DE102013113969A1 - Documentation of transactions between terminals and a server - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for documenting transactions between terminals and a server is described. The described method comprises: (a) obtaining a request from a terminal, (b) selecting a simulator corresponding to the terminal, (c) generating a response to the received request, (d) sending the generated response to the terminal and to the selected simulator and (e) storing a screen content of the simulator which screen content has been generated by the simulator in response to the response. A server, a computer program and a computer program product are also described.

Description

Field of the invention

The invention relates to the field of data communication between terminal devices and servers, in particular the documentation of transactions between terminals and servers.

background

Many purchases are made on the Internet and increasingly on the mobile Internet. Here, the user is presented a sequence of pages on which the user makes inputs. The inputs of the users are recorded by the respective web servers in the so-called log files, which log the requests coming from the user's terminal (requests).

However, this logging does not provide evidence of the ad actually presented to the user. In later disputes, it may therefore be proven, for example, that the user has pressed a "buy" button, but not what was to be read on the page on which the user has done so - or whether on the button at all "buy" was standing. This is particularly problematic for purchases on the mobile Internet, as well as printouts or screen copies can be created by the user side in most cases.

The present invention has for its object to provide an improved logging, which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages and thus u. a. improved security for purchases on the mobile Internet guaranteed.

Summary

This object is solved by the subject matters of the independent claims. Advantageous embodiments of the present invention are described in the dependent claims.

According to a first aspect of the invention, a method for documenting transactions between terminals and a server is described. The described method comprises: (a) obtaining a request from a terminal, (b) selecting a simulator corresponding to the terminal, (c) generating a response to the received request, (d) sending the generated response to the terminal and to the selected simulator and (e) storing a screen content of the simulator generated by the simulator in response to the response.

The method described is based on the knowledge that simulating the terminal or an application used on the terminal by means of a simulator enables the generation and storage of screen contents which are equal to the screen contents displayed on the terminal. Thus, the screen contents actually viewed by the user of the terminal can be easily documented.

In this document, "transactions" means, in particular, an exchange of data between a terminal and a server, the exchange of data serving to enter into an agreement or a contract.

In particular, in this document, "terminal" refers to any type of computing device that is capable of data communication over a network, such as a desktop computer, laptop computer, tablet computer, mobile phone, smartphone, PDA, etc.

In particular, in this document, "server" refers to a network-centric computer configured to execute one or more server applications, such as a web server application.

In this document, "request" designates, in particular, a data record transmitted from the terminal to the server, wherein the data record contains both user-defined data and data defined by the terminal.

Specifically, in this document, "simulator" refers to a software application that can provide a virtual machine on the server corresponding to a terminal or virtual application (eg, a virtual browser) that emulates an application installed and used on the terminal.

In particular, in this document, "response" refers to a record that is created by a server application in response to a received request.

A user transmits a request by pressing his terminal, for example by clicking on a shopping cart icon on the homepage of a mail order company, to a server. Upon receipt of the request, the server selects a simulator that can simulate the terminal and generates a response to the request, for example a confirmation page with a request to press one or more buttons to confirm or reject the purchase. This answer is then sent to both the terminal and the selected simulator. Of the The simulator processes the response in the same way as the terminal does and thus generates a screen or virtual screen equal to the screen content displayed on the terminal upon receipt of the response. This virtual screen content is stored on the server, for example in a log file together with other relevant data, such as date and time, and is therefore available later as documentation.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the request from the terminal has a UserAgent and the selection of the simulator is based on the UserAgent obtained.

The UserAgent allows the server to easily identify the terminal and thus select the correct simulator of the terminal.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the UserAgent contains information about the terminal (for example model of the terminal) and / or an operating system running on the terminal (for example name and version of the operating system) and / or one used for sending the request from the terminal Application (for example, name of a web browser or app).

With the information contained in the UserAgent regarding the terminal and / or the operating system and / or the application, it can be ensured that the simulator is selected correctly and responds exactly the same to the response as the actual terminal.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the selected simulator is arranged to execute or emulate the application used to send the request from the terminal.

In other words, the simulator executes exactly the same application executing on the terminal in a virtual instance of the operating system running on the terminal or emulates the application executing on the terminal.

