Network User Counting via Login Cookie Connected Components
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for estimating network user counts, such as internet usage surveys, registration-based systems, and cookie tracking, face inaccuracies due to limitations in data availability, user behavior, and shared access scenarios, particularly for websites with small audiences and international reach.
Innovation Solution
A method that identifies login, non-login, and unregistered access requests from server logs, forming connected components based on user identifiers and cookies to determine unique user counts, using IP addresses and user agent data to de-duplicate unregistered access, and employing bias ratios to account for shared accounts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If internet usage surveys are used to measure unique user statistic, then data can be gathered from panels of web users, but the results are estimates that are unreliable for international audiences and small geographical areas
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses server logs as an intermediary data source between web users and the measurement system. Instead of relying on self-reported survey data, the system intercepts and analyzes actual access request logs from servers, which provide objective records of user interactions without requiring voluntary participation or geographic restrictions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical survey collection system with an automated server log analysis system. Rather than manually collecting and extrapolating survey responses, the system automatically processes server logs to identify and count unique users based on their actual access patterns, eliminating the need for survey panels and their inherent estimation errors.
2Measurement precision
If registration-based systems are used to measure unique user statistic, then users can be identified through user accounts, but users may not always register or may create multiple accounts for different purposes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces server logs as an intermediary that captures user access behavior regardless of registration status. The logs serve as a neutral record that tracks all users who access the website, including those who don't register or who use multiple accounts, thereby providing a complete picture of unique users without being biased by registration choices.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of trying to identify users through their registration actions (top-down approach), the patent inverts the approach by tracking users through their access requests (bottom-up approach). This reversal allows the system to capture all users regardless of whether they register, creating a more accurate and inclusive user count.
3Productivity
If cookie-based tracking is used to count unique users, then the web server can track visitors, but users may clear cookies resulting in inflated statistics or multiple users may share cookies resulting in deflated statistics
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses server logs as an intermediary that captures access request information before cookies are cleared or shared. By analyzing the logs directly, the system can identify unique users based on their access patterns without being affected by cookie management behaviors, thereby providing accurate user counting regardless of cookie status.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs user identification and counting actions preliminarily by analyzing server logs at the time of access requests. This preliminary analysis captures user identity information before any subsequent cookie clearing or sharing occurs, ensuring that accurate user counts are established based on actual access behavior rather than potentially misleading cookie data.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments presented herein provide methods, systems and computer program products for determining a count of network users. One method identifies one or more login access requests, from one or more server logs. Each of the one or more login access requests comprises a login cookie, and a user identifier. The method then forms one or more connected components based on the one or more login access requests. Each connected component comprises one or more user identifiers, wherein each of the one or more user identifiers is associated with one or more login cookies. The method finally determines a count of login users based, at least in part, on the user identifiers in the one or more connected components.