Method to determine whether advertisements in a web page are in view

摘要

A technique is provided to determine whether a region within a web page is viewable to a user through a browser window. Often, browsers will only show part of a web page at given time, creating a difficulty in establishing whether a region of the web page, which may be an advertisement for example, is in view. This is addressed by providing one or more test features within the region, rendering the web page, monitoring a behavioral characteristic of the test features and determining whether the region is in view based on the monitored behavioral characteristic, wherein the behavioral characteristic varies according to whether the test feature is currently being displayed. One example of a behavioral characteristic is a frame progression rate. Browsers will typically redraw elements of a web page at a higher rate if they are currently in view through the browser window, and this characteristic can therefore be used to determine whether the test feature, and thus the region, is in view. The present invention finds particular utility where the region contains an advertisement, as it allows an advertiser to discover whether the advertisement has been seen by users.

主权项

1. A computer implemented method for determining whether a region within a portion of a web page is in view, comprising:
providing at least one test feature in the region within the portion of the web page, wherein at least one of a browser rendering the web page or an application communicating with the browser is configured to redraw the test feature using at least a first redraw rate when the test feature is in view and at a rate lower than the first redraw rate when the test feature is not in view; rendering the web page; monitoring, using code operating in a restricted environment without access to position information of the region with respect to a viewable portion of the web page, a redraw rate of the at least one test feature, monitoring the redraw rate comprising monitoring an event indicating the test feature has been redrawn at a rate lower than the first rate, the redraw rate comprising a rate at which the at least one of the browser or the application redraws the at least one test feature within the window; and determining, using the code operating in the restricted environment, from the monitored redraw rate whether the region is in view or not in view, determining whether the region is in view or not in view comprising determining the region is not in view in response to detecting the event indicating the test feature has been redrawn at a rate lower than the first rate.