KR20040016076A - Method And System For Monitoring Web-Surfing of On-line User In Realtime - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method and a system for monitoring a surfing state of a web site connector in real-time are provided to show the appearances expressing surfing status of users in real-time by using a character. CONSTITUTION: A web server(300) provides various web pages of the web site. A directory server(400) stores/updates an address and the position information in the web site for each client computer(100) connecting to the web server, and provides the environment setting data of the web site to each client computer. A multicasting server(500) transmits the position information in the web site for the client computer to other client computer. The client computer outputs the positions in the web site for all client computers through a GUI(Graphic User Interface) based on the position information.

Description

Method and System For Monitoring Web-Surfing of On-line User In Realtime}

The present invention relates to a method and system for monitoring a website visitor in real time. More particularly, the present invention provides a graphical user interface (GUI) to describe the location and surfing of all users currently connected to the website. To a method and system.

As the Internet becomes the basic infrastructure of the information society, many new technologies and industries based on it are developing. These technologies and industries can be broadly divided into cyber-space called websites and e-mail, messenger, short messaging service (SMS), and mobile communication using an open communication infrastructure, which is physically the Internet. The use of cyber space is immense and diverse, such as personal websites, internet portals, shopping malls, internet auctions, and cyber stock exchanges centered on websites, and new cyber spaces are being created every day. In addition, the number of Internet users who use it is exploding. The cyberspace of the Internet has already made us a different world from the real world.

Meanwhile, an e-commerce shopping mall using such a cyber space displays a product catalog by using a virtual space to induce a client. However, due to the limitations of cyber space, it is difficult to check the status of visitors as in the real world market. In other words, the concept of physical occupancy that can only be felt in the physical space such as crowded people cannot be expressed in the cyber space. Thus, it is common for a user connected to a website to feel that they are surfing the website by themselves, even though there are many other users connected at the same time.

Accordingly, the inventors of the present invention can express the concept of physical occupancy in cyberspace as well as physical space, if a virtual character is set between website visitors and the characters of all users and their movements can be output to users' computers. I realized that all marketing strategies in the real world can be applied to cyberspace.

The present invention was devised to solve the above-mentioned problems in cyberspace, and a lot of users accessing the web surfing the web can be applied to various websites such as shopping malls, internet auctions and internet portals. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and system that can show in real time using any character.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be described below and will be appreciated by the practice of the invention. In addition, the objects and advantages of the present invention can be realized by means and combinations indicated in the claims.

1 is a network diagram according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a functional diagram of a client computer, a directory server, and a multicasting server according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart in which a client program is installed and executed according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of real-time monitoring of surfing status of a website visitor according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a diagram illustrating a client environment setting screen according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

6 illustrates a graphical user interface output according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a view showing a chat between the client in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

100: client computer 300: web server

400: directory server 500: multicasting server

600: version control server 700: administrator computer

800: network

In order to achieve the above object, a real-time monitoring method for a website visitor according to the present invention includes a web server, a plurality of client computers, and a directory server for storing and updating address and location information of each client computer connected to the web server. And, in a network system including a multicasting server for transmitting location information in a website of each client computer to another client computer, the directory server providing each client computer with configuration data of the website; The multicasting server extracting location information in a website from a client computer and transmitting the location information to another client computer; And outputting, by the client computer, the locations in the web sites of all the client computers based on the location information by reflecting the locations in the graphic user interface.

In addition, the real-time monitoring system of the website accessor of the present invention includes a web server; Multiple client computers; A directory server for storing and updating address and location information of each client computer connected to the web server; A multicasting server for transmitting location information in a website of the client computer to another client computer, wherein the directory server provides the configuration data of the website to each client computer, and the multicasting server is provided from the client computer. The location information in the website is extracted and transmitted to another client computer, and the client computer is characterized by outputting the location in the website of all the client computers on the graphical user interface based on the location information.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Prior to this, terms or words used in the specification and claims should not be construed as having a conventional or dictionary meaning, and the inventors should properly explain the concept of terms in order to best explain their own invention. Based on the principle that can be defined, it should be interpreted as meaning and concept corresponding to the technical idea of the present invention.

