FR2816082A1 - Method for obtaining interaction between a web site user and an information base on another web site, comprises recording on target site means to load additional page associated with analyzing server - Google Patents

Abstract

When an observed user loads a target website (01) an additional page associated with an observation website (04) is generated. The additional page is displayed with the target page on the user's computer and linked (09) to the observation site. An administrative computer has an administrative page linked (12) to the observation website such that target site usage statistics and answers to questions may be accessed Independent claims are made for equipment and web server software to support the method

Description

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INTERACTION SYSTEM BETWEEN THE USER OF A WEBSITE AND AN INFORMATION BASE LOCATED ON ANOTHER WEBSITE
The present invention relates to an interaction system between the user of a website and an information base located on another website.

 To date, there is no simple method allowing internet users to answer questions or access online help depending on the page (characterized by its "Uniform Resource Identifier") of the website on which they sail.

 To do this, the behavior of the Internet user on the website he is visiting must be observed and transmitted to another website responsible for interacting with him.

Interaction can take the form of sending questions, recording information responses or various requests (help provided to the user, etc.).

This function is currently limited by compliance with security standards in Internet browser software on the market. On the Internet user's computer, a website belonging to a certain Internet domain (for example societe. Com) cannot interact with a website belonging to another domain (for example gouv. Fr)
The observation of the Internet user's behavior is however necessary for many marketing applications, IT development, customer relationship management, etc.

 A palliative has now been found by the use of spyware voluntarily installed by the user on his computer. This technique is both restrictive and too effective. Everything the user does is saved to a remote server.

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 Another option was to ask end or start navigation questions. This technique is very user-friendly but does not respond to the intensity or the quality targeted by the applications that use them.

 The device according to the invention provides a new interaction technique ensuring the synthesis of security requirements for the user, ease of implementation for the website visited and efficiency for the transmission of information or the collection of answers.

 To this end, the invention relates, in its most general sense, to a method for recording and retrieving by an analysis server [the Observation website] digital data relating to the use of at least one target site. by users equipped with client workstations [the terminal of the observed user, characterized in that it comprises a step of recording in at least one page of the target site an IT means capable of ordering, when said page is loaded by a client computer, the loading of an additional associated page from a site of the analysis server, the page of the target site and the associated page of the analysis site being viewed in two separate windows while being declared in the same DNS domain for the user's browser, the associated page for collecting information, and a means for manufacturing a digital message containing said information as well as a user identifier and an identifier of the page of the target site, the method comprises steps of sending said digital message to a memory of the analysis server.

 According to a first variant, the associated page for collecting information consists of a digital form for entering information.

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 According to a second variant, the associated page for collecting information consists of a contextual questionnaire triggered by a button.

 According to a third variant, the associated page for collecting information consists of text relating to the observed page of the target site.

 Preferably, the associated page of the target site includes a link for access by a non-referenced user to a page of the observation site and the downloading of a digital registration form in the user database of the server.

 Advantageously, the method according to the invention comprises an initial step of registering the user in the server user database by loading a digital form from the analysis server, and subsequent steps of accessing pages from the associated target site, each ordering the loading of an additional page from the server.

 According to a particular embodiment, the page associated with a page of the target site contains a link for deactivating the sending of pages from the analysis site, during the current session.

 The invention also relates to a system for ensuring the interactions between the user of a website [the target site] and an information base located on another website [the analysis site] characterized in that it includes: - a computer hosting web server software and an application accessing a database, [web observation - at least one computer hosting web server software and a site comprising at least one page containing a computer means capable of controlling, during loading

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 said page by a client station, the loading of an additional associated page from a site of the analysis server.

 Advantageously, the system according to the invention further comprises a computer administrator computer hosting web server software for access to the data recorded in the database of the analysis server.

 The device first includes a target website, with a domain name, accessible from the Internet or on a private network, visited by the Internet user and under which the interaction must take place.

 This target website can be supported by any technology, either static pages (html, ...), or dynamic pages (asp, jsp, php technologies, etc.) or pages stored entirely in the database (techniques cgi, generation servers, ...).

 The device then includes a computer hosting an observation website on which the exchange of information relating to the interaction will be carried out. This observation website is named in the domain of the target website. It must be accessible to Internet users accessing it. This observation website is based on dynamic page technology. This observation website reads and updates a structured database to contain information relating to the user, his navigation and the interactions planned for this navigation (information, questions, answers, etc.).

 The device then comprises a software package distributed on the one hand in the pages of the target website and on the other hand in the pages of the observation website.

 The purpose of this software package is to return to the observation site the position of the internet user in the target website during navigation. Depending on this position

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 the software package then manages the interaction between the Internet user and the observation site.

 This software package respects the security model of Internet browsers on the market since on the Internet user's computer the target site and the observation site are named in the same Internet domain.

 This software package is written in standard language interpreted by all browsers on the market without the need to add additional interpretation software.

 This software package is downloaded by the Internet user while browsing.

The software package identifies all the pages or URIs of the target site and the observation site in the same DNS domain for the user's browser.

l'ensemble logiciel permet d'administrer la base de données par l'intermédiaire d'un navigateur internet se connectant au site web d'observation, According to the particular embodiments: the software package can manage the acceptance of the observation by the Internet user, the software package can manage the identification and qualification of the user, the software package can manage the systematic recording of the user's navigation on the target site, the software package can manage an interaction at the initiative of the user (for example context-sensitive help functions triggered by a button), the software package can manage interaction without user initiative (for example a contextual questionnaire relating to navigation on the target website),

the software package allows administration of the database via an internet browser connecting to the observation website,

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 the software package allows you to read, update, process, extract and present information stored in the database via an internet browser connecting to the observation website, the software package allows to administer the insertion of its own code in the target sites.

