Patent Publication Number: US-7904430-B2

Title: End-user portal session logging by portlets

Description:
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     The present disclosure relates to portals and portlets. 
     BACKGROUND 
     A portal is a computer application that provides a single starting point for retrieving and aggregating content from multiple, divergent sources. The portal may be a Web site that is a major starting site for users when the users connect to the Web. Either alternatively or additionally, the portal may be a Web site that users tend to visit as an anchor site. Either way, the portal may provide a presentation layer of content aggregated from different sources and may provide links to many other Web sites. 
     The portal may offer a wide variety of resources, services, and links. Typical services offered by portal sites include providing a directory of Web sites, providing an ability to search for information, providing e-mail capabilities, providing a community forum, providing on-line shopping, and providing information such as news, weather, stock quotes, phone information and maps. 
     The services offered by a portal may be customized to a particular audience. Some portals offer services that are customized to a particular industry, occupation, or field. For example, a Web-based bank portal may enable customers to access their checking, savings, and investment accounts. 
     In addition, the portal may provide personalization and single sign-on. The EXCITE portal is an example of a portal that offers users the ability to personalize a Web site according to individual interests. 
     Portals can use portlets to enable direct interactive manipulation of applications from divergent sources through a single Web user interface. A portlet is a Web component, usually managed by a container, that processes requests and generates dynamic content. Portals can use the portlets as pluggable, user interface components to provide a presentation layer to information systems. 
     Portlets are reusable components and can provide access to Web-based content, applications, and other resources. Examples of portlets include an email portlet, a weather portlet, a discussion forums portlet, and a news portlet. 
     Two standard portal methodologies that support portlets are JAVA JSR168 from Sun Microsystems and OASIS Web Services for Remote Portlets (WSRP). JSR168 portlets run in the same execution environment as the portal server itself. In contrast, WSRP portlets run outside of the portal server execution environment. Thus, whereas the JSR168 portlets run on the same computer as the portal web server, the WSRP portlets run on a different computer than the portal web server. For both JSR168 and WSRP portlets, the portlets run independently of the portal, and independently of each other. Proprietary portal/portlet methodologies may also be implemented. 
     WSRP portlets deliver content to a portal along with presentation information so that their WSRP services appear and operate to portal users like local portlets (e.g. like JSR168 portlets). On the portal side, a single, service-independent adapter is sufficient to integrate any WSRP service. Portal administrators are not required to write interface code to adapt WSRP services for their portal. Thus, with WSRP, a portal can integrate content and applications without custom programming and without using a variety of different interfaces and protocols. 
     Many businesses have Web-based portals that are used by their customers. If a customer has a question or a problem regarding a product or a service included in the portal, he/she may call a customer support telephone number for the business. However, a customer support representative who fields the call may have visibility to only a subset of the products in the customer&#39;s portfolio. This may occur if the business segregates its customer support along product families or individual products. In general, customer support can be problematic if the business has separate operations and support teams for its various products. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention is pointed out with particularity in the appended claims. However, other features are described in the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an embodiment of a system for logging a session of a user of a portal; 
         FIG. 2  is an example of portlets in a telecommunication application; 
         FIG. 3  is a view of a portal page composed of the portlets; 
         FIG. 4  is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method of logging the session of the user of the portal; 
         FIG. 5  is a block diagram of a view of the system for multiple portals; and 
         FIG. 6  is a block diagram of an illustrative computer system. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a centralized logging system to log customers&#39; interaction with portals that use portlets. The system aggregates logs from each service element, including portals and portlets, while preserving customer security and privacy. 
     Using the system, a customer support representative who fields a call from a customer is given visibility to all of the products and services in a customer&#39;s portfolio, even if the business has separate operations and support teams for its various products and services. This promotes a single support channel where customers can call one telephone number and have their problems solved by the customer service representative who answers the call. Further, this system mitigates a likelihood of customers being bounced back and forth between call centers. 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an embodiment of a system for logging a session of a user  10  of a portal  12 . The portal  12  uses multiple portlets  14  that run independently from the portal  12  to provide the session to the user  10 . In general, the portal  12  may use any number of portlets. However, for purposes of illustration and example, the multiple portlets  14  comprise a first portlet  16  and a second portlet  18 . 
     The portal  12  is provided by a portal server computer. Any one or more of the portlets  14  may run on the portal server computer in the same execution environment as the portal  12 . Further, any other one or more of the portlets may run on one or more portlet server computers other than the portal server computer. Each portlet server computer may provide one portlet or multiple portlets. 
