SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COOKIE-BASED BROWSER IDENTIFICATION AND TRACKING
The present invention provides a system and method to identify unique browsers (Agents) communicating to the client. Every new browser communicating through the client is assigned a unique Agent ID that is stored in the browser's cookie cache. When the browser sends a request, the cookie may have the Agent ID to identify the browser to the client. If the cookie with the Agent ID is not present, then the client will return a re-direction response to a common URL with the domain having the cookie with the Agent ID to identify the unique browser. Another re-direction takes place back to the browser to make the request with the original URL, but this time has the cookie with the Agent ID to identify the unique browser.
1 . A method, comprising:
receiving, via a communication portion, a first request;
generating, via a second server, a browser identifier that identifies a browser;
determining, via a browser identifying portion, whether the first request includes the browser identifier;
connecting, via a redirecting portion, the browser to a second server when the browser identifying portion determines that the first request includes an unrecognized browser identifier;
storing, via a storage portion, the browser identifier;
creating, via the second server, the browser identifier and an instruction having the browser identifier, the instruction being operable to instruct the user device to send a second request, having the browser identifier, to connect to the first server;
sending, via the communication portion, the instruction to the user device;
receiving, via the communication portion, the second request;
determining, via the browser identifying portion, whether the second request includes the browser identifier;
connecting, via the redirecting portion, the browser to the second server when the browser identifying portion determines that the second request includes the browser identifier; and
generating, via the second server, a third request to connect the browser to the first server, the third request including the browser identifier.