CN100437740C - Associating website clicks with links on a web page - Google Patents

Abstract

Objects on a web pages are associated with stored records indicating historical objects usage. Associations between objects and records take into account discrepancies in object identifiers resulting from authorial edits and/or differences in browser assignment of object identifiers. An object having an object identifier that differs from that of a stored record by not more than a predetermined tolerance value, and that has other indicia that match the stored record, is considered to match the stored record. Reports are generated quantifying web page object usage, for example by supperimposing color shadings or other visual indicia on a representation of a web page.

Description

Association of site clicks with links on web pages

related application

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/452,084, filed March 4, 2003, entitled "Associating Website Clicks with Links on a Web Page" (Attorney Docket No. 7651), the contents of which are adopted Incorporated herein by reference.

This application also claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/452,085, filed March 4, 2003, and entitled "Delayed Data Collection Using Web Beacon-Based Tracking Methods" (Attorney Docket No. 7652), the contents of which Incorporated herein by reference.

This application is related to the following U.S. patent applications:

U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 10/608,515, filed June 26, 2003, and entitled "Efficient Click-Stream Data Collection" (Attorney Docket No. 7132);

U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 10/608,442, filed June 26, 2003, and entitled "Custom Event and Attribute Generation for Use in Website Traffic DataCollection" (Attorney Docket No. 7133);

U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 10/609,008, filed June 27, 2003, and entitled "Capturing and Presenting Site Visitation Path Data" (Attorney Docket No. 8054); and

U.S. Patent Application Serial No. __, entitled "Delayed Transmission of Website Usage Data" (Attorney Docket No. 7761), filed on the same date as this application. The contents of the above-mentioned related patent applications are hereby incorporated by reference.

technical field

The present invention relates to tracking usage of a website, and more particularly to accurately identifying and associating objects activated by a user during navigation of a website.

Background technique

In an online environment, the web server may track web site usage and other user activity, or by another server, such as a data collection server (also known as a data collector), which may be a remote positioned. The data collection server is notified of activity on the website so that the data collection server can monitor and track this activity. One way to achieve this notification is by using a request for embedded content.

Embedded content is part of a web page, such as an image that is requested as a separate file from the file containing the web page. The separate files may be requested from a web server or from a remote server, such as from a remote content server or data collection server. For example, when a user requests a web page from a web server, the web server sends the web page file to the user's client. The client, such as a web browser, then attempts to render the web page file as a viewable web page. However, when rendering the webpage file, the client may find a reference to a separate file located on the web server or remote server. When the content of the separate file is located and sent to the client, the client renders the separate file containing the embedded content along with the original web page.

A web beacon (also known as a web bug) is a special type of embedded content in which the content itself is irrelevant, but a request for that content carries useful information. For example, web beacons are typically transparent images with very small dimensions, such as 1 pixel by 1 pixel. The image is too small for the user to see it. When a client provides a web page that includes a web beacon, the web beacon causes the client to send a resource request to a server (eg, a data collection server). A web beacon may contain script (or other code) that causes a user to include additional information about the user and the user's environment in resource requests. The additional information may include data from cookies, or other information about the client's operating environment or state. When the server represented by the web beacon is a data collection server, the data collection server may respond to requests to enable users to set additional cookies for identification purposes for tracking purposes. In this manner, web beacon requests can be used to indicate to the data collection server that a particular web page is being rendered.

One way to contain the request is to write the request as a static image tag in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Here is an example of an image tag in HTML:

<img

src="http://ad.datacollectionserver.com/tracker.exe?AID=14658&PID=259294&banner=0.gif"width=1height=1border=0>

Here, the expression "ad.datacollerctionsever.com" refers to the address of the data server.

Another common method of including requests is to use a scripting language such as JavaScript, so that the browser dynamically generates requests to the data server. One advantage of using scripts instead of static image tags is that scripts can cause the browser to perform other functions: including collecting additional data and sending the collected additional data with the request. Whichever method is used, the result is that a request is sent to the data collection server when an event occurs, such as the rendering and loading of a web page.

Once the request has been sent to the data collection server, the data collection server can perform various types of tracking functions. For example, a data collection server may count the number of requests associated with a web page in order to monitor traffic on that web page. By counting the number of times a web beacon element is requested from a data collection server, the server can determine the number of times a particular web page has been viewed. Additional identifying information may be obtained from further analysis by using JavaScript to dynamically construct requests for web beacons and encode additional information.

