U.S. patent application number 10/190378 was filed with the patent office on 2003-01-02 for system and method for monitoring computer usage.
This patent application is currently assigned to Laslo Olah. Invention is credited to Friedler, Ferenc, Kovacs, Zoltan, Olah, Laslo.
Application Number | 20030005072 10/190378 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 26734322 |
Filed Date | 2003-01-02 |
United States Patent
Application |
20030005072 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Olah, Laslo ; et
al. |
January 2, 2003 |
System and method for monitoring computer usage
Abstract
A system and method for monitoring computer usage is disclosed.
A computer operator specifies discrete moments of a computer's
usage at which screen captures are executed and saved to a log. The
operator, such as a parent or employer, can later retrieve the
screen images to provide a graphical record of the activities, such
as that of their child or employees, on that computer. The system
and method of the present invention gives full authority of
determining what type of computer usage is inappropriate or
offensive to the computer operator. Through the use of the present
invention, an operator may determine not only whether or not a
user's computer activity was inappropriate, but may also simply
determine if the computer was operated in any manner. By employing
the system and method of the disclosed invention, a record of a
user's activity or inactivity is created that, in addition to being
highly simple to evaluate, is an irrefutable account of the user's
computer usage. Variations of the system and method allow the
operator to direct monitoring events toward online or off-line
activities.
Inventors: |
Olah, Laslo; (Plano, TX)
; Friedler, Ferenc; (Manhattan, KS) ; Kovacs,
Zoltan; (Borbas, HU) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Stuart D. Dwork
Jenkens & Gilchrist
A Professional Corporation
1445 Ross Avenue; Suite 3200
Dallas
TX
75202-2799
US
|
Assignee: |
Laslo Olah
|
Family ID: |
26734322 |
Appl. No.: |
10/190378 |
Filed: |
July 3, 2002 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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10190378 |
Jul 3, 2002 |
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08959932 |
Oct 29, 1997 |
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6446119 |
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60055523 |
Aug 7, 1997 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
709/213 ;
709/231; 714/E11.196 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 11/3423
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
709/213 ;
709/231 |
International
Class: |
G06F 015/167 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method for monitoring usage activities of a user on a computer
system, said method comprising the steps of: intercepting a data
transmission within said computer system, said data transmission
corresponding to the image being displayed on a display connected
to said computer system; storing, within a memory, said intercepted
data transmission; and viewing said intercepted data transmission
on a display device connected to said computer system.
2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising, prior to
said step of intercepting, the step of: defining at least one time
at which said interception of said data transmission occurs.
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein said step of defining
is performed by an operator of said computer system.
4. The method according to claim 2, wherein, in said step of
defining, a multiplicity of discrete times are defined for
intercepting a respective multiplicity of data transmissions, the
respective data transmissions corresponding to the respective
images being displayed on said display at said discrete times.
5. The method according to claim 4, wherein said multiplicity of
discrete times correspond to discrete positions within a given time
interval.
6. The method according to claim 5, wherein said given time
interval is an hour.
7. The method according to claim 4, wherein, in said step of
defining, said multiplicity of discrete times are randomly defined,
said interceptions of the data transmissions over a given time
interval being randomly spaced apart.
8. The method according to claim 7, wherein said interceptions of
the data transmissions over a second time interval are also
randomly spaced apart.
9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising, prior to
said steps of intercepting and storing, the step of: detecting a
download data transmission to said computer system, said download
data transmission detection triggering said step of
intercepting.
10. The method according to claim 9, wherein said download data
transmission is via a modem.
11. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step of storing
further comprises the step of appending time and date information
of said intercepted data transmission.
12. The method according to claim 1, wherein statistical
information on said intercepted data transmission in view during
said viewing step.
13. The method according to claim 1, wherein a multiplicity of data
transmissions are intercepted and stored, a plurality of said
transmissions being subsequently simultaneously viewed on said
display.