If the application is not installed on a simulator when it is selected or receives the response from the server, or if there is no simulator that can emulate the application, then the request, simulator selection, and generated response may be stored so that the simulated Screen content can be generated later.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the method further comprises (a) obtaining a further request from the terminal in response to the response sent to the terminal and (b) storing at least part of the further request together with the stored screen content of the simulator.

The further request from the terminal is the response of the user to the received response to the (original) request and is generated, for example, by actuating a button displayed on the screen of the terminal. The further request thus contains data representing the response of the user. By storing at least this part of the further request together with the stored screen content of the simulator, the data can be assigned to the screen content in a simple manner.

According to a second aspect of the invention, a server is described. The described server comprises: (a) a unit for receiving a request from a terminal, (b) a unit for selecting a simulator corresponding to the terminal, (c) a unit for generating a response to the obtained request, ( d) a unit for transmitting the generated response to the terminal and to the selected simulator; and (e) a unit for storing a screen content of the simulator generated by the simulator in response to the response.

Essentially, the described server is based on the same insight described above in connection with the first aspect, namely that simulating the terminal by means of a simulator on the server makes it possible to generate and store screen contents that are equal to the screen contents displayed on the terminal are.

In other words, the server is configured to perform the method of the first aspect or one of the above embodiments.

The various functional units of the server may be implemented separately or together as one or more hardware and / or software modules.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the server further comprises a plurality of simulators, each adapted to simulate a particular terminal.

Each simulator is a software application on the server that can simulate a specific terminal in the sense that it forms a virtual machine that works in the same way as the virtual machine actual terminal is working. In particular, each simulator is adapted to generate data representing the screen content of the corresponding terminal.

According to a third aspect of the invention, a computer program for documenting transactions between terminals and a server is described. The described computer program has computer-executable program elements which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the method according to the first aspect or one of the above embodiments.

The computer program according to this aspect of the invention can be installed and executed on a server. Thus, the advantageous functionality of the method according to the first aspect or one of the embodiments can be easily implemented on any server.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, there is described a computer program product comprising a computer readable medium on which the computer program according to the third aspect is stored.

For the purposes of this document, the citation of a computer program is equivalent to the notion of a program element, a computer program product, and / or a computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system to suitably coordinate the operation of a system or method, to achieve the effects associated with the method of the invention.

The computer program may be implemented as a computer-readable instruction code in any suitable programming language such as JAVA, C ++, etc. The computer program can be stored on a computer-readable storage medium (CD-ROM, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, removable drive, volatile or non-volatile memory, built-in memory / processor, etc.). The instruction code may program a computer or other programmable device such as, in particular, an engine control unit of a motor vehicle to perform the desired functions. Furthermore, the computer program can be provided in a network such as the Internet or in the so-called cloud, from which it can be downloaded by a user if necessary.

The invention can be implemented both by means of a computer program, i. H. a software, as well as by means of one or more special electrical circuits, d. H. in hardware or in any hybrid form, d. H. using software components and hardware components.

It should be noted that embodiments of the invention have been described with reference to different subject matters. In particular, some embodiments of the invention are described with method claims and other embodiments of the invention with apparatus claims. However, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading this application that, unless explicitly stated otherwise, in addition to a combination of features belonging to a type of subject matter, any combination of features that may result in different types of features is also possible Subject matters belong.

Further advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following exemplary description of a preferred embodiment.

Short description of the drawing

1 shows a block diagram of a server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed description

1 shows a schematic block diagram of parts of the functionality of a server 100 according to one embodiment. The server 100 has a first functional unit 110 for receiving a request from a terminal, a second functional unit 120 for generating a response to a received request, a third functional unit 130 for selecting a simulator corresponding to a terminal, a fourth functional unit 140 for transmitting a generated response to the terminal and to a selected simulator, a fifth functional unit 150 comprising a plurality of simulators S (1), S (2), ..., S (N-1), S (N), and a memory unit 160 on.