Other types of website usage tracking are also well known, such as log file analysis. In this way, statistical data analysis is performed in server logs to detect and analyze traffic and usage patterns of the website.

In addition to tracking web page visits, it is often desirable to track user actions on a web page, such as object manipulation. Typically, existing technologies used to collect and track websites do not provide a means for tracking the actual links users click on during navigation through the site. In some cases, if the starting page has only one link leading to the target page, it is possible to deduce which link was clicked. However, when there is more than one link between pages, it can be difficult or impossible to determine which link was clicked. Furthermore, even with only one link between two pages, it is often difficult or impossible to tell whether the user actually clicked on the link, or accessed the page by other means (such as entering a URL).

This information is useful in many ways, including, for example, gathering feedback that can guide improvements to the design of web pages; determining the effects of various levels of prominence of link and image elements on web pages; and other similar benefits. What is needed, then, is a method and system for reliably and accurately tracking which links a user actually clicks (and other objects the user activates) during a visit to a website. What is further needed is a mechanism for automatically and uniquely identifying links on a page so that user interactions with links can be accurately tracked. What is also needed is a mechanism for accurately reporting statistics on web page object usage. What is also needed is an improved report format for visually depicting web page object usage statistics.

Contents of the invention

According to the invention, each object (such as a link) on a web page is uniquely identified by means of an OBJECT ID (object identifier) (as part of the document object model, which is assigned to an element by some browsers), as with other identifying tags, Said other identifying tags are, for example, element type descriptors and operation descriptors.

By using a combination of these tags, the present invention allows a webpage tracking system to associate historical clicks on multiple objects on a webpage with each object currently being browsed in the browser. If no exact match is found for the object, the search factor can be used to account for small variations in the Object ID; such variations are common, especially when the Object ID is used by different browsers or When distributed on different platforms, or when the web page has been changed or edited. Thus, even when object identities differ, the present invention accounts for these differences and allows matching. In addition, if the object identifier does not exist (for example, if the browser used does not generate an object identifier), the object is matched against the identifier of other tokens.

By marking objects according to the technology of the present invention, the webpage activity tracking system can more accurately detect, record and analyze user operations on various objects (such as links) on the webpage. Reports can then be generated by adding visual indicators, such as color-coded shading, to the description of the web page, showing how the relative traffic to multiple objects on the web page is.

Description of drawings

Figure 1 shows a block diagram depicting a website traffic data collection system;

Figure 2 shows a screen shot depicting an example of a data analysis report made by the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart depicting a method of associating site clicks with links, according to one embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 4 shows an example of a web page with objects to be associated with user actions.

The preferred embodiments of the invention are depicted in the drawings for purposes of illustration only. Those of ordinary skill in the art should readily recognize from the following description that various methodological and structural alternative embodiments shown herein may be used without departing from the principles of the invention described herein.

Detailed ways

System Architecture

Referring now to FIG. 1 , a block diagram depicts a website traffic data collection system according to one embodiment of the present invention. User 112 interacts with client machine 107, which runs application software, such as browser 110, for accessing and displaying web pages. Client machine 107 may be an ordinary personal computer comprising well-known components, eg, a CPU running an operating system such as Microsoft's Windows, keyboard, mouse, display screen, and Internet connection (not shown). In addition to the browser 110, the client 107 can run various application software. Browser 110 includes a scripting engine 116, such as JavaScript, commonly found in existing commercially available browsers. In response to the user's 112 operation, such as clicking a link or entering a URL, the client 107 sends a web page request 111, which is transmitted to the content server 101 via the Internet. In response to request 111 , content server 101 transmits web page 102 (eg, in HTML code format) to client 107 . The browser 110 displays the requested web page 102 on the client machine 107 .

Web page 102 includes beacon code, which in one embodiment is a pointer to a beacon (eg, a 1 pixel by 1 pixel transparent image). The beacon is usually invisible to the user, such as a 1-pixel transparent image. For purposes described below, a beacon is any element embedded in a web page 102 that is automatically loaded by the browser 110 that references the external server 106 and is used to monitor traffic. The beacon code may be set as a script (such as a JavaScript script) executable by the script engine 116 . The beacon code causes the client 107 to generate resource requests 105 , which are made to the data collection server 106 . These resource requests 105 are typically dynamically generated according to script instructions. Data collection server 106 records these requests in log 108, and may also record additional information related to these requests (eg, date and time, and possibly some identifying information encoded in the resource request). Accordingly, the tracking server 106 records that a "click" to the web page 102 occurred. The tracking server 106 also transmits the requested 1-pixel picture to the client 107 to satisfy the proposed resource request.

