Monitoring and tracking application usage

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9037960-B2
Application number	US-96791610-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 14, 2010
Priority date	Dec 15, 2009
Publication date	May 19, 2015
Grant date	May 19, 2015

Abstract

The present description refers to a computer-implemented method, a computer program product and a computer system for monitoring and tracking application usage, the method comprising: determining, during a first interval, a first indication of whether a first user has provided a first input. The method further comprising obtaining, during the first interval, a first identifier of an active window in a first graphical user interface (GUI), and selectively storing the first identifier and the first indication. For this purpose a specific tracking tool may be implemented on the computer on which the first graphical user interface is executed.

First claim

We claim:

1. A computer-implemented method of monitoring and tracking application usage, the method comprising:
specifying a first interval length that is a period of time;
determining, during a first interval of the first interval length, a first indication of an input status of whether a first user has provided a first input;
obtaining, during the first interval of the first interval length, a first identifier of an active window in a first graphical user interface (GUI); and
tracking the application usage by:
obtaining a first input comparison by comparing the first indication of the input status with a previously stored indication of the input status and comparing the first identifier of the active window with a previously stored identifier of the active window; and
selectively storing the first identifier of the active window and the first indication of the input status based on the first input comparison by only storing the first identifier of the active window and the first indication of the input status when the comparison input indicates:
the first identifier of the active window is different from a most recently stored identifier of the active window; or the first indication of the input status is different from a most recently stored indication of the input status.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein selectively storing the first identifier of the active window and the first indication of the input status includes saving the first identifier of the active window and the first indication of the input status in a first data set comprising a first data sheet.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
specifying a second interval length that is a period of time different from the first interval length;
determining, during a second interval of the second interval length, a second indication of an input status of whether a second user has provided a second input;
obtaining, during the second interval of the second interval length, a second identifier of an active window in a second GUI;
saving the second identifier of the active window of the second GUI and the second indication of the input status of the second user in a second data set comprising a second data sheet; and
copying data of the first data set and data of the second data set into a third data set comprising a third data sheet.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first data sheet is located on a first computer, the second data sheet is located on a second computer and the third data sheet is located on a third computer; and
wherein copying the data of the first data sheet and the data of the second data sheet into the third data sheet further comprises:
opening a connection from the first computer to the third computer and copying the first data sheet to the third computer; and
opening another connection from the second computer to the third computer and copying the second data sheet to the third computer.

5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
determining, during a second interval of the first interval length, a second indication of the input status of whether the first user has provided a second input;
obtaining, during the second interval of the first interval length, a second identifier of the active window in the first GUI; and
where tracking the application usage further comprises:
obtaining a second input comparison by comparing the second identifier of the active window with the first identifier of the active window and comparing the second indication of the input status with the first indication of the input status; and
selectively storing the second identifier of the active window and the second indication of the input status based on the second input comparison.

6. The method of claim 2 , further comprising,
transmitting the first data sheet to a second computer;
processing the first data sheet using a macro; and
consolidating information from the first data sheet with information from one or more further data sheets in order to generate a report.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the first indication of the input status comprises verifying whether the first user has provided the first input using a keyboard, a navigation device, a pointing device, or any combination thereof.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first identifier of the active window and the first indication of the input status are not displayed in the first GUI.

9. The method of claim 1 , comprising varying the first interval length according to an application being monitored, a process being performed, or both.

10. The method of claim 1 , comprising specifying the first interval length as a fixed period of time.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising automatically protecting stored data indicative of the tracking of the application usage by:
locking one or more data cells of the stored data; or
hiding one or more data cells of the stored data.

12. A computer system for monitoring and tracking application usage, the computer system comprising:
a first computer including:
a first graphical user interface (GUI) configured to display a first active window; and
a first input device; and
wherein the first computer is operable to:

specify a first interval length that is a period of time;
determine, during a first interval of the first interval length, a first indication of an input status of whether a first user has provided a first input to the first input device;
obtain, during the first interval of the first interval length, a first identifier of the first active window; and
track the application usage by:
obtaining a first input comparison by comparing the first indication of the input status with a previously stored indication of the input status and comparing the first identifier of the first active window with a previously stored identifier of an active window; and
selectively storing the first identifier of the first active window and the first indication based on the first input comparison by only storing the first identifier of the first active window and the first indication of the input status when the comparison input indicates:
the first identifier of the first active window is different from a most recently stored identifier of the active window; or
the first indication of the input status is different from a most recently stored indication of the input status.

13. The computer system of claim 12 , wherein the first computer is operable to:
determine, during a second interval of the first interval length, a second indication of the input status of whether the first user has provided a second input;
obtain, during the second interval of the first interval length, a second identifier of the active window in the first GUI; and
further track the application usage by:
obtaining a second input comparison by comparing the second identifier of the active window with the first identifier of the first active window and comparing the second indication of the input status with the first indication of the input status; and
selectively storing the second identifier of the active window and the second indication of the input status based on the second input comparison.

14. The computer system of claim 12 , wherein the first computer is operable to:
transmit the first data sheet to a second computer;
process the first data sheet using a macro; and
consolidate information from the first data sheet with information from one or more further data sheets in order to generate a report.

15. The computer system of claim 12 , wherein determining the first indication of the inpu

Assignees

• Mukhopadhyay Tanmoy
• Bhat Venumadhava Ganapaya
• Accenture Global Services Ltd

Inventors

• Mukhopadhyay Tanmoy
• Bhat Venumadhava Ganapaya

Classifications

• G06F11/3476

  Data logging (G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence) · CPC title

• G06F16/9577

  Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents · CPC title

• G06F3/04883

  for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text · CPC title

• H04L41/22

  comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI] · CPC title

• G06F40/10

  Text processing (natural language analysis G06F40/20; semantic analysis G06F40/30; processing or translation of natural language G06F40/40) · CPC title