     In some embodiments, all of the portlets run on portlet server computers other than the portal server computer, such as in a WSRP implementation. In other embodiments, all of the portlets run on the portal server computer, such as in a JSR 168 implementation. 
     For purposes of illustration and example, the first portlet  16  is considered to be provided by a first portlet server other than the portal server, and the second portlet  18  is considered to be provided by a second portlet server other than the first portlet server and the portal server. 
     The user  10  uses a network-enabled device  20  having a browser  22  or an alternative client program to display a page outputted by the portal  12 . Examples of the network-enabled device  20  include, but are not limited to, a computer, a personal digital assistant, a wireless telephone, and an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) receiver. The network-enabled device  20  accesses the portal  12  over a computer network such as the Internet, an intranet, an extranet, or a 3G wireless network. 
     The portal  12  provides the overall structure, layout, and look-and-feel for the page. The portlets  14  provide application-specific information for the page. 
       FIG. 2  shows an example of the portlets  14  in a telecommunication application. The portlets  14  comprise a missed calls portlet  24 , a messages portlet  26 , a call-forwarding portlet  28 , a make-a-call portlet  30 , and a search-contacts portlet  32 . Based on an overall page structure  34 , the portal  12  assembles content from the portlets  24 ,  26 ,  28 ,  30 , and  32  to form a portal page  36 . The portal page  36  may be in a markup language such as HTML, for example. The portal page  36  is displayed to the user  10  by the browser  22  of the network-enabled device  20 . The user  10  may be a customer of a telecommunication company that provides the portal page  36 . 
       FIG. 3  provides another view of the portal page  36  composed of the portlets  24 ,  26 ,  28 ,  30 , and  32 . The portal page  36  provides an integrated view of products and services provided by the telecommunication company. 
     Referring back to  FIG. 1 , the system comprises multiple log servers  40  to log sessions of multiple users of the portal  12 . In general, the multiple log servers  40  may log multiple sessions of multiple users, including the user  10 , of multiple portals including the portal  12 . Further, any number of log servers  40  may be used. However, for purposes of illustration and example, three log servers  40  are depicted in  FIG. 1 . 
     A master log server  42  logs which of the log servers  40  is handling each of the sessions. When session information from a particular session is to be retrieved from the system, the master log server  42  is accessed to determine which of the log servers  40  has logged the particular session. 
       FIG. 4  is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method of logging the session of the user  10  of the portal  12  using the system of  FIG. 1 . 
     As indicated by block  44 , the user  10  logs into the portal  12  to begin the session. The user  10  logs into the portal  12  using the network-enabled device  20 . The login provides a single sign-on for multiple services available during the session. 
     As indicated by block  46 , the portal  12  selects which of the log servers  40  to use to log the session. Various methods can be used to select which of the log servers  40  is to be assigned to the session. For example, a next log server in a round-robin sequence can be selected, a least utilized of the log servers  40  can be selected, or a random one of the log servers  40  can be selected. Other load balancing methods can be used to distribute multiple sessions across multiple log servers  40 . For purposes of illustration and example, consider a log server  48  being assigned to the session. 
     As indicated by block  50 , the portal  12  stores a log server identifier  52  that identifies the selected log server  48 . This act may include the portal  12  adding the log server identifier  52  to its per-session information maintained for the session. 
     As indicated by block  54 , the portal  12  determines a session identifier  56  to identify the session at various components of the system. The portal  12  adds the session identifier  56  to its per-session information maintained for the session. 
     The session identifier  56  uniquely identifies the session from a pool of all customer sessions for the time that the session is active on the portal  12 . Preferably but optionally, the session identifier  56  differs from an internal session identifier  60  used by the portal  12  to provide the session to the user  10 . During the session, the portal  12  and the network-enabled device  20  may communicate the internal session identifier  60  either within URLs or by cookies that are set and retrieved from the network-enabled device  20 . By selecting the session identifier  56  to differ from the internal session identifier  60 , the internal session identifier  60  is concealed from the log servers  40 , the master log server  42 , and the portlets  14 . This mitigates a chance that an unscrupulous person with access to one of the log servers  40 , the master log server  42  and the portlets  14  hijacks the session when in-progress. The session identifier  56  is also referred to herein as an “opaque” session identifier. 
