Patent ID: 7657626
Filing Date: 2010-02-02
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A computer-implemented method for detecting click fraud, the method comprising: accessing a database of collected activity data, wherein the activity data includes records associating at least identifiers for destination electronic documents served from a referred-to website, events of access to the electronic documents, identifiers of referring electronic documents having embedded therein referring resources linking to the destination electronic documents, and identifiers of user computers to which the destination electronic documents were served by the referred-to website; selecting a first portion of activity data for analysis of click fraud, wherein the selected first portion is associated with at least one selected referred-to website, at least one referring electronic document of a referring website, and at least one IP address of a user computer, the selected first portion of activity data comprising at least one parameter relating to information of the access event; extracting first statistical information related to the at least one parameter for observations in the first portion of activity data; selecting a second portion of activity data for use as a comparative reference, the second portion comprising at least some additional activity data that is not present in the first portion; extracting second statistical information corresponding to the first statistical information, wherein the second statistical information is related to the at least one parameter for observations in the second portion of activity data; comparing the first statistical information and the second statistical information; and assessing whether or not click fraud is present for the at least one IP address based at least partly on the comparison.