Verifiable online usage monitoring

摘要

In the present invention, observed online CPD or CE activities must be within a designated envelope of acceptable behavior for accredited activity to be recorded in a session log for that user. When a watcher program detects one or more loss of user focus on the activity, it alerts the user and gives them a short opportunity to rectify the situation, otherwise a session timer is stopped and no further credits are added or verified to the user's session log. When a session is ended by a user or the watcher program, only the verified activity that can be accredited to CPD is itemised and catalogued cumulatively in the user's session log.

主权项

1. A method of monitoring and verifying online computer usage, comprising:
running a parent web application on a client machine, the parent web application being in communication with a web server; upon receipt of a user request for an external web resource, retrieving and caching the requested web resource at the web server; updating one or more addresses in the cached web resource so that each refers to the parent web application's domain; displaying the updated version of the requested web resource in an embedded browser of the parent web application; monitoring, by a watcher program, the user's focus on the browser; starting a timer by the watcher program when monitoring the user's focus on the browser, the user's focus being on the browser and inactivity with other applications; recording in a session log, in an instance the user is considered to be focused on the browser, usage of the requested web resource that complies with terms of a predetermined envelope of approved usage, the usage comprising the time spent actively interacting with the requested web resource, wherein the actively interacting with the requested web resource comprises providing a user input or moving an associated user computing device; communicating, when user inactivity indicates a lack of user focus, an alert to the user that the timer is stopped until the user's focus is returned to the browser; and communicating, when user inactivity indicates a lack of interactivity with the browser, an alert to user that the timer will stop without user confirmation of interactivity with the browser.