14. The method according to claim 13, wherein at least two of said
data transmissions are viewed on said display.
15. The method according to claim 14, wherein said at least two
data transmissions correspond to respective images of the usage
activities of said user on said computer system on at least two
times.
16. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in said step of
viewing, an operator selectively views a multiplicity of
intercepted data transmissions stored within said memory.
17. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in said step of
intercepting, said computer system intercepts a data transmission
within a remote computer system, said intercepted data transmission
being stored within said memory in said computer system.
18. The method according to claim 17, wherein said computer system
is a server.
19. The method according to claim 1, further comprising, prior to
said step of intercepting, the step of: selectively activating said
monitoring of usage activities, said intercepting and storing steps
being deactivated by an operator for a given time interval.
20. A monitor for monitoring usage activities of a user on a
computer system, said monitor comprising: interception means for
intercepting a data transmission within said computer system, said
data transmission corresponding to the image being displayed on a
display connected to said computer system; storage means, connected
to said interception means, for storing said data transmission; and
viewing means, connected to said storage means, for viewing said
data transmission.
21. The monitor according to claim 20, further comprising: time
defining means for defining at least one time at which said
interception means intercepts said data transmission.
22. The monitor according to claim 21, wherein a multiplicity of
discrete times are defined by said time defining means, the
respective data transmissions corresponding to the respective
images being displayed on said display at said discrete times.
23. The monitor according to claim 22, wherein said multiplicity of
discrete times correspond to discrete positions within a given time
interval.
24. The monitor according to claim 23, wherein said given time
interval is an hour.
25. The monitor according to claim 22, wherein said multiplicity of
discrete times are randomly defined, said interceptions by said
interception means being randomly spaced apart over a given time
interval.
26. The monitor according to claim 20, wherein said interception
means intercepts said data transmission after detecting a download
data transmission.
27. The monitor according to claim 26, wherein said download data
transmission is via a modem.
28. The monitor according to claim 20, wherein said viewing means
displays statistical information on said intercepted data
transmission.
29. The monitor according to claim 28, wherein said statistical
information is selected from the group consisting of download
sites, times, dates, file names, file sizes, and applications
running at a particular time.
30. The monitor according to claim 20, wherein said interception
means intercepts a multiplicity of data transmissions and said
storage means stores said multiplicity of data transmission, said
viewing means subsequently and simultaneously displaying a
plurality of said data transmissions on said display.
31. The monitor according to claim 30, wherein at least two of said
data transmissions are viewed on said display.
32. The monitor according to claim 20, further comprising: a remote
computer system, connected to said computer system, said
interception means intercepting a data transmission within said
remote computer system, said intercepted data transmission being
stored within said storage means in said computer system.
33. The monitor according to claim 32, wherein said computer system
is a server.
34. The monitor according to claim 20, further comprising: deletion
means, within said computer system, for deleting at least one said
data transmission stored on said storage means, said deleting means
having a multiplicity of informational requests prior to
deletion.
35. A program storage device readable by a machine and encoding a
program of instructions for executing the method steps of claim
1.
36. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium
having computer readable program code means embodied thereon for
monitoring usage activities of a user on a computer system, the
computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture
comprising: (a) computer readable program code for intercepting a
data transmission within said computer system, said data
transmission corresponding to the image being displayed on a
display connected to said computer system; (b) computer readable
program code for storing, within a memory, said intercepted data
transmission; and (c) computer readable program code for viewing
said intercepted data transmission on a display device within said
computer system.
Description
[0001] This nonprovisional application claims priority based upon
the following prior U.S. Provisional Patent Application:
1 FILING Ser. No. DATE TITLE INVENTOR 60/055,523 Aug. 7, 1997
System and Method Laslo Olah for Monitoring Computer Usage
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Technical Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention relates to the monitoring of computer
usage and, in particular, to a system and method for monitoring or
recording a user's activity on a computer system by capturing the
content on a display screen.
