Mobile or user device authentication and tracking
View Patent ↗A system and method, according to one or more embodiments, includes a server computing device configured to communicate with a network-based device via a network; a visitor identification, in which the system generates the visitor identification and the visitor identification corresponds to a piece of information that is unique to the network-based device; a mapping for which the system adds the generated visitor identification to the mapping so that the visitor identification uniquely identifies the network-based device from all other network-based devices in communication with the server computing device; and a database in which the system tracks the visitor identification among a plurality of visitor identifications in the database.
1. A system comprising:
a server computing device configured to communicate with a network-based device via a network;
a visitor identification, wherein:
the system generates the visitor identification; and
the visitor identification corresponds to a piece of information that is unique to the network-based device;
a mapping table, wherein:
the system generates a mapping for which the visitor identification uniquely identifies the network-based device by, in response to determining that the uniquely identifying user device information is not mapped to a specific visitor identification, adding the generated visitor identification to the mapping table so that the visitor identification serves as a database key for tracking the network-based device by uniquely identifying the network-based device from all other network-based devices in communication with the server computing device; and
a database, wherein:
the system tracks the visitor identification among a plurality of visitor identifications in the database including:
storing a tracking data in the database so that the tracking data is keyed to the visitor identification, wherein the tracking data includes a purchase information for purchases made with the network-based device;
retrieving the tracking data for the network-based device, using the mapping for which the visitor identification uniquely identifies the network-based device and using the visitor identification as a key to find the tracking data; and
interacting with a user of the network-based device including providing a purchase recommendation based on the purchase information included in the retrieved tracking data.
2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a web server configured to send and receive information between the network and the server computing device.
3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
an application programming interface (API) associated with a financial service provider.
4. The system of claim 3 , wherein:
the information unique to the network-based device is transmitted to the server computing device in response to use of an API call.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the server computing device is an application server; and
the application server executes a tracking application.
6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a database server that provides the server computing device access to the database.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the visitor identification is generated so that the visitor identification is distinct from each of a plurality of visitor identifications stored in the system.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the visitor identification is generated based on the information that is unique to the network-based device.
9. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the visitor identification is generated so that the visitor identification uniquely corresponds to the information that is unique to the network-based device.
10. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the visitor identification is generated so that the visitor identification uniquely corresponds to the network-based device.
11. A method comprising:
gathering at least one piece of uniquely identifying user device information from a network-based device, wherein the uniquely identifying user device information is transmitted from the network-based device in response to the use of an application programming interface (API) call of a financial service provider on the network-based device;
checking whether the uniquely identifying user device information is mapped to a visitor identification by searching a database to determine whether the uniquely identifying user device information is already included in a mapping table;
authenticating the network-based device in response to determining that the uniquely identifying user device information is already included in the mapping table and mapped to a specific visitor identification;
generating a mapping for which the visitor identification uniquely identifies the network-based device by, in response to determining that the uniquely identifying user device information is not mapped to a specific visitor identification, generating a new visitor identification and adding the new visitor identification to the mapping, wherein:
the new visitor identification uniquely corresponds to the uniquely identifying user device information; and
the new visitor identification is added to the mapping by storing the uniquely identifying user device information along with the new visitor identification in the database;
storing a tracking data in the database so that the tracking data is keyed to the visitor identification, wherein the tracking data includes a purchase information for purchases made with the network-based device;
retrieving the tracking data for the network-based device, using the mapping for which the visitor identification uniquely identifies the network-based device and using the visitor identification as a key to find the tracking data; and
interacting with a user of the network-based device including providing a purchase recommendation based on the purchase information included in the retrieved tracking data.
12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
tracking the authenticated network-based device.
13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
interacting with a user based on data retrieved from the database using the specific visitor identification as a key.
14. The method of claim 11 , wherein:
checking whether the uniquely identifying user device information is mapped to a visitor identification comprises searching a database table for a match to any of the uniquely identifying user device information.
15. The method of claim 11 , wherein:
authenticating the network-based device comprises determining a mapped visitor identification from the database in response to finding a match to any of the uniquely identifying user device information.
16. The method of claim 11 , wherein:
generating the new visitor identification comprises generating the visitor identification based on the uniquely identifying user device information.
17. The method of claim 11 , wherein:
adding the new visitor identification to the mapping comprises storing the uniquely identifying user device information along with the generated visitor identification in a row of a database table.
18. The method of claim 12 , wherein:
tracking the authenticated network-based device comprises retrieving information from the database using the specific visitor identification as a key.
19. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having computer readable and executable code for instructing a processor to perform a method, the method comprising:
receiving uniquely identifying user device information transmitted from a network-based device in response to the use of an API call of a financial service provider on the network-based device;
checking whether the uniquely identifying user device information is mapped to a visitor identification by searching a database to determine whether the uniquely identifying user device information is already included in a mapping table;
authenticating the network-based device in response to determining that the uniquely identifying user device information is already included in the mapping table and mapped to a specific visitor identification;
generating a mapping for which the visitor identification uniquely identifies the network-based device by, in response to determining that the uniquely identifying user device information is not mapped to a specific visitor identification, generating a new visitor identification and adding the new visitor identification to the mapping, wherein:
the new visitor identification uniquely corresponds to the uniquely identifying user device information; and
the new visitor identification is added to the mapping by storing the uniquely identifying user device information along with the new visitor identification in the database,
storing a tracking data in the database so that the tracking data is keyed to the visitor identification, wherein the tracking data includes a purchase information for purchases made with the network-based device;
retrieving the tracking data for the network-based device, using the mapping for which the visitor identification uniquely identifies the network-based device and using the visitor identification as a key to find the tracking data; and
interacting with a user of the network-based device including providing a purchase recommendation based on the purchase information included in the retrieved tracking data.