Method, system and program product for tracking web user sessions
View Patent ↗The present invention provides a solution for efficiently tracking web user sessions. Specifically, under the present invention, web user sessions are tracked on an analytics system based upon a unique identifier assigned to a requested web page and a session cookie that identifies a particular web user session. By tracking web user sessions in this manner, web page data transmitted during a particular web user session can be efficiently and accurately correlated for analysis.
1. A method for tracking web user sessions, comprising:
receiving a requested web page on a user system, wherein the web page is requested and received without previous providing of information for identifying a session to a system associated with the web page by the user system;
transmitting by the received web page an initial communication from the user system to an analytics system, wherein the initial communication includes initial web page data and a unique identifier corresponding to the requested web page;
returning a session cookie to the user system, wherein the session cookie identifies a current web user session,
transmitting an additional communication to the analytics system, wherein the additional communication includes additional web page data, the unique identifier and the session cookie; and
correlating the additional web page data with the initial web page data using the unique identifier and the session cookie.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the initial web page data identifies a referring source to the requested web page that indicates how the user system was referred to the requested web page.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the unique identifier comprises a time stamp and a unique value corresponding to the requested web page.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining whether the current web user session exists, prior to returning the session cookie to the user system.
5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising retrieving the session cookie if the current web user session exists.
6. The method of claim 4 , further comprising creating the session cookie if the current web user session does not exist.
7. A method for tracking web user sessions, comprising:
requesting a web page on a user system, wherein the web page is requested and received without previous providing of information for identifying a session to a system associated with the web page by the user system;
receiving the web page on the user system from a web server;
transmitting by the received web page an initial communication from the user system to an analytics system, wherein the initial communication includes initial web page data and a unique identifier corresponding to the web page, and wherein the initial web page data identifies a referring source to the web page that indicates how the user system was referred to the requested web page;
returning a session cookie to the user system, wherein the session cookie identifies a current web user session;
transmitting an additional communication from the user system to the analytics system, wherein the additional communication includes additional web page data, the unique identifier and the session cookie; and
correlating the additional web page data with the initial web page data using the unique identifier and the session cookie.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the unique identifier comprises a time stamp and a unique value corresponding to the requested web page.
9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising determining whether the current web user session exists, prior to returning the session cookie to the user system.
10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising retrieving the session cookie if the current web user session exists.
11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising creating the session cookie if the current web user session does not exist.