Background and Objects of the Present Invention
[0004] Since the introduction of the personal computer in the early
1980's, the PC has been subject to constant change, ever increasing
in capability and usage. From its earliest form in which the data
accessible was limited to that which the user could load from a
floppy disk to the typical gigabyte hard drives common on PCS
today, the amount of data and the ease of obtaining this data have
been growing rapidly. With the fruition of the computer network,
the available data is no longer limited to the user's system or
what the user can load on their system. Local Area Networks or LANs
are now common in small businesses, and in such networks users may,
in addition to their own local data, obtain data from other local
stations as well as data that is available on the local server.
Corporate networks and internetworks may connect multiple LANs,
thereby increasing the data available to users. Larger still are
Wide Area Networks (WANs) and Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs),
the latter of which is designed to cover large cities.
[0005] The largest such network, commonly known as the Internet,
has introduced vast amounts of information into the business place
and the home. The individual networks that make up the Internet
include networks which may be served from sources such as
commercial servers (.com), university servers (.edu), research
networks (.org, .net), and military networks (.mil). These networks
are located throughout the world and their numbers are ever
increasing with an estimated 85,000 new domain registrations
presently occurring each month with countless Internet sites
spawned from these domains.
[0006] With the exponential growth of the Internet and the
explosion of interest worldwide, one natural consequence of this
profundity is a growing diversity in the subject matter of the
available information. Although this was the original intent of the
Internet developers, there are obvious disadvantages and
undesirable consequences of such a global information exchange.
What is quickly becoming a notorious example of such occurrence is
the proliferation of pornography, hate materials, and other
materials, some of which may not only be offensive, but
illegal.
[0007] A specific difficulty encountered with the introduction of
this powerful informational tool in the business and home is the
logistical problem of governing the usage of the available data to
specific users. In a corporate environment with access to, for
example, the Internet, it is obviously advantageous for management
to be able to limit or monitor in some fashion their employees'
usage of such a resource not only to ensure productivity but to
prevent liability for inappropriate employee Internet activities.
Likewise, in the home, a parent may desire to have the beneficial
educational information that exists in great quantity on the
Internet available for their child, but, at the same time, may wish
to prevent that child from accessing inappropriate materials,
either by intent or accident.
[0008] In the discussion that follows, `operator` will refer to the
person attempting to monitor or block another person's activity on
a computer system by any method or means. `User` will refer to the
person whose computer activity is subject to being monitored or
blocked.
[0009] Currently, those companies with the financial resources
desiring the efficiency of exchanging information through the
Internet may elect to use an intranet, e.g., a LAN. This way, the
company can distribute information to its employees with the
conveniences of the Internet, but without actually being connected
to the Internet. The company may also either block specific domains
from access by its employees, or give access to only specified
domains. This may be achieved by appropriate software or coding to
block domains at a gateway or firewall. However, these methods may
not be financially or technically feasible, or this may not serve
the companies' intent in any regard. Also, this technique does not
prevent employees from loading computer games on their computer and
playing them during work hours. Often, a company may desire that
its employees have unlimited access to data resources through the
Internet with the only restriction being that their access is
useful for fulfilling the duties of their jobs. In this instance,
it would be counterproductive to give access to only certain
domains, as doing so would block access to future domains that may
provide information beneficial to serving well an employee's
position.
[0010] Commercially available applications to help combat this
problem on the home or business PC are well known, such as Net
Nanny.TM., Surf Watch.TM., and NetSnitch.TM.. These applications
and their respective limitations are now discussed.