Therefore, the embodiments described in the specification and the drawings shown in the drawings are only the most preferred embodiment of the present invention and do not represent all of the technical idea of the present invention, various modifications that can be replaced at the time of the present application It should be understood that there may be equivalents and variations.

1 shows a network configuration diagram of a system according to the present invention.

As shown, the network system includes a client computer 100, a web server 300, a directory server 400, a multicasting server 500, a version control server 600, and a network 800.

The client computer 100 is a computer of the Internet end user who is the main agent of surfing the website according to the present invention. Preferably, the client computer 100 adopts a laptop computer or a handheld PC, but is not limited thereto. It should be interpreted as including all information and communication terminals capable of transmitting and receiving data. Accordingly, the cellular phone, the PCS, and the PDA may also be the client computer 100.

In addition, the client computer 100 is a typical system component, which loads a web page based on a uniform resource locator (URL), interprets the HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language) code, and displays the web page on a monitor. ) Operating system (OS) programs that manage and control programs and computer systems as a whole.

Web server 300 is a typical server that is responsible for the transmission of web pages of shopping malls and portal sites, which can be used with both 32-bit Windows and Unix-based operating systems, and IIS (Internet Information Server) that comes with Windows NT. ), And Netscape's enterprise servers. Other Web servers are available, including Novell's Web server for users running the NetWare operating system, IBM's Lotus Domino server primarily for IBM's OS / 390 and AS / 400 customers.

The directory server 400 transmits website configuration data to the client computer 100 and manages a list of clients in a connected state.

The multicasting server 500 receives the current location and destination information on the website of the client computer 100 in the connected state and multicasts it to all other client computers 100.

The version management server 600 checks the version of the client program installed in the connected client computer 100 and downloads and installs a new version of the program.

The manager computer 700 is a computer for the overall management of the side of the shopping mall, and manages the current status of the user connected to the web server 300, advertisements, announcements and the like.

The network 800 is connected to the client computer 100, the web server 300, the directory server 400, the multicasting server 500, the version control server 600, the manager computer 700 in common In order to perform data communication, a wired / wireless Internet network, a public telephone network (PSTN), a mobile communication network, or the like may be used. However, hereinafter, for convenience of description, the present invention will be described by taking the case where the network 800 is a wired Internet network based on the World Wide Web and the client computer 100 is a personal computer. . However, it is a matter of course that the present invention is not necessarily limited to these examples.

2 is a schematic functional diagram of a client computer 100, a directory server 400, and a multicasting server 500 according to the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, the client computer 100 is composed of a relay server module 110, a user interface module 120, a location information communication module 130, chat module 140.

The relay server module 110 is a program in charge of a relay server for more efficient multicasting when the multicasting server 500 multicasts, and requests the multicasting server 500 to set up a relay server.

The user interface module 120 is a program that outputs a character and a position movement corresponding to each client based on the position information of all client computers 100 in the connected state.

The location information communication module 130 receives the location information of the other client computer 100 that is currently connected from the directory server 400, and receives the current location and destination information of itself and other accessors from the multicasting server 500. Program to send and receive.

The chat module 140 is a program that provides an environment in which a client computer 100 can have a conversation.

Directory server 400 is composed of a visitor DB (410), website environment DB (420), DB management module 430, communication module 450.

The visitor DB 410 stores a list of IP addresses of client computers 100 connected to a website and client environment data such as nicknames and characters of each client.

Website environment DB 420 stores the website environment data according to the characteristics of the website, such as the entire category content, individual category content of the website.

The DB management module 430 stores and updates the IP address of the client computer in the connected state, the nickname of the client, the character and the current location, etc. in the visitor DB, and updates and manages the website environment DB 420.

The communication module 440 is a program that transmits all client information that is currently connected and their location when the client computer 100 requests.

The multicasting server 500 includes a location information receiving module 510, a multicasting module 520, and a relay server management module 530.

The location information receiving module 510 is a program that receives the client computer 100 when it transmits its current location and destination information.

