Method and system for monitoring an activity of a user
A method for tracking an activity of a user, the method includes: downloading, over a network, web page content that comprises a tracking code; tracking, at least partially by executing the tracking code by a user computer, user activities that are responsive to at least a portion of the downloaded web page content, wherein the tracking comprises generating user activity information; compressing and buffering a portion of the user activity information; and transmitting to a tracking entity, at least a compressed portion of the user activity information when a first transmission criterion is fulfilled.
1. A method for tracking an activity of a user, the method comprising:
downloading, over a network, web page content that comprises a tracking code;
tracking, at least partially by executing the tracking code by a user computer, user activities that are responsive to at least a portion of the downloaded web page content;
associating each user activity with properties of the user activity;
generating user activity information consisting of each tracked activity and its associated properties, wherein the properties of the user activity are associated with a position and size of each element of a portion of a web page related to the user activity, thereby providing the user activity information an invariant form in which the user activity information is relative to the position and size of the each associated elements of the portion of the web pace;
wherein the user activity information in the invariant form further allow for a compensation of differences between visual representations, wherein the compensation comprises converting, in a non-linear transformation, information within the user activity information representative of the position and size of the each associated element of the portion of the web pace to a different position and a different size for a playback display, wherein the non-linear transformation comprises converting the each associated element of the portion of the web page in a piece-wise-linear fashion;
compressing and buffering a portion of the user activity information; and
transmitting to a tracking entity, at least a compressed portion of the user activity information when a first transmission criterion is fulfilled.
2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the tracking code includes a first portion for determining whether to track user activities and a second portion being activated when tracking of the user activities is determined to be required by the first portion of the tracking code.
3. The method according to claim 2 wherein determining whether to track user activities is responsive to a feature of the user.
4. The method according to claim 2 wherein determining whether to track user activities is responsive to a result of a random process.
5. The method according to claim 2 wherein determining whether to track user activities is responsive to at least one previous visit of the user at a web site that comprises the web page.
6. The method according to claim 1 further comprising associating a timestamp, a user identifier and a session identifier to user activity information representative of a session of user activities.
7. The method according to claim 1 further comprising compressing user activity information by a variable length compression scheme.
8. The method according to claim 1 wherein the tracking comprise generating user activity information representative of mouse movement and wherein the properties associated with the mouse movement include at least coordinates of a cursor and the state of mouse buttons.
9. The method according to claim 1 wherein the tracking comprise generating user activity information representative of keyboard strokes and wherein the properties associated with the keyboard strokes include at least keys that were pressed.
10. The method according to claim 1 further comprising hashing textual information displayed to the user during the visit.
11. The method according to claim 1 further comprising transmitting an uncompressed portion of the user activity information.
12. The method according to claim 1 further comprising transmitting a first portion of the user activity information when the first transmission criterion is fulfilled and transmitting another portion of the user activity information when a second transmission criterion is fulfilled.
13. The method according to claim 1 wherein the tracking comprise generating user activity information representative of scrolling and wherein properties associated with the scrolling include at least position of scroll bars.
14. The method according to claim 1 further comprising transmitting web page content information representative of web page content displayed to the user during a visit of the user at the web page.
15. A computer program product of a computer readable medium usable with a programmable computer, the computer program product having computer-readable code embodied therein for tracking an activity of a user, the computer-readable code comprising instructions for:
downloading, over a network, web page content that comprises a tracking code;
tracking, at least partially by executing the tracking code by a user computer, user activities that are responsive to at least a portion of the downloaded web page content;
associating each user activity with properties of the user activity;
generating user activity information consisting of each tracked activity and its associated properties, wherein the properties of the user activity are associated with a position and size of each element of a portion of a web page related to the user activity, thereby providing the user activity information in an invariant form in which the user activity information is relative to the position and size of the each associated elements of the portion of the web page;
wherein the user activity information in the invariant form further allow for a compensation of differences between visual representations, wherein the compensation comprises converting, in a non-linear transformation, information within the user activity information representative of the position and size of the each associated element of the portion of the web page to a different position and a different size for a playback display, wherein the non-linear transformation comprises converting the each associated element of the portion of the web page in a piece-wise-linear fashion;
compressing and buffering a portion of the user activity information; and
transmitting to a tracking entity, at least a compressed portion of the user activity information when a first transmission criterion is fulfilled.
16. The computer program product claim 15 , wherein the tracking code includes a first portion for determining whether to track user activities and a second portion being downloaded when tracking of the user activities is determined to be required by the first portion of the tracking code.
17. The computer program product claim 16 , wherein the instructions for tracking an activity of a user, comprise instructions for determining whether to track the user activities in response to at least one previous visit of the user at a web site that comprises the web page.
18. The computer program product claim 16 , wherein the instructions for tracking an activity of a user, comprise instructions for determining whether to track the user activities in response to a result of a random process.