[0011] Net Nanny.TM. is a software utility marketed to control,
primarily, children's access to offensive Internet sites. This
software's primary functionality is the use of an operator-defined,
customized dictionary of terms or phrases to be blocked from
access. In operation, Net Nanny.TM. performs a system shutdown
whenever any material matching criteria in the operator-defined
dictionary is accessed. This product works offline as well as
online and performs a system shutdown when material matching
specified criteria are accessed, where the material to be blocked
could be loaded from floppy disks, CD-ROMS, local hard drives,
network drives, or any other appropriate media. It can also be
configured to provide the user a warning or to create a log of
"offenses"--accesses to material that have been defined as
offensive in the customized dictionary. Specific sites are also
able to be blocked by the software operator, and similarly, the
operator may make only certain sites available to be accessed.
[0012] Although this specific, operator-defined approach is
somewhat useful, a number of limitations are apparent. For example,
in utilizing a customized dictionary to block sites by keyword, the
operator is responsible for formulating a list of words or phrases
that could be included on a site with offensive material. Any
descriptive phrases or terminology overlooked or unknown by the
operator may therefore be readily available to the user. In
addition, material deemed offensive to the operator is not
necessarily described on a website by offensive descriptive words
that would be detected by the blocking software. For example,
pornographic material may be served from a server in a numeric
index format. In this case, graphic files may be sequentially
numbered with no descriptive text on that site. In this instance,
it would not be possible for the blocking software to detect the
presence of the offensive graphic material. The same case would be
true when operating the blocking software offline. Unless a graphic
file, for instance, was named with a title that matched an
offensive criteria, the file could be viewed without generating a
detection by the blocking software.
[0013] SurfWatch.TM. is another program designed to block
children's or employees' access to offensive Internet sites. It is
intended to solely block offensive Internet sites and is therefore
utilized only for online activities. Primarily, it relies on
blocking sites by use of a database that contains sites that have
been determined to be offensive and by the use of keyword filters.
The database is periodically updated and is available through a
service with payment of a licensing fee. Through the licensing
agency, criteria have been established as to what material is
deemed offensive, which includes, but is not limited to, sexually
explicit, violent, and/or illegal drug information. The software
operator has configuration options available to alter the criteria
by which Internet sites are blocked.
[0014] Again, the limitations are obvious. By relying on a
licensing agent to develop updated databases of offensive sites,
the operator is reliant on the agent to determine or locate any and
all such sites containing material that is offensive. At best, the
agent would be able to eliminate a large majority of such sites. It
would not be reasonable, however, to expect such an agency to be
able to locate every possible such site.
[0015] Additionally, there would exist a necessary delay in the
creation of a new site containing offensive material and the time
at which it is detected by the licensing agency and updated in the
database of blocked sites. During that time, any user utilizing a
system with the blocking software implemented by an operator would
have unrestricted access to that site, assuming that the site did
not contain descriptors matching those in the filtering module of
the software.
[0016] A further problem of such a blocking method is that the
operator is relying on a third party, the licensing agency, to
concur with the operator in the subjective determination of what
material is offensive. This method, in its most fundamental aspect,
removes from the operator the ability to censor objectionable
material as deemed objectionable by the operator. This limits the
control of the operator to the task of formulating descriptive
terms and phrases to be used by the filtering module, a method
similar to and with limitations consistent with the previously
discussed prior art application.
[0017] Another commercially available application is NetSnitch.TM.
which does not actively block Internet sites, as the previously
discussed art does, but instead creates a log of Uniform Resource
Locators (URLs) that can later be reviewed and loaded by the
software operator to determine what type of Internet sites have
been visited by the user. It is designed to function online and,
therefore, its usefulness is limited to online activities. When the
user goes online, a log is activated which lists the specific
Internet sites the user visits by recording that site's URL. It is,
therefore, used as a monitor of user activity by allowing the
software operator to later retrieve the log, and if desired, to go
online and load the URLs one at a time to investigate what type of
content is contained at the sites accessed by the user. As is
apparent, this method does not offer any type of site blocking but
gives, in one form, a complete history of the user's activity
online, which is recorded by each site's URL.