The multicasting module 520 is a program for transmitting the modified current location and destination information to all other client computers 100 when the current location and destination information of the at least one client computer 100 in the connected state is received.

The relay server management module 530 is a program for selecting a relay server sharing multicasting among the client computers 100 in a connected state.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of executing a client program for outputting the website visitor status in real time by the client computer 100 according to the present invention. For convenience of explanation, the website is described as an e-commerce shopping mall.

Referring to the drawing, the client computer 100 accesses a shopping mall website to which the present invention is applied (step S10). When the connection is made, the web server 300 extracts the registry data of the client computer 100 (step S12) and checks whether the client program is installed. The installation can be checked by checking whether the client program folder exists under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE in the registry (step S14). If the client program folder exists, it is checked whether Home, Version values exist in the client program folder (step S16). If the Home, Version value is present, the version management server 600 requests the current version value (step S18), and compares the received current version value with the version value of the registry and checks whether it matches (step S20). If the version values match, the installed client program is executed (step S24).

If the client program folder does not exist under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE, or if the folder exists but the Home, Version values do not exist, or the versions do not match, the version control server downloads the latest version of the client program to the client computer (100). To install (step S22). At this time, in the Home value of the registry, the directory path to be installed is saved as a data value, and in the Version value, the version information of the currently installed program is stored.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of executing the above-described client program and receiving and outputting the website visitor status.

Referring to the drawing, when the client program is executed, the user interface module 120 requests the directory server 430 to transmit the configuration data of the website (step S26). The preference data of the website is information representing a shopping category unique to the shopping mall, its detailed categories, the category order, its location, and the like. For example, the entire category of shopping malls consists of household appliances, sports, fashion, cars, baby products, books / records, games, PCs, co-purchases, and more specifically, the household appliances categories include health appliances, refrigerators / kimchi refrigerators, Data on shopping mall environment is divided into sub-categories such as small appliances / washing machines, imported appliances, video appliances / DVDs, acoustic appliances, kitchen appliances and cameras / camcorders.

If there is a request for transmitting the website configuration data from the client computer 100, the DB management module 430 extracts the website connection setting data from the website environment DB 420, and the communication module 450 requests the requested client computer 100. ), The website environment setting data is transmitted (step S28).

The user interface module 120 of the client computer 100 receives the transmitted data, interprets the data, and configures the user interface according to the contents.

In addition, the client may set a nickname, a character, a chat or not, information disclosure, etc. to be used in the shopping mall (step S32). FIG. 5 illustrates such a client environment setting screen. When the client environment is set, the user interface module 120 transmits the setting data to the directory server 400 (step S34), and the DB management module 430 stores the client environment data in the visitor DB 410 (step S36). ). In this case, if the client configuration is not made, the default nickname and character are automatically set.

In the next step, the location information communication module 130 requests the directory server 400 to transmit the entire visitor status data currently connected to the shopping mall (step S38).

The total visitor status data means visitor information for each category, that is, the client environment of the visitor connecting to each category and the location information in the website.

If there is a request for transmitting the total visitor status data, the DB management module 430 extracts the data from the visitor DB 410 and the communication module 440 transmits it to the client computer 100 (step S40).

When all visitor status data is transmitted, the user interface module 120 outputs a graphic user interface reflecting the shopping mall environment and the entire visitor status (step S42). 6 is a diagram illustrating a graphic user interface output to the client computer 100. As shown in the figure, it is preferable to configure a user interface at the bottom of the shopping mall web page so that it can be viewed like a web page.

The client computer 100 transmits its current location and destination information to the multicasting server 500 and the directory server 400 (step S44). Since the current location and destination information data must be transmitted to all other client computers 100, it is necessary to process the data into the smallest possible size in order to reduce the traffic as much as possible.

The location information is preferably extracted using the transmitted web page. That is, by assigning a serial number promised for each web page, it checks which web page is currently transmitted and extracts the current location. For example, if the serial number of the shopping mall main web page (default.html) is 000 and the main web page is sent to the client computer 100, the current location is 000, and the destination information is the home appliance web page (serial). If the number is assumed to be 010, the destination information becomes 010. Therefore, when the client computer transmits 000/010 as the current location and destination information, the location movement has occurred from the main shopping mall to the home appliance. If the user moves the location to the home appliance web page (assuming the serial number is 014) in the home appliance, the current location and destination information becomes 010/014.