Analysis module 113 retrieves stored trace data from logs 108 , filters the data, and outputs reports 114 . Report 114 may be provided by hard copy or display screen (not shown), or by other methods. Reports 114 include, for example, profiles and statistical analyzes depicting the frequency of correlations made by following various site paths throughout the web site. Examples of such reports are described below.

Module 113 may be implemented in software running on server 106 , or on another computer that has access to log 108 .

In one embodiment, communication between client 107, content server 101, and data collection server 106 may be accomplished using well-known network protocols for communicating over the Internet, such as TCP/IP and HTTP. Other communication mechanisms and protocols may also be used.

method

In the description that follows, the present invention is illustrated in the context of identifying user-activated objects on a web page; however, those skilled in the art will recognize that the techniques described herein can be used in any The context in which matches are determined between records.

In one embodiment, the invention may be implemented through the use of client-side script encoded in a beacon code that is sent as part of the web page 102 . The script iterates through the Document Object Model (DOM) of the web page 102 looking for actionable items such as HREF links and form submit buttons. The script overrides the default action for these links to include a call to the click tracking function, in addition to doing the normal expected action.

For example, when the user 112 activates an HTML object by clicking on the page 102, the click tracking function is called. This function sends to the data collection server 106: the unique identifier of the page 102 where the object was found (e.g., a URL or a unique page name), the action performed by the user-activated object, the OBJECTID (object ID) of the user-activated object, and The TYPE associated with the user-activated object.

In one embodiment, the operation performed by the object activated by the user is determined based on the target the object points to. For example, the action of an HREF tag is the page the tag points to. For form send buttons, the action is the document to which the form will be sent, as defined in the <FORM> tag. Optionally, the action can be specified as an ACTION parameter of the form, or alternatively, as a JavaScript function.

In one embodiment, an OBJECT ID (object identifier), as part of the document object model, is an identifier assigned to an object by the browser 110 . The OBJECT ID may be, for example, an integer sequentially assigned to each element when encountered by the browser 110, according to techniques known to those skilled in the art.

In one embodiment, TYPE is the type identification of the object that the user has activated. For example, it can be a type parameter of an HTML element. The TYPE of the object can be, for example, an image, a form element, a standard HREF tag, a JavaScript element, or the like. By checking the TYPE of the link, the method of the invention ensures that, for example, image and text links pointing to the same location can be easily distinguished from each other.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that these items of information are merely exemplary data sent to server 106 according to one embodiment and that other information may also be sent to server 106, including or omitting any of these and/or items describing a user-activated object. or any other type of information.

Using the provided information items, the invention can detect a match between the object activated by the user and a stored record of previous activity, which can be, for example, historical clicks that occurred on various links in the page . According to the technique of the present invention, a match can be found even when an exact OBJECT ID match does not exist. For any of several reasons, the OBJECT ID identified for an object in the stored record may not exactly match the OBJECT ID detected when the user activates the same object. "Drift" of the OBJECT ID may occur, for example, when the content of the page changes (eg, by the page author) and especially when elements on the page are added or removed. Also, different browser models, and even different versions of the same browser, may assign OBJECT IDs slightly differently or may not assign OBJECT IDs at all. Therefore, as described below, the present invention provides techniques for using other identified tags, such as TYPE and ACTION, to more effectively match user-activated web page objects.

Referring now to FIG. 3 , therein is a flowchart illustrating a method for associating website clicks with links in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, the steps in FIG. 3 are performed by the data collection server 106; in another embodiment, these steps are performed by the client 107 or by other components in the system.

Server 106 detects user-activated objects on web page 102 (step 302 ), for example by receiving request 105 or other message from client 107 . The server 106 obtains from the received request 105 information describing the object activated by the user (step 303), including for example OBJECT ID, TYPE and ACTION.

The server 106 then searches for a stored record with a TYPE that matches the TYPE of the user-activated object (step 304). In one embodiment, server 106 performs this search on records in log 108 or other repository of historical usage data. In one embodiment, the server 106 searches (304) all stored records and is not limited to only records with a matching TYPE.