[0018] An obvious limitation of this method, however, is that it
only works online. Offensive material may be loaded by floppy disk,
for example, and viewed without the monitoring software ever being
activated. Furthermore, for the operator to determine the user's
online activity history, it is necessary for the operator to go
online him or herself, and load each URL to investigate the
material at each site, a time consuming and inconvenient task.
Also, none of the above techniques is able to verify the user's
actual activities, e.g., the content of a user's discussion in an
on-line "chat-box," which can be pornographic, racial or hate
related.
[0019] It is, therefore, evident that the need exists for a
convenient system and method for monitoring a computer user's
activity by an operator, while not limiting the user's computing or
informational allowances. Although a great deal of today's PC
users' data is generated from Internet usage, it has been
established that a need exists for a software application to be
effective offline, as well as online. It is further desired that no
limitations be placed on what type of material is to be monitored
and for the application to take no action against the user and,
additionally, for the application to give no suggestion to the user
of the application's operation. In doing so, the operator would
have sole discretion as to what type of usage is objectionable or
offensive and as to what course of action should be taken.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0020] The present invention is directed to a system and method for
monitoring computer usage. In a preferred embodiment, a computer
operator specifies discrete moments of a computer's usage at which
screen captures are executed and saved to a log. The operator, such
as a parent, can later retrieve the screen images to provide a
graphical record of the activities, such as that of their child, on
that computer. The system and method of the present invention
overcomes the limitations and inefficiencies of the prior art and
gives full authority of determining what type of computer usage is
inappropriate or offensive to the computer operator. Through the
use of the present invention, an operator may determine not only
whether or not a user's computer activity was inappropriate, but
may also simply determine if the computer was operated in any
manner. By employing the system and method of the disclosed
invention, a record of a user's activity or inactivity is created
that, in addition to being highly simple to evaluate, is an
irrefutable account of the user's computer usage. Variations of the
system and method allow the operator to direct monitoring events
toward online activities.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0021] A more complete understanding of the system and method of
the present invention may be had by reference to the following
detailed description when taken in conjunction with the
accompanying drawings wherein:
[0022] FIG. 1 is an exemplary embodiment of a conventional computer
system which may employ the subject matter of the present
invention;
[0023] FIG. 2 is an example of a main program interface utilized by
the system and method of the present invention, particularly using
the computer system of FIG. 1;
[0024] FIG. 3 illustrates a configuration interface activated when
the operator chooses to continuously monitor a computer's usage
with manual entry of screen capture times;
[0025] FIG. 4 is an interface activated when the operator chooses
to view captured images;
[0026] FIG. 5 is a configuration interface activated when the
operator chooses to manually select the screen capture times and
also chooses to have screen captures activated by modem downloads
only; and
[0027] FIG. 6 illustrates a sample interface for selecting display
formats.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EXEMPLARY
EMBODIMENTS
[0028] The present invention will now be described more fully
hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which
preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention
may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be
construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather,
these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be
thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the
invention to those skilled in the art.
[0029] FIG. 1 illustrates a computer system incorporating the
monitoring program according to the present invention. A file
server 8 connects remote computers 2, 4 and 5 through the use of a
network connection, generally represented by the reference numeral
1. File server 8 further connects computers 2, 4, and 5 to the
Internet 9 via a gateway 7. Remote computers 4 and 5 are, in
addition to their own local hard drives, equipped with external
storage devices 11 and 13, respectively. Computer 5 is further
networked to include computer 15 operating remotely from it. Of
course, the number and arrangement of the computers in the network
depicted in FIG. 1 have been arbitrarily selected and in no way
limit the merits of the present invention.
[0030] It should be understood that since the exact configuration
of the computer system components may vary greatly, the present
invention, as set forth in the proceeding discussion, would be
effective in any number of network configurations. Furthermore, the
present invention is not limited to the various expansions or
rearrangements on the network as described in FIG. 1, but also
applies to a stand alone system, which may be defined as a computer
system with no available resources outside its own physical
devices. In addition, in the continuing discussion, reference will
be made to operation of the invention in a network environment.