In operation, the server works 100 as follows. A user (not shown) transmits a request to the server by operating his terminal (for example a smartphone connected to the mobile Internet), for example by clicking on a shopping cart icon on the homepage of a mail order company 100 , The request will be as from the arrow 105 shown from the first functional unit 110 receive. The first functional unit 110 forwards the request via connection 112 to the second functional unit 120 and about connection 114 to the third functional unit 130 further. Furthermore, the request is also via connection 116 to the storage unit 160 forwarded and stored there in a log file. The second functional unit 120 processes the request and generates a corresponding response, that is, a record for returning to the requesting terminal, for example a confirmation page with a request to press one or more buttons to confirm or reject a purchase from the second functional unit 120 generated response is then over connection 122 to the fourth functional unit 140 transmitted.

The third functional unit 130 analyzes the request, in particular the UserAgent contained therein, and determines the nature of the requesting device (for example, iPhone 4). Furthermore, represents the third functional unit 130 determine which operating system (for example, iOS, version 6.1.1) is being used on the terminal and which application (for example, the Safari browser, version 6.0) has been used to send the request. Based on these findings, the third selects Functional Unit 130 one of the simulators S (1), S (2), ... S (N-1), S (N) in the fifth functional unit 150 by submitting an appropriate communication message 132 out. The selected simulator S (1), S (2), ... S (N-1), S (N) is, for example, a virtual application or virtual machine capable of the same application as the terminal under the same operating system to emulate, that is, in exactly the same way as on the terminal. More specifically, each simulator S (1), S (2), ..., S (N-1), S (N) may be a browser emulation that can each emulate a particular version of a browser.

The fourth functional unit 140 sends on the one hand the received response to the terminal (as indicated by the arrow 145 shown) and on the other via connection 142 to the fifth functional unit 150 , In the fifth functional unit, the response from the selected simulator S (1), S (2), ..., S (N-1), S (N) is processed and generated in exactly the same way as on the terminal Screen content is over connection 155 to the storage unit 160 transmitted and there in a log file together with the received queries and other relevant data, such as date and time, stored.

Thus, the screen content displayed on the terminal can be retrieved at any time from the log file. After receiving further data (further request) from the terminal, which are also stored in the log file, it can thus be documented both, which data the user of the terminal to the server 100 has transmitted as well as what the user on the screen of his terminal when sending the data was displayed exactly.

If the fifth functional unit does not contain a simulator that can emulate or execute the application used on the terminal, it will be used over the connections 132 and 142 transmitted data in the fifth functional unit 150 (or in the storage unit 160 ) together with the request received 105 saved. The screen content can then be subsequently generated and stored based on the cached data.

It should be noted that the block representation of the server 100 a schematic representation of the server functionality according to the invention is. Concrete embodiments may thus implement the illustrated functionality also with a higher or lower number of "functional elements". Furthermore, the server 100 have a variety of additional features, but are not described here.

Claims (9)

Method for documenting transactions between terminals and a server comprising the method Receiving a request from a terminal, Selecting a simulator corresponding to the terminal, Generating a response to the request received, Sending the generated response to the terminal and to the selected simulator and Storing a screen content of the simulator, which screen content has been generated by the simulator in response to the response. The method according to the preceding claim, wherein the request from the terminal comprises a UserAgent, and wherein the selecting of the simulator is based on the obtained UserAgent. Method according to the preceding claim, wherein the UserAgent contains information about the terminal and / or an operating system running on the terminal and / or an application used to send the request from the terminal. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the selected simulator is arranged to execute or emulate the application used to send the request from the terminal. The method of one of the preceding claims, further comprising receiving another request from the terminal in response to the response sent to the terminal and Storing at least part of the further request together with the stored screen content of the simulator. Server comprising a unit ( 110 ) for receiving a request from a terminal, a unit ( 130 ) for selecting a simulator corresponding to the terminal, a unit ( 120 ) for generating a response to the request received, a unit ( 140 ) for sending the generated response to the terminal and to the selected simulator and a unit ( 160 ) for storing a screen content of the simulator, which screen content has been generated by the simulator in response to the response. A server according to the preceding claim, further comprising a plurality of simulators (S (1), S (2), ..., S (N-1), S (N)) each adapted to simulate a particular terminal. A computer program for documenting transactions between terminals and a server, the computer program having computer-executable program elements which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 5. Computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium on which the computer program according to the preceding claim is stored.

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