If, in step 305, any stored record has OBJECT ID, ACTION and TYPE matched with the object activated by the user, server 106 indicates that a match has been found (step 307).

If no match is found at step 305, then the server 106 searches stored records that have a matching ACTION and TYPE, and an OBJECT ID that is close to the OBJECT ID of the user-activated object. In one embodiment, the search is performed iteratively using successively larger "search coefficients": First, a search is performed on stored records that have a matching ACTION and TYPE and that have an OBJECT ID that matches The OBJECT ID of the user-activated object differs by 1 or less. Subsequently (assuming no match has been found), a search is performed for stored records that have a matching ACTION and TYPE and that have an OBJECTID that differs by 2 or less from the OBJECTID of the user-activated object. This process is repeated continuously with larger search coefficients until a match is found, or until the search coefficient exceeds a predetermined tolerance.

If, at step 306, a match is found, the server 106 indicates that a match has been found (step 307). Otherwise, the server 306 indicates that no match was found (step 308).

Those skilled in the art will recognize that the above method can be generalized by considering the comparison performed in step 305 as a special case of the comparison performed in step 306 (except that the search coefficient is 0) (in other words, the comparison performed in The difference in the OBJECT ID of the match to be found in step 305 must be 0).

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that in alternative embodiments, the search may be performed non-iteratively, such that any record with an OBJECT ID within a predetermined tolerance is considered a potential match. In one embodiment, the server 106 determines, among a potential plurality of matches, to match stored records having an OBJECTID that is closest to the OBJECTID of the user-activated object.

In one embodiment, server 106 logs user actions in log 108 based on whether a match is indicated. For example, if a match is indicated, the server 106 increments a value in the match record representing the number of times the object was activated. If no match is indicated, server 106 creates a new record for the object.

Optionally, the link can be labeled with a unique "name". In this case, in one embodiment, neither the OBJECT ID nor the search index is used, but only the page name and link name are used for association.

If the OBJECT IDs do not exist (for example, if the browser 110 does not generate the OBJECT IDs), then it is valid to match the objects using any tag identifier, such as ACTION and TYPE.

The values stored in log 108 can then be used to generate a report presenting statistics summarizing previous website usage. An example of the type of report that can be generated is a web page description with the application of visual indicators added. For example, the report may color links on the web page with different color densities and/or hues to indicate the relative frequency with which the link was activated.

In one embodiment, each step in FIG. 3 may be executed in response to an individual user's operation (such as a web page click). In another embodiment, the steps of FIG. 3 are performed after a certain number of user actions have occurred, rather than after each individual action is performed. For example, data describing user actions may be stored at the local client 107 (using, for example, the techniques in related U.S. patent application No. __, entitled "Delayed Transmission of Website Usage Data" (Agency Docket No. 7761), filed on the same day as this application), and when a new page is loaded or other triggering events are detected, the data is transmitted to the server 106. Accordingly, object matching techniques may be used to determine which (or which) stored records match individual objects activated by several users, or a single object activated by several users.

example

The technology of the present invention can be applied in any appropriate occasion where it is desired to determine and associate webpage objects, especially the occasion where the OBJECT ID cannot be accurately matched.

The following example describes an embodiment of the invention in which users interacting with objects are matched with objects on a web page. As noted above, the method of the present invention may be performed in response to each individual user interaction, or after a series of user interactions have occurred.

Referring now to FIG. 4, FIG. 4 shows an example of a web page 202 having three objects 401A, 401B, 401C. Object 401A has an OBJECT ID of 1 and ACTION: http://www.one.com, and object 401B has an OBJECT ID and ACTION of 2: http://www.two.com. Object 401C has an OBJECTID of 3 and ACTION http://www.three.com. The page 202 has a page ID (page identifier) "Page A".

The present invention provides techniques for matching objects on page 202 with records of user activity. For example, the present invention may be used to update stored data with current user activity in response to individual user actions.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4 , assume the following data is to be associated with each object on page 202 described above. For exemplary purposes, all objects are of type IMG (picture).

page ID OBJECT ID ACTION TYPE The number of clicks Page A 1 http://www.one.com IMG 2 Page A 2 http://www.one.com IMG 3 Page A 3 http://www.three.com IMG 8

As shown in Figure 4, in the process of matching the displayed data with the above page 202, the following steps are performed:

For the first data entry listed, it is determined whether there is a matching OBJECT ID (1), ACTION (http://www.one.com), and TYPE (IMG) in each object 401. Object 401A satisfies these criteria; therefore object 401A is considered to match the first data entry listed. Accordingly, log 108 may be updated to indicate that object 401A has been activated twice.