[0031] As an example of the potential usage of the disclosed
invention, the particular network configuration of FIG. 1 is first
considered in an office environment. In this example, an employer
has employees operating from local computers 2, 4, 5, and 15.
Employees are served files and Internet access through the server
8. In doing so, the employer wishes to discretely monitor the
employees usage of their local computers. Utilizing the disclosed
invention, the employer may go about this in a number of ways. The
subject matter of the invention, which is preferably embodied in
software, is loaded and configured on each of the employees'
computers, 2, 4, 5, and 15. After some time of employee computer
activity, the employer could return to each of these machines, and
through functions later discussed, retrieve a visual log of the
users' activities.
[0032] The employer may also choose to run the invention from
server 8 with specific configuration made for each employee
computer, 2, 4, 5, and 15. The employer may only wish to monitor
one employee, 15 for instance. The employer may feel that the
employee on computer 15 is especially savvy and may feel it is a
possibility that this employee would discover the operation of the
disclosed invention on the local computer. With the network
configuration shown, the employer could run a monitoring routine
from computer 5 or the server 8, with computer 15 being the target
for monitoring user activity.
[0033] It should be understood that regardless of whichever
computer usage is subject to being monitored in such a network
environment, the disclosed invention may be run from the targeted
computer, from a network server, or from any other computer sharing
appropriate communication paths with the targeted computer.
Furthermore, the retrieval and viewing of monitored computer usage
is not limited to the targeted computer or the computer from which
the monitoring function was implemented from, but instead, it could
be viewed from yet another computer with appropriate communication
paths between itself and the disclosed invention.
[0034] The preferred embodiment of the present invention and its
advantages are best understood by referring to FIGS. 2-4 of the
drawings. FIG. 2 shows a main menu interface of the present
invention. A number of configuration options are available to the
operator. To implement the invention, the operator would select
icon 10, `Total,` and 20, `Manual Setup` from these options. The
`Total` option, 10, specifies that the monitoring routine of the
present invention will continuously monitor the computer usage,
regardless of its operating condition. The `Manual Setup` option,
20, specifies that the operator will determine at what discrete
moments the monitoring routine will execute screen captures and
save these screen captures in an activity log. After selecting
options 10 and 20, the operator must specify when the screen
captures are to occur. This is done through an interface such as
shown in FIG. 3.
[0035] The screen capture interface prompts the operator for the
discrete moments at which the screen captures are to be executed,
and is activated from the interface of FIG. 2 when the operator has
selected either of options 10 and 20. In the example interface
depicted in FIG. 3, the operator is prompted for five distinct
hourly moments at which the screen capture is to be executed.
[0036] The actual time of the executions are specified relative to
each hour of the day and are governed by the system clock. The
operator would then enter respective values in the areas 30, 31,
32, 33, and 34. Entries are numerical values greater than or equal
to 1 and less than or equal to 60, i.e., 1-60 minutes. For example,
if the operator entered `03` in the area 30, a screen capture would
be executed and recorded at the first second of the third minute of
each hour that the computer was running. This screen capture would
be in addition to those entered in 31, 32, 33, and 34. Again, all
times are consistent with the system clock from which the present
invention is operating. Although in the present example, five
screen captures per hour are specified by the operator to be
executed, it is nonetheless apparent that the number of screen
captures performed is arbitrary and may vary pursuant to operator
criteria or preferences.
[0037] Once the operator has configured the program to the desired
specifications, a confirmation message is generated informing the
operator that the software is configured and ready to monitor a
user's activity. No further action is then required by the operator
until viewing the results. The system may be shut down or allowed
to continue running. Either way, the program monitors a user's
activity once the specified criteria in the program's configuration
settings are satisfied.
[0038] The operator may later retrieve the saved screen captures.
