METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CONTINUATION OF BROWSING SESSIONS BETWEEN DEVICES
A system and method are provided for continuing a browsing session initiated with a first client machine and a web site. The browsing session may be continued on a second client machine by tracking the navigation history associated with the browsing session of the first client machine. The navigation history comprises at least an address of a last viewed web page of the web site. Continuation of the browsing session is further facilitated by collecting at least one web cookie during the browsing session that is dependent upon the interaction between the first client machine and the web site. In this way, in order to allow switching between client machines to continue the browsing session, the navigation history and the at least one web cookie is provided from the second client machine to the web site to restore and resume the browsing session at the point that it was previously terminated.
1 . A method of continuing a browsing session associated with a first client machine and a web site on a second client machine, the method comprising:
tracking a navigation history associated with the browsing session, the navigation history comprising an address of a last viewed web page of the web site;
collecting at least one web cookie during the browsing session, the at least one cookie dependent upon interaction between the first client machine and the web site; and
providing the navigation history and the at least one web cookie for the second client machine to restore the browsing session.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
tracking formatting information of the web page as formatted by the first client machine and associated with the navigation history; and
storing the formatting information for providing to the second client machine to restore the browsing session to provide the formatted web page.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the navigation history further comprises web page addresses of each web page visited during the browsing session.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one web cookie comprises data selected from the group consisting of: a browsing session identification; a user identification associated with the browsing session; a first client machine identification; user preference information associated with the browsing session and the web site; and a user login information associated with the browsing session.
5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising maintaining a relational database for data received from the web site during the browsing session, the data received from the web site comprising the at least one web cookie.
6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
providing a gateway between each of the first client machine, the second client machine and the web site;
receiving requests on the gateway for restoring the browsing session from the second client machine;
retrieving the at least one web cookie from the relational database and providing a transaction continuance package from the gateway to the second client machine, the transaction continuance package comprising the stored at least one web cookie and the navigation history for providing to the web site to restore the browsing session.
7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
tracking a state of a transaction initiated by the first client machine on the web site during the browsing session; and
storing the state associated with the navigation history and the at least one web cookie for providing to the second client machine to facilitate continuing the browsing session to complete the transaction.
8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting the at least one web cookie and the navigation history from the first client machine to the second client machine, such that the second client machine transmits the at least one web cookie to the web site associated with the navigation history to restore the browsing session on the second client machine.
9 . The method of claim 8 wherein the web site comprises an e-commerce web site and wherein the web page is for conducting a transaction.
10 . The method of claim 8 wherein one of the first client machine or the second client machine comprises a wireless mobile device.
11 . A system for continuing a browsing session associated with a first client machine and a web site on a second client machine, the system comprising:
at least one computing device comprising a processor and a memory coupled thereto, said memory storing instructions and data for configuring the processor to:
track a navigation history associated with the browsing session, the navigation history comprising an address of a last viewed web page of the web site;
collect at least one web cookie during the browsing session, the at least one web cookie dependent upon interaction between the first client machine and the web site; and
provide the navigation history and the at least one web cookie for the second client machine to restore the browsing session.
12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
track formatting information of the web page formatted by the first client machine and associated with the navigation history; and
store the formatting information for providing to the second client machine to restore the browsing session to provide the formatted web page.
13 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the navigation history further comprises web page addresses of each web page visited during the browsing session.
14 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the at least one web cookie comprises data selected from the group consisting of: a browsing session identification; a user identification associated with the browsing session; a first client machine identification; user preference information associated with the browsing session and the web site; and a user login information associated with the browsing session.
15 . The system of claim 11 , further comprising a relational database maintained for storing the data received from the web site during the browsing session, the data received from the web site comprising the at least one web cookie.
16 . The system of claim 15 , further comprising a gateway between each of the first client machine, the second client machine and the web site; each of the gateway, the first client machine and the second client machine configured as one of the at least one computing devices, each of the first and the second client machines configured to request at least some of the web pages of the web site via the gateway; and the second client machine configured to communicate with the gateway for restoring the browsing session.
17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein upon receiving a request for restoring the session from the second client machine, the gateway is further configured to:
retrieve the at least one web cookie from the relational database and provide a transaction continuance package to the second client machine, the transaction continuance package comprising the stored at least one web cookie and the navigation history for providing to the web site to restore the browsing session.
18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the instructions and data of the gateway configure the processor of the gateway to:
track a state of a transaction initiated by the first client machine on the web site during the browsing session; and
store the state associated with the navigation history and the at least one web cookie for providing to the second client machine to facilitate continuing the browsing session to complete the transaction.
19 . The system of claim 11 , wherein each of the first and the second client machine are configured as one of the at least one computing devices, the instructions and the data of the first client machine configuring its processor to provide the at least one web cookie and the navigation history from the first client machine to the second client machine, such that the instructions and the data of the second client machine configure its processor to transmit the at least one web cookie to the web site associated with the navigation history to restore the browsing session on the second client machine.
20 . The system of claim 19 , wherein the computing device comprises a wireless mobile device.
21 . The system of claim 19 , wherein the web site is an e-commerce site and wherein the web page is for conducting a transaction.
22 . A computer program product for continuing a browsing session associated with a first client machine and a web site on a second client machine, the computer program product for storing computer readable instructions which when executed by a computer processor configure the processor to:
track a navigation history associated with the browsing session, the navigation history comprising an address of a last viewed web page of the web site;
collect at least one web cookie during the browsing session, the at least one cookie dependent upon interaction between the first client machine and the web site; and
provide the navigation history and the at least one web cookie for the second client machine to restore the browsing session.
23 . A method of conducting an e-commerce transaction between a wireless mobile device and an e-commerce web site, said method comprising:
tracking a navigation history associated with the e-commerce transaction, the navigation history comprising an address of a last viewed web page of the e-commerce web site;
collecting at least one web cookie during the browsing session, the at least one web cookie dependent upon interaction between the wireless mobile device and the e-commerce web site to conduct the e-commerce transaction; and
providing the navigation history and the at least one web cookie for a computing device to restore and complete the e-commerce transaction.
24 . A system for continuing a browsing session associated with a first client machine and a web site on a second client machine, the system comprising:
said first client machine configured to initiate the browsing session;
a gateway coupled between the web site and each of the first and the second client machine, the gateway configured to:
receive a request from the second client machine for continuing the browsing session;
retrieve a navigation history associated with the browsing session of the first client machine, the navigation history comprising an address of a last viewed web page of the web site;
retrieve at least one web cookie provided from the web site upon interaction between the first client machine and the web site; and
provide the at least one web cookie and the navigation history to the web site in association with the second client machine for continuing the browsing session and restoring the last viewed web page.
25 . A system for continuing a browsing session associated with a first client machine and a web site on a second client machine, the system comprising:
said first client machine configured to initiate the browsing session;
a gateway coupled between the web site and each of the first and the second client machine, the gateway configured to:
receive a request from the second client machine for continuing the browsing session;
retrieve a navigation history associated with the browsing session of the first client machine, the navigation history comprising an address of a last viewed web page of the web site;
retrieve at least one web cookie provided from the web site upon interaction between the first client machine and the web site; and
provide the at least one web cookie and the navigation history to the web site in association with the second client machine for continuing the browsing session and restoring the last viewed web page.