For the second data entry listed, it is determined whether there is a matching OBJECT ID (2), ACTION (http://www.one.com), and TYPE (IMG) in each object 401 . There is no exact match among objects 401; object 401B has a matching OBJECT ID but not a matching ACTION. Therefore, a search is performed for each object 401 that has an OBJECTID within the search factor of 1 (in other words, each object 401 with an OBJECTID of 1 or 3) that matches the ACTION and TYPE listed above . Object 401A meets these criteria, having OBJECT ID (1), ACTION (http://www.one.com) and TYPE (IMG). Accordingly, the log 108 can be updated to indicate that the object 401A has been activated an additional three times.

For the third data entry listed, it is determined whether there is a matching OBJECT ID (3), ACTION (http://www.three.com), and TYPE (IMG) in each object 401 . Object 401C satisfies these criteria; therefore, object 401C is considered to match the third data entry listed. Accordingly, log 108 may be updated to indicate that object 401C has been activated eight times.

Thus, after the above steps are performed, the log 108 will indicate activity for objects 401A (5 clicks) and 401C (8 clicks).

output format

Referring now to FIG. 2 , an example of a page analysis report 201 is shown alongside a picture of the page 102 being analyzed. In one embodiment, report 201 is provided to a site owner or site administrator who interacts with data collection server 106 .

In the example of FIG. 2, the report 201 includes the identification 202 of the website and web page being analyzed; the date of the report 203; the options and settings for the report 204; the page metrics 205; and links 206 to related reports. Additionally, various levels and shades of color density are added to the displayed view of the page 102 to visually represent the relative number of hits for each received item 208 or screen area. The color key 207 is a legend representing the meaning of various added colors.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that other formats and output mechanisms may also be used including, for example, hard copy output, text or image reports, and other similar mechanisms.

In the foregoing description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details were set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, various structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order not to obscure the invention.

Reference herein to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. The occurrences of the phrase "in one embodiment of the invention" in various places herein are not all referring to the same embodiment.

Some portions of the detailed description are presented in terms of algorithms and symbols for manipulation of data bits in a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm, here, is usually conceived as a coherent sequence of steps leading to a desired result. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or otherwise.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels for these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise, as indicated in the narrative, throughout this specification it should be understood that use of terms such as "processing" or "computing" or "computing" or "determining" or "displaying" refers to It is the processing and operation of a computer system or similar electronic computing equipment that processes and converts data representing physical (electronic) quantities in the registers and memories of a computer system into registers and memories of other computer systems or other Such information stores, transmits or displays other data representing similar physical quantities in devices.

The invention also relates to devices for performing various operations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for a special purpose, or it may comprise a general purpose computer selectively activated or configured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored on a computer readable storage medium such as, but not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disk, compact disk, CD-ROM, and magneto-optical disk, read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM) , EPROM, magnetic or optical card, or any type of medium suitable for storing electronic instructions, each of which is connected to the computer system bus.

The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently related to any particular computer, computer network, or other device. Various general purpose systems may be used with the programs in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient to construct some more specialized apparatus to perform the required method steps. The required structure for these systems has been presented in the specification. Furthermore, the invention is not described with reference to any particular programming language. It will be appreciated that various programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the invention described herein.

As those skilled in the art understand, the present invention can be carried out in other specific ways without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics of the present invention. For example, the specific architecture described above is only an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The functional elements and method steps described above are provided as illustrative examples of implementing the techniques of the present invention; those skilled in the art will recognize that many other implementations are possible without departing from the invention recited in the claims It's all possible. Similarly, specific capitalization or naming of modules, protocols, features, attributes, or any other aspect is not mandatory or has special meaning, and implementations of the invention or features thereof may have different naming and formats. Furthermore, the present invention can be implemented as a method, process, user interface, computer program product, system, device, or any combination thereof. Accordingly, the disclosure of the present invention is intended to be illustrative rather than restrictive of the scope of the present invention, which is set forth in the appended claims.