The transmitted current location and destination information of the client computer 100 is received by the location information receiving module 510 of the multicasting server 500 (step S46), and the received current location and destination information is received by the multicasting module (step S48) is transmitted to all other client computers 100 (step S48). The directory server 400 receives the current location and destination information transmitted and updates the accessor status by reflecting it (step S50).

In the process of multicasting the multicasting server 500, when a large number of client computers 100 are connected, a plurality of relay servers may be provided at a lower level of the multicasting server 500 so that the relaying server can multicast. Can be. Preferably, the relay server module 110 of the client computer 100 may serve as a relay server. For example, the relay server selection module 530 of the multicasting server 500 selects a predetermined number of client computers 100 as relay servers according to the connection order of the client computer 100, and the multicasting server 500 The unicast the position information and the destination information data of the other client computer to the relay server, the relay server may multicast to the client computer 100 in the same network as the relay server in place of the multicasting module 520.

Since the unicasting and multicasting methods using the relay server are commercial technologies in the art for reducing data transmission traffic, detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.

When the current location information and the destination information of the client computer 100 having a change in location are multicasted and received by another client computer 100, the user interface module 120 displays the character of the client whose location has changed based on the received information. Move to the destination location.

Similarly, if there is a client computer 100 having another position change, multicasting is again applied to reflect the position change in the user interface of each client computer 100. Therefore, each client computer 100 may monitor the web surfing process of all connected clients in real time through the movement of the virtual character.

Each client can also chat with other clients in real time. Each client computer 100 has nicknames, characters and other information (accessor client environment), including the IP address of the other client computer 100, so that the client can select and chat with them. In addition, it is possible to communicate with other clients connected in the same category so that information about the product can be shared. 7 is a diagram illustrating a conversation between clients connected to imported appliances in the household appliances category.

As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated by the limited embodiment and drawing, this invention is not limited by this, The person of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs, Of course, various modifications and variations are possible within the scope of equivalent claims. For example, in this detailed description, the website is limited to the shopping mall, but the present invention is not limited to the shopping mall, but may be applied to various websites having a large number of simultaneous users such as an electronic newspaper and a stock exchange.

As described above, according to the present invention, the website managers can know the interest of the customer in real time about the product and the menu in real time, thereby real-time response to the customer's requirements, the website customer is also the product of other customers Or, as you can observe the menu interest, you can use it as an indicator to determine your surfing path. As a result, the company has been able to overcome the limitations of existing Internet shopping marketing and apply the same marketing strategy as the real world (sparkling sale, real-time sales promotion, etc.) to the Internet virtual shopping mall, thereby laying a new foothold for e-commerce technology leap.

Claims (6)

A web server that provides a website, a plurality of client computers, an address of each client computer connected to the web server, a directory server that stores and updates location information, and location information in a website of each client computer to other client computers. In a network system including a multicasting server transmitting The directory server providing each client computer with configuration data of a website; The multicasting server extracting location information in a website from a client computer and transmitting the location information to another client computer; And outputting, by the client computer, the location of the web sites of all the client computers in a graphical user interface based on the location information. The method of claim 1, wherein the website is an e-commerce shopping mall. The method of claim 1, wherein the location information is extracted from a URL of a web page transmitted from the web server to each client computer. A web server providing various web pages of the website; Multiple client computers; A directory server for storing and updating the address of each client computer connected to the web server and the location information in the website; And a multicasting server configured to transmit location information in a website of the client computer to another client computer. The directory server provides the configuration data of the website to each client computer, the multicasting server extracts the location information in the website from the client computer and transmits it to other client computers, and the client computer based on the location information. A system for real-time monitoring of surfing status of a website visitor, characterized by outputting the location of a website of all client computers in a graphical user interface. [5] The system of claim 4, wherein the website is an e-commerce shopping mall. 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the location information is extracted from a URL of a web page transmitted from the web server to each client computer.