The operator would begin the retrieval from the main menu, as shown
in FIG. 2. Here, the operator has the option of viewing the
activity log in 24 hour mode, 12, or am/pm mode, 14. After
selecting the mode, the operator selects option 40, `Show Saved
Data.` For security purposes, e.g., to prevent a child or employee
from accessing or modifying the log, this option preferably
activates a password screen. It should be understood, however, that
password verification may be implemented during other parts of the
monitoring routine, particularly in accessing the initial screen
shown in FIG. 2. Ideally, the operator would be the only person
with knowledge of the password. Once the operator has successfully
entered the correct password, the monitoring routine prompts the
operator to choose between viewing saved screens or saved
statistics.
[0039] Assuming the operator chooses to view the saved screens, an
interface similar to FIG. 4 is activated. The operator can then
choose to view all the saved screens by selecting the appropriate
object, 50, or the operator may choose to view the saved screens
during a specific time period. To do this, the operator simply
enters the range of dates and hours in areas 55 and 60. The
procedure would be the same in 24 hours mode except the time is
entered in by selecting hours from 1 to 24 as opposed to selecting
the hour and choosing am or pm in am/pm mode. When the operator
makes their viewing selection, the first saved screen appears in a
window with a date/time stamp appearing in the upper right hand
corner. A sample interface for such a screen is shown in FIG. 6.
The operator then has the option to go forward to the next captured
image 70, return to the previous image 75, or delete the captured
image 80.
[0040] The operator can then view the next captured image by
selecting object 70, marked `Next`. By viewing each consecutive
image with the time/date stamp marked on it, the operator has a
graphic time line of a user's activity on the computer. Assuming
the program had been configured to operate continuously, any hourly
time periods without any saved images would indicate a period of
computer inactivity. Therefore, the operator has not only a
historical profile of a user's activity, but can also gain
information as to a user's periods of inactivity. A variation is
included herein where an operator may not find it necessary to save
actual images of a user's session, but may instead elect to save
statistical information on a user's activities. This capturing of
statistical information would be configured in a manner similar to
that just described, only statistics such as download sites, times,
dates, file names, sizes, applications running at specific times,
and any number of other useful statistics lending information as to
a particular user's computer activity would be entered in the log
instead of an actual image of the screen capture.
[0041] A variation on this embodiment would allow the operator to
specify time periods of continuous monitoring. In this manner, the
operator may specify periods when no monitoring is desired or stop
the monitoring program from running until reactuated by the
operator. In a business office, this would be convenient for off
hours. A similar example for the home may be when a child is in
school. By making adjustments in the configuration options of the
invention, this would allow an operator to avoid unnecessary
monitoring, thereby expediting future review of captured data and
avoiding monitoring of incidental usage.
[0042] In a second embodiment of the present invention, the
operator may elect to have the times of screen capture execution
automatically selected as opposed to manually entering the times.
The operator is allowed this option by selecting 10, `Total,` and
16, `Random Savings,` from the configuration interface shown in
FIG. 2. In implementing this option, the software monitoring
utility changes the time of the first through fifth screen captures
each hour. This provides an added protection against a user who is
capable of determining the intervals at which the screen capture is
implemented. Although it is unlikely, it is possible a user could
discover the occurrence of the monitoring event by tangible signals
generated by the computer, such as a hard disk activity light. By
using option 16 of FIG. 2, the operator allows the times at which
the screen captures are executed to vary by the hour, thus
prohibiting the user from determining the particular minute or
other time measure at which the capture will occur. The operator
may then later retrieve captured images or statistics in a manner
that is consistent with that described in the first embodiment. In
a further modification, the program of the present invention allows
the operator to specify periods when no monitoring is to be
implemented.
[0043] In a third embodiment of the invention, a monitoring scheme
more directed at determining a user's online activity is allowed.
