Method and system for characterization of online behavior

摘要

A method, performed by a computer, of collecting and classifying data about computer network traffic as user website visit recording sessions comprises determining whether a data request to at least one website comprises a user ongoing interaction with a website or whether it is a new site visit by a user. A data table made up of all known hosts that direct a user to a specific website is assembled and the computer network traffic corresponding to said sessions by tracking each user request to all known hosts for each specific website is classified. If the request is a new visit, a record of a new site visit is created. If the request is a user ongoing interaction which occurred more than a predetermined amount of time since the last visit, a record of the data request as a new site visit is created. If the request is a user ongoing interaction occurring at less than a predetermined amount of time since the last visit, a record of the visit as a continuation of the prior visit is created. The network traffic is characterized based on the records created for each website independent of which host is used by a user to request data from each website.