     As indicated by block  62 , the portal  12  sends a log record  64  to the master log server  42 . The log record  64  comprises a user identifier  66  such as a user name that identifies the user  10 , the selected log server identifier  52 , the opaque session identifier  56 , a time stamp  68 , a portal server identifier  70  that identifies a server of the portal  12 , and a record identifier  71  that identifies the log record  64  as a portal-session-start record. The log record  64  is received and stored by the master log server  42 . The log record  64  allows downstream systems, including customer care support systems, to use the master log server  42  to find the correct logging server for a customer&#39;s single sign-on (SSO) session. 
     In alternative embodiments, the selection of which log server is to be used and/or the determination of the opaque session identifier  56  is made by a component other than the portal  12 . For example, the master log server  42  may determine the opaque session identifier  56  and/or select which log server is to be used for logging the session. 
     As indicated by block  72 , the portal  12  sends a log record  74  to the selected log server  48 . The log record  74  comprises the portal server identifier  70 , the opaque session identifier  56 , a time stamp  78 , and a record identifier  80  that identifies the log record  74  as an authentication-request-first-login record. The log record  74  is received and stored by the selected log server  48 . 
     As indicated by block  82 , the portal  12  registers the session with providers of the portlets  14  before the portlets  14  for the session have been created and sent back to the portal  12 . During session registration, the portal server sends the opaque session identifier  56  and the selected log server identifier  52  to each portal server. 
     As indicated by block  84 , each portal server sends a respective log message to the selected log server  48  before returning a first portlet view to the portal server. The log message includes an identifier of its portlet and the opaque session identifier  56 . For example, the portlet  16  sends a log message  86  that includes the opaque session identifier  56  and a portlet identifier  88  that identifies the portlet  16 , and the portlet  18  sends a log message  90  that includes the opaque session identifier  56  and a portlet identifier  92  that identifies the portlet  18 . Each respective log message is received and stored by the selected log server  48 . 
     As indicated by block  94 , after the portal  12  and the portlets  14  have been initialized and have performed their initial log entries, one or more log entries  96  are made to the selected log server  48  when one or more significant events occur in the session. The significant events may occur during interaction of the user  10  with a page produced by the portal  12 . Examples of the significant events include, but are not limited to, interactions between the portal  12  and one or more of the portlets  14 , profile changes on the portal  12  and/or one or more of the portlets  14 , and service changes on one or more of the portlets  14 . 
     The events may comprise one or more portlet events that occur for any of the portlets  14 , and/or one or more portal events that occur for the portal  12 . 
     In response to a portlet event in the session, its portlet sends an associated portlet log entry to the log server  48  identified by the selected log server identifier  52  stored by the portlet. The portlet log entry may include the opaque session identifier  56  for the session and a time stamp, and may identify the portlet event in the session. 
     In response to a portal event in the session, the portal  12  sends an associated portal log entry to the log server  48  identified by the selected log server identifier  52  stored by the portal. The portal log entry may include the opaque session identifier  56  for the session and a time stamp, and may identify the portal event in the session. 
     The log server  48  receives and stores the log entries  96  that include the portlet log entries and the portal log entries. The log entries  96  are identified as being associated with the session based on the opaque session identifier  56 . 
     As indicated by block  100 , the method comprises determining if the user  10  has logged out of the session or if the session has timed out due to inactivity. If not, subsequent log entries can be made at block  94 . If so, as indicated by block  102 , the portal  12  notifies the providers of the portlets  14  that the session is ending. The portal  12  sends a session-end log entry to the selected log server  48 . As indicated by block  104 , the providers of the portlets  14  send session-end log entries to the selected log server. The selected log server  48  receives and stores session-end log entries  106  associated with the session. 
     The method of  FIG. 4  and the system of  FIG. 1  can be used to log sessions of multiple users of multiple portals that use multiple portlet providers.  FIG. 5  is a block diagram of a view of the system for multiple portals  110 . The multiple portals  110 , which include the portal  12 , can all be provided by a company to serve its customers including the user  10 . Any of the portlets  14  may be provided by either the company itself or another respective entity (e.g. another respective company that is a business partner of the company). 
     The business has customer service representatives, including a customer service representative  112 , who are available to assist its customers. Customers with questions or problems can call a single telephone number to speak to one of the customer service representatives. 