In this embodiment, the monitoring is not initiated until a modem
download is detected. The operator may configure it to monitor at
the discrete moments selected by the operator similar to the method
described in embodiment 1. To do this, the operator would choose
18, `Modem`, and 20 `Manual Setup`, from the interface depicted in
FIG. 2. Doing so would activate the configuration screen shown in
FIG. 5.
[0044] At this modem-download interface, times are entered by the
operator in the appropriate areas 90, 91, 92, 93, and 94. One
difference in the functionality of this configuration compared to
the configuration described in the first embodiment is that in this
configuration, screen captures are not executed until a modem
download occurs. When a modem download occurs, the entries made by
the operator in the interface depicted in FIG. 4 are compared to
the system clock and a capture is executed when a minute on the
system clock is consistent with a minute entered by the operator at
this interface.
[0045] It should be understood that in operating the invention
according to this embodiment, a user's session in which no online
activity occurs will not be subject to monitoring. Accordingly, an
operator would only use this configuration when interested solely
in monitoring a user's online activity. The operator may then later
retrieve captured images or statistics in a manner that is
consistent with that described in the first embodiment. With
additional modification, the invention allows the operator to
specify periods when no monitoring is to be implemented.
[0046] In a fourth embodiment of the present invention, the
operator has another configuration available that may be directed
to monitoring online activity. The operator may choose this
configuration by respectively selecting 18 and 16 from the
interface depicted in FIG. 2. The functionality of this
configuration is similar to that described in the second embodiment
with the exception that screen captures are not executed until the
detection of a modem download. For each modem download, screen
captures will be executed at the first second of five randomly
selected minutes over an hour interval, the pattern repeating for
each hour designated. The operator may then later retrieve captured
images or statistics in a manner that is consistent with that
described in the first embodiment. With some modification, the
invention allows the operator to specify periods when no monitoring
is to be implemented.
[0047] In addition to password usage, a further degree of
operational integrity may be implemented to increase the difficulty
of a user deleting the saved images in the case the user is able to
discover the operation of the disclosed invention. This may be done
by introducing a series of keywords or numerical entries that must
be correctly entered in order to confirm the deletion. Ideally,
only the operator would be knowledgeable of such information, and
thus, even if the user discovers the operation of the invention,
the possibility of the user being capable of deleting the saved
data or disabling the program is further minimized.
[0048] Instead of a series of password requests, the program could
instead require multiple request screens to cancel or delete the
monitoring program or the stored data. Preferably, the number of
distinct requests and requisite responses (clicks) handles the
situation where the operator has forgotten the password and needs
to cancel the program, e.g., before the harddrive falls. Although
the user could in principle then delete the downloaded data (and
even the monitoring program itself), the user would be unable to
say the deletions were accidental if a large number, e.g., 21, of
discrete steps were necessary to accomplish deletion.
[0049] It should be understood that the series of screen
downloads/statistical data, stored on the storage devices 11 and 13
or upon the harddrives of the various computers depicted in FIG. 1,
may be displayed as they appeared on the user's screen, e.g.,
display terminal 5A of computer 5, at the time of downloading,
e.g., an image 5B thereon, or multiple such downloads displayed. In
particular, the operator may select the manner of display and
illustrate the user's usage of the computer by displaying multiple
images/data alongside each other, e.g., an entire hour's worth of
activity may be displayed on the terminal 5A, each image being
reduced in size and resolution to fit. The images may be aligned or
overlaid to better show computer usage over longer periods of
time.
[0050] It should also be understood that the intercepted screen
downloads/statistical data or other data transmissions may be
stored on the aforementioned storage devices 11 and 13, harddrives,
zip drives or any other type of memory storage.
[0051] Although various embodiments of the method and apparatus of
the present invention have been illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings and described in the foregoing Detailed Description, it
will be understood that the invention is not limited to the
embodiments disclosed, but is capable of numerous rearrangements,
modifications and substitutions without departing from the spirit
of the invention as set forth and defined by the following
claims.
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