Method of data collection among participating content providers in a distributed network

摘要

A content delivery network (CDN) service provider extends a content delivery network to gather information on atomically identifiable web clients (called “user agents”) as such computer-implemented entities interact with the CDN across different domains being managed by the CDN service provider. The data system tracks user agents, preferably via cookies, although one or more passive techniques may be used. A user agent may be a cookie-able device having a cookie store. As the user agent navigates across sites, a CDN-specific unique identifier used by the system to correlate user agents is generated. Preferably, the unique identifier is stored as an encrypted cookie. The unique identifier represents one user agent (and, thus, one cookie-able device's store). The system tracks user agent behavior on and across customer sites that are served by the CDN, and these behaviors are classified into identifiable “segments” that may be used to create a profile.

主权项

1. Server apparatus, comprising:
at least one hardware processor; computer memory holding computer program instructions executed by the hardware processor to perform a method, the method comprising:
tracking a client machine user agent across a plurality of content provider domains being managed by a service provider, the client machine user agent being an atomically-identifiable web client, the tracking including the following sub-steps carried out with respect to at least one content provider domain visited by the client machine user agent:
redirecting the client machine user agent from the content provider domain to a service provider namespace and setting a master cookie,automatically redirecting the client machine user agent back to the content provider domain from which the client machine user agent was redirected; andsetting a content provider domain-specific cookie equal to the value of the master cookie; andusing data generated by the tracking to provide an entity a service.