre-determined
information such as purchased product. The length of the query
string is typically not limited to the embodiment in FIG. 3B, and
other pre-determined fields may be included in the query string
data structure 320.
[0040] The ad server 106 also includes a sale log program for
updating a transaction database using the ad server cookie and the
query string. The sale log program checks the ad server cookie to
determine if it is associated with the sale (transaction) site 102.
If the ad server cookie is associated with the sale site, the sale
log program in step 226 updates the transaction database. During
this update, the content site 104 is credited with providing
initial redirection of the user to the sale site 102. The sale log
program may be a CGI script or it may be written in another
software programming/scripting language such as Perl.
[0041] FIG. 3C is a data structure for transaction information 340
in the transaction database. The transaction information 340
includes all data fields from the ad server cookie 300 of FIG. 3A
and the query string of FIG. 3B except for the cookie ID field 312
and the keyword field 318. In addition, the transaction information
340 includes a current time field 342 and an IP address field 344.
The current time field 342 contains the time when the sale log
program was called to log the transaction and the IP address field
344 contains the IP address of the user node 100.
[0042] The data structure for transaction information 340 is
designed to gather transaction information that is valuable to the
interested parties. The transaction information is particularly
valuable to the owner of the content site 104 who is credited with
transactions made at the sale site 102 subsequently to the initial
redirection from the content site 104. The transaction information
is also valuable to the advertisers for measuring ad effectiveness
and for gathering statistics on such useful information as products
browsed, products purchased, purchase amounts and individual
spending habits.
[0043] For example, by counting the number of users redirected to
the sale site 102 and/or the number of transactions made in
reference to the creative code and the campaign code, the
advertisers, e.g., sale site owners, may quantitatively assess
effectiveness of a particular creative or a particular campaign,
respectively. The advertisers may also be able to assess
effectiveness of placing advertisements in association with a
particular content site by analyzing the content site codes logged
in the transaction database.
[0044] For another example, by comparing the cookie setting time
and date against the current time in each of the data structures
for transaction information, the advertisers may be able to build a
statistical database on such information as average time interval
between initial redirection and actual transaction.
[0045] The data structures for the ad server cookie 300 in FIG. 3A,
the query string 320 in FIG. 3B, and the transaction information
340 in FIG. 3C, are provided for illustrative purposes only. Each
of these structures may also contain many other types of
information that are valuable to content site owners, advertisers,
e.g., sale site owners, and other interested parties, such as the
ad server provider. For example, one or more of the three data
structures may include a field that contain user-provided
information such as age, gender or location of the user.
[0046] Referring back to FIG. 2, the steps of the sale monitoring
and recording operation sequence do not necessarily take place in
one continuous transaction sequence. Instead, there may be a gap of
hours, days, or even weeks between two adjacent steps. For example,
the user 100 may be redirected to the sale site in step 214,
requests the sale site page in step 216 and be provided the sale
site page in step 218, in one continuous transaction sequence.
However, the user may or may not request transaction in step 220
immediately thereafter.
[0047] The user may view the sale site page provided in step 218,
but may choose not to proceed with providing a request for
transaction as in step 220 at that time. The user may choose to
leave the sale site and may even choose to exit the web client
altogether. Then the user may choose to request the sale site page
at a later time, after a period of hours, days, or even weeks. At
this later time, the user may request to be redirected to the sale
site by clicking on the creative as in step 208. The user may also
request the sale site page simply by entering the URL for the sale
site into an address command window of a web client, e.g., Address
Bar of Internet Explorer or Location Toolbar of Netscape
Communicator.
[0048] In the described embodiments of the present invention, once
the user is initially redirected to the sale site through clicking
on the creative, any subsequent transaction the user makes at the
sale site is tracked by the sale log program and entered in the
transaction data base, regardless of the method by which user
subsequently enters the sale site to make the transaction and
regardless of the time interval between the initial redirection and
the subsequent transaction. This logging of every transaction
continues because the ad server cookie, which prompts the sale log
program to update the transaction database, is provided to the ad
server upon confirmation of each transaction.
[0049] The ad server cookie in the content site code field 302
contains information on the content site through which the user is
initially redirected to the transaction site. Therefore, as long as
the ad server cookie remains in the hard drive of the user, the
content site information is provided to the ad server, as in step
224, upon confirmation of transaction as in step 222. Consequently,
the content site is credited with the transaction whenever the sale
log program updates the transaction database as in step 226.
[0050] Accordingly, the present invention provides a method and
apparatus for tracking transactions over a computer network, such
as the Internet. Although this invention has been described in
certain specific embodiments, many additional modifications and
variations would be apparent to those skilled in the art. It is
therefore to be understood that this invention may be practiced
otherwise than as specifically described. Thus, the present
embodiments of the invention should be considered in all respects
as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention to
be determined by the appended claims and their equivalents rather
than the foregoing description.
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