Traversal path-based approach to understanding user-oriented hypertext object usage
US5931912A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 9, 1996 |
| Grant date | Aug 3, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 9, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F16/9574
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method and system to map client access patterns in a stateless hypertext server. For each hypertext object access, a plurality of information about the access may be collected, including the requestor address, the hyperlink source, and the hyperlink target. When available, a time stamp of the access and agent information may also be used. The hyperlink source and hyperlink target form a hyperlink access pair, representing a step in the user traversal path on the hypertext objects. These hyperlink access pairs are then mapped into hyperlink access groups. Each hyperlink group represents all the hypertext objects visited by a user along a traversal path. To map hyperlink access pairs into access groups, each access pair is added to an active session if the new access pair can expand the session into a connected traversal path. Once hyperlink groups are identified, user-oriented object usage statistics can be analyzed. When client and/or proxy caching occurs, hypertext objects are fetched locally instead of from the hypertext server. Thus, no requests are made to the server for the cached objects. As a result, it may be required to add valid backward traversal steps to an active ses…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.