Claims (26)

1. A method of identifying an object on a web page, comprising: Receive a message indicating that the user has activated the object, the message including the object identifier and the identification tag attached to the object; comparing the object identifiers and attached identification tags of the user-activated objects with the records containing the respective object identifiers and attached identification tags; and A matching relationship between the user-activated object and the stored record is indicated in response to: The object identifiers of the user-activated objects are within a predetermined tolerance factor for the stored recorded object identifiers, and the stored recorded identifiers have an additional identification mark corresponding to the user-activated objects. Matching additional identification tags. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: Indicates a match between a user-activated object and a stored record in response to the following conditions: The object identifier and the attached identification tag of the user-activated object are matched with the object identifier and the attached identification tag of the stored record. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional identification indicia includes at least one of operation and type. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional identification indicia includes operation and type. 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a report containing statistics on objects activated by the user. 6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating a report containing a description of the web page and for adding visual indicators to users of objects on the web page Activation is quantified. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the visual indicators are color coded. 8. A method of identifying an object having an object identifier and an additional identifying indicium comprising: comparing the object identifier and attached identifying indicia of the object with a record containing the respective object identifiers and attached identifying indicia; A match between the object and the stored record is indicated in response to the following conditions: The object identifier of the object is within a predetermined tolerance factor for the stored recorded object identifier, and the stored recorded identifier has an additional identification that matches the additional identification indicia of the object mark. 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: A matching relationship between the object and the stored record is indicated in response to: The object identifier and the attached identification tag of the object are matched with the object identifier and the attached identification tag of the stored record. 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the additional identification indicia includes at least one of operation and type. 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the additional identification indicia includes operation and type. 12. The method of claim 8, wherein the object is an integral part of a web page, the method further comprising generating a report containing a description of the web page and for adding a visual indicator thereon, the The visual indicators quantify user activation of objects on the web page. 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the visual indicators are color coded. 14. A system for identifying objects on a web page, comprising: a communication device for receiving a message representing a user-activated object, the message including an object identifier and an additional identification mark for the object; an object comparator, coupled to said communication means, for comparing the object identifier and attached identification indicia of the user-activated object with records containing the respective object identifiers and object identification indicia; and a match indicator coupled to the object comparator for indicating a match between the user-activated object and the stored record in response to: The object identifiers of the user-activated objects are within a predetermined tolerance factor for the stored recorded object identifiers, and the stored recorded identifiers have an additional identification mark corresponding to the user-activated objects. Matching additional identification tags. 15. The system of claim 14, wherein: The match indicator indicates a match between the user-activated object and the stored record in response to: The object identifier and the attached identification tag of the user-activated object are matched with the object identifier and the attached identification tag of the stored record. 16. The system of claim 14, wherein the additional identification indicia includes at least one of operation and type. 17. The system of claim 14, wherein the additional identification indicia includes operation and type. 18. The system of claim 14, further comprising a report generator for generating a report containing statistical data for each object activated by the user. 19. The system of claim 14 , further comprising a report generator for generating a report comprising a description of the web page and for adding a visual indicator to the web page User activations for each object on the graph are quantified. 20. The system of claim 19, wherein the visual indicators are color coded. 21. A system for identifying an object having an object identifier and an additional identification indicium comprising: an object comparator for comparing an object's object identifier and an attached identifying tag with each record containing each object identifier and an object's identifying tag; a matching indicator, connected to the object comparator, for indicating a matching relationship between the object and the stored record in response to the following conditions: The object identifier of the object is within a predetermined tolerance factor for the stored recorded object identifier, and the stored recorded identifier has an additional identification that matches the additional identification indicium of the object mark. 22. The system of claim 21, wherein: The match indicator indicates a match between the object and the stored record in response to: The object identifier and the attached identification tag of the object are matched with the object identifier and the attached identification tag of the stored record. 23. The system of claim 21, wherein the additional identification indicia includes at least one of operation and type. 24. The system of claim 21, wherein the additional identification indicia includes operation and type. 25. The system as claimed in claim 21, wherein said object is an integral part of a web page, said system further comprising a report generator for generating a report comprising a description of said web page and used in said A visual indicator is added to the web page description that quantifies user activation of each object on the web page. 26. The system of claim 25, wherein the visual indicators are color coded.

Images