Unified Client-Server Log Merging for User Behavior Tracking
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional logging techniques fail to capture detailed user interactions and behavior on websites, particularly interactions that are transparent to server-side logs, limiting the ability of service providers to enhance user experience and detect malicious activities.
Innovation Solution
Merging client-side and server-side logs into a single log, which includes page requests and client interactions such as scrolling, selecting objects, and page-render performance, to create a comprehensive click stream that can be analyzed for user behavior and security monitoring.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If server-side logs are used to track user behavior, then page requests can be recorded, but detailed client interactions such as scrolling and object selection remain undetected
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges server-side logs and client-side logs into a unified log structure. The log recorder receives both server log data (page requests) and client log data (interactions like scrolling and object selection) and combines them into a single comprehensive log that captures the complete user journey across both server and client domains.
2Loss of information
If client-side logging is implemented to capture interactions, then detailed user behavior can be tracked, but the logs remain separate from server-side data
Solution Approach 1:
The log recorder acts as an intermediary component that receives logs from both server and client sides, standardizes their formats, and merges them into a unified structure. This mediator approach allows integration of previously separate logging systems without requiring complete system redesign.
3Ease of manufacture
If separate client-side and server-side logs are maintained, then data collection is simple, but comprehensive user behavior analysis is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the logging function into distinct components: server log generation, client log generation, and log merging. Each component maintains its simplicity while the integration layer (log recorder) provides the comprehensive analysis capability by combining segmented log data into a unified view.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques described enable creation of a single log containing information from both server-side and client-side logs. A logging service receives page requests and other data from a user operating a computing device. These page requests are then stored in a server-side log. The logging service also receives interactions made by the user on a displayed page. These interactions are then stored in a client-side log separate from the server-side log. The logging service then converts a format of the data in the client-side log and merges the client-side and server-side logs to form a single log. A service provider may then analyze this single log to track how this and other users navigated the pages associated with the page requests.