Image Cache for Mobile Session Replay
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing technologies face challenges in recording user activity on mobile applications in a performant and scalable manner, making it difficult to generate session replays that provide insights for improving mobile application functionality.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of an experience analytics system that includes a client-side and server-side architecture, utilizing an experience analytics client and server, which records user interactions through scripts and APIs, and processes data to generate session replays for playback, identifying areas for improvement in mobile applications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If user activity is recorded in detail to generate session replays, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an image cache as an intermediary component between the recording mechanism and session replay generation. The cache stores preprocessed screenshots or images of the mobile application interface at different time points, allowing the system to retrieve and display historical states without complex real-time reconstruction logic. This mediator simplifies the overall system architecture while maintaining high measurement precision for user activity tracking.
2Loss of information
If session replays are generated for all user interactions, then information completeness is improved, but loss of time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by capturing and storing screenshots or images of the mobile application interface at specific time points during user interactions. These pre-captured images are stored in an image cache with associated metadata including timestamps and event identifiers. When generating session replays, the system simply retrieves these pre-prepared images in sequence, avoiding time-consuming real-time rendering or reconstruction processes while maintaining complete information about user activities.
3Measurement precision
If detailed screenshots are cached for every screen state, then measurement precision is improved, but use of energy increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by selectively caching screenshots based on the significance of screen state changes. Rather than uniformly caching every screen state, the system identifies and caches images at critical moments such as when users navigate to new screens, interact with key elements, or when state changes occur. This selective caching approach maintains measurement precision for important user activities while reducing overall memory consumption by avoiding redundant storage of similar or unchanged screen states.
Data Source
AI summary
The subject technology receives, from a first client device, a set of requests for recording user activity detected on a mobile application, each request includes information corresponding to a set of events based on the user activity that has occurred on the mobile application. The subject technology determines that a first request from the set of requests includes an image and a hash of the image. The subject technology stores the image and the hash of the image in a cache. The subject technology determines that a second request from the set of requests includes the hash of the image, the second request being different than the first request. The subject technology retrieves, based on the hash of the image, the image from the cache. The subject technology generates a markup language element based at least in part on the retrieved image from the cache.