The present invention will be better understood on reading the description of a nonlimiting exemplary embodiment which follows, referring to the appended drawings in which:
Figure 1 shows the hardware and network architecture required for the interaction between the Internet user, the target website and the observation website.

FIG. 2 represents the main kinematics of surfing of Internet users on the target website and of interaction with the observation site in the context of a contextual questionnaire
FIG. 3 represents the kinematics of surfing of Internet users on the target website and of interaction with the observation site in the context of contextual help
Figure 4 represents the navigation kinematics of the administrators of the observation site
With reference to these figures, the system is organized around an Internet or Intranet network (Figure 1- 00).

 The target website (Figure 1-01) is accessible within this network. This target website can use any technology, including databases (Figure 1-01).

This target website may consist of one or more machines.

The site will in any case be identified by a domain name (in

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 the example www. target. com) managed by domain name server software (Figure 1-03).

 This domain name server software must present a data record associating a name of the target domain (in the example eye. Target. Com) with the IP address of the observation website (Figure 1-04).

 The observation website has an IP address without necessarily having a domain name. This site is hosted on a computer accessible from inside the network. This observation website can use technologies to access its databases such as "active server pages", "php", "java server pages", .. (Figure 1-05).

 The database is relational and can be manipulated using the "Structured Query Language" (Figure 1-06).

 The user uses a market browser standard and compatible with the operating system of his computer. In the context of this internet navigation application (Figure 1-07) the user will display at the same time a window containing the target site (Figure 1-08) and a window interacting with the observation site (Figure 1 - 09 ). Communication between the two windows of the navigation software (Figure 1-10) will be carried out by part of the software package, downloaded by the Internet user.

 The administrator of the observation site connects using the same technical elements as the user. In the context of his internet navigation application, the administrator will display in a first window the administration menu, interacting with the observation site (Figure 1-12), and a second window containing the pages of the target site ( Figure 1-13). This administration interface

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 allows you to modify the user interaction (Figure 1-14) for the pages of the target site identified.

celles relatives aux aides contextuelles (Figure 3) et celles relatives à l'administration du site web d'observation (Figure 4). Three groups of user kinematics have been implemented to date: the kinematics relating to contextual polls (Figure 2),

those relating to contextual help (Figure 3) and those relating to the administration of the observation website (Figure 4).

 Whatever the kinematics group, the software package must be contained on the pages of the target website (Figure 2-10,11 and 26,27, 23) and in the pages returned by the observation server (Figure 2- 02.06, 14.25, 28).

 As part of the contextual survey, the user can register before starting the study on the observation website (Figure 2-02) or directly start his observed navigation (Figure 2-21,22). The user then does not directly initiate the interaction.

 The URI of the pages displayed by the user (Figure 2 08, 24) is automatically transmitted to the observation website. The user's journey is saved. Questions relating to this URI are selected and returned to the user's internet browser (Figure 2-09, 25). The user therefore has the questions next to the page to which they relate. He can choose to return his responses to the observation website, not to respond if the responses are not mandatory, or to stop his navigation observed. This stop may be accompanied by end of navigation questions (Figure 2-12,14) or not (Figure 2-28)

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Contextual help on the contrary implies an active participation of the user. A button (Figure 3-32) is used to communicate the position in the target web to the window bearing the code of the observation server (Figure 3- 33)
The administration of the database of the observation website, finally, is carried out through an internet browser connecting to the observation website.

 After being correctly identified (Figure 4-42) the administrator can display two windows side by side to specify which page of the target site he wishes to keep in his database (Figure 4-45) those for which he wishes to modify the interaction with users (Figure 4-47).

The basic update is immediate.

 The device according to the invention is particularly intended for carrying out, on websites, contextual surveys, contextual help and more generally monitoring the navigation of Internet users.

Claims (8)

1) Method for the recording by a analysis server [the Observation website] of digital data relating to the use of at least one target site by users equipped with client workstations [the terminal of the observed user characterized in that it comprises a step of recording in at least one page of the target site an IT means capable of ordering, when said page is loaded by a client station, the loading of an additional page associated with a analysis server site, the target site page and the associated page of the analysis site being viewed in two separate windows while being declared for the user's browser in the same DNS domain, the associated page for collecting data information, and a means for manufacturing a digital message containing said information as well as an identifier of the user and an identifier of the page of the target site, the method comprises steps of sending said m digital essage to a memory of the analysis server.  2) Method according to claim 1 characterized in that the associated page for collecting information consists of a digital form for entering information.  3) Method according to claim 1 characterized in that the associated page for collecting information is constituted by a contextual questionnaire triggered by a button. <Desc / Clms Page number 11>  4) Method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the associated page of the target site includes a link for access by a user not referenced to a page of the observation site and the downloading of a digital form d 'registration in the server user database.  5) Method according to claim 1 characterized in that it comprises an initial step of registering the user in the database users of the server by loading a digital form from the analysis server, and steps subsequent access to pages of the associated target site, each ordering the loading of an additional page from the server.  6) Method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the page associated with a page of the target site contains a link for deactivating the sending of pages from the analysis site, during the current session.  7) System for ensuring interactions between the user of a website [the target site] and an information base located on another website [the analysis site] characterized in that it comprises: a computer hosting web server software and an application accessing a database, [web observation whose IP address is associated with a DNS name in <Desc / Clms Page number 12>  the. domain of the target site and recorded in the domain name server assigned to the target site, at least one computer hosting web server software and a site comprising at least one page containing a computer means capable of controlling, when the said page is loaded by a client station, the loading of an additional associated page from a site of the analysis server, with a view to implementing the method according to claim 1.  8) System according to claim 7 characterized in that it further comprises a computer administrator computer hosting web server software for access to the data recorded in the database of the analysis server.