Browser Add-on for Tracking Online Content Sources
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods fail to accurately track and record the sources and functions of online content displayed on web pages, particularly due to the complexity of multi-tiered advertising networks and the difficulty in tracing relationships between resources and events within web browsers.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that intercepts web browser requests and responses to analyze programmatic actions, constructing chains of resources and events to identify the origins of web page elements, implemented as a browser add-on or intermediary network gateway, allowing for the revelation of source associations even with obfuscated resources.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional web browser add-ons are used to reveal web page elements, then the elements appearing on the page can be identified, but the relationships and chains of resources/events that caused those elements to appear cannot be determined
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by intercepting and analyzing browser requests and responses before the browser processes them. It constructs resource chains and documents relationships between resources and events in advance, preserving this information before it would otherwise be lost during browser interpretation and rendering.
Solution Approach 2:
The system acts as an intermediary between the web browser and the online resources. By positioning itself in this intermediate role, it can capture both the requests made by the browser and the responses received, thereby documenting the complete chain of resources and events that lead to elements appearing on the page.
2Ease of operation
If the browser processes and interprets resources before analysis, then the page renders correctly, but the relationships between resources and events become difficult or impossible to ascertain
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs analysis at the network layer before the browser interprets and renders the resources. By documenting resource chains and relationships in advance, it preserves this information in a form that is easy to detect and measure, while the browser continues to process resources normally for correct rendering.
Solution Approach 2:
The system separates the analysis function from the browser rendering process. It independently intercepts and analyzes requests and responses at the network layer, constructing resource chains separately from the browser's interpretation and rendering operations. This segmentation allows both processes to occur without interfering with each other.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multi-tiered advertising networks are used to provide content, then content diversity and advertising options increase, but tracking and recording the sources and functions of content becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The system acts as a comprehensive intermediary that captures all requests and responses across multiple tiers of advertising networks. By documenting each resource chain from the original page through all intermediate advertising networks to the final content sources, it preserves complete origin information despite the complexity of multi-tiered arrangements.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary documentation of resource chains before information is lost in the complex multi-tiered network. It intercepts and records all requests and responses at each tier, constructing complete chains of resources and events that trace content back to its ultimate sources, preserving this information before it would otherwise be obscured by the network's complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
To determine an association between elements associated with a unified display on a screen, a request associated with the unified display is received from a browser, and a response to the request is identified as a first element associated with the unified display. A second element is identified as being spawned from the first element, if a parameter associated with the first element, which can be an event, a source, or both, is determined to be associated with the second element also. In that case, the second element is determined to be associated with the first element via the parameter.