     The customer service representative  112  uses a computer  116  with a browser or an alternative client program. The computer  116  accesses a customer care server computer  120  that executes a customer service application program. The customer service application program is capable of providing a display of an activity of any of the customer sessions logged by the system. Using the user name or another user identifier as an index, the master log server  42  is capable of telling the customer care server  120  which of the log servers  40  is the authoritative log server for any of the customer sessions. Once the customer care server  120  knows which log server was used to log a particular session, the customer care server  120  pulls information for the particular session from that log server. The information is displayed to the customer service representative  112  using the browser of the computer  116 . 
     The display provides the customer service representative  112  visibility to the customer&#39;s entire portal session including each of the portlets that were viewed by the customer. The display can indicate interactions between the portal and each portlet provider, profile changes on the portal and each portlet provider, and service changes on each portlet provider for the session. 
     For example, consider the customer service representative  112  receiving a telephone call from the user  10  after the user  10  has experienced a problem or has a question regarding one of the services in his/her session with the portal  12 . The services were provided by the portlets  14 , which sent logging information for the session to the selected log server  48 . 
     Using the user identifier  66  that identifies the user  10 , the customer care server  120  retrieves the log server identifier  52  and the opaque session identifier  56  from the master log server  42 . Using the log server identifier  52 , the customer care server  120  identifies the log server  48  as the one that logged the session of the user  10 . 
     The customer care server  120  sends the opaque session identifier  56  to the log server  48  to retrieve information in the log entries associated with the session. Based on the information, the customer care server  120  outputs a display of activity of the user  10  in the session. The display of activity is viewable by the customer service representative  112  using the computer  116  and the browser. 
     The display gives the customer service representative  112  visibility into a whole customer experience of the user  10 , including how the user  10  is using the services. For example, the display can give visibility to both a digital subscriber line (DSL) service and a messaging unified communications service for which the user  10  is a customer. 
     Based on the display, the customer service representative  112  can take corrective action for a problem and/or can answer a question during the telephone call with the user  10 . 
     The herein-disclosed acts performed by each of the herein-disclosed embodiments may be directed by one or more computer processors based on respective computer-readable program code stored by a respective computer-readable medium. The data stored by each of the herein-disclosed components are stored by a respective computer-readable medium. 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the disclosed embodiments may be modified in numerous ways and may assume many embodiments other than the particular forms specifically set out and described herein. For example, either in addition to or as an alternative to customer care applications, the system can be used for other applications where log information is aggregated and associated on an end-user session basis. Examples of these other applications include, but are not limited to, data mining the session logs, targeted marketing based on usage indicated by the session logs, and usage studies based on the session logs. To cover any of these applications, the customer care server computer  120  can be generically referred to as a computer, where the computer is programmed to perform one or more applications based on the log information. 
     Referring to  FIG. 6 , an illustrative embodiment of a general computer system is shown and is designated  600 . The computer system  600  can include a set of instructions that can be executed to cause the computer system  600  to perform any one or more of the methods or computer based functions disclosed herein. The computer system  600  may operate as a standalone device or may be connected, e.g., using a network, to other computer systems or peripheral devices. 
     In a networked deployment, the computer system may operate in the capacity of a server or as a client user computer in a server-client user network environment, or as a peer computer system in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The computer system  600  can also be implemented as or incorporated into various devices, such as a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile device, a palmtop computer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a communications device, a wireless telephone, a land-line telephone, a control system, a camera, a scanner, a facsimile machine, a printer, a pager, a personal trusted device, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any other machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. In a particular embodiment, the computer system  600  can be implemented using electronic devices that provide voice, video or data communication. Further, while a single computer system  600  is illustrated, the term “system” shall also be taken to include any collection of systems or sub-systems that individually or jointly execute a set, or multiple sets, of instructions to perform one or more computer functions. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 6 , the computer system  600  includes a processor  602 , e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics-processing unit (GPU), or both. Moreover, the computer system  600  includes a main memory  604  and a static memory  606 , that can communicate with each other via a bus  608 . As shown, the computer system  600  may further include a video display unit  610 , such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a flat panel display, a solid-state display, or a cathode ray tube (CRT). Additionally, the computer system  600  may include an input device  612 , such as a keyboard, and a cursor control device  614 , such as a mouse. The computer system  600  can also include a disk drive unit  616 , a signal generation device  618 , such as a speaker or remote control, and a network interface device  620 . 
     In a particular embodiment, as depicted in  FIG. 6 , the disk drive unit  616  may include a computer-readable medium  622  in which one or more sets of instructions  624 , e.g. software, can be embedded. Further, the instructions  624  may embody one or more of the methods or logic as described herein. In a particular embodiment, the instructions  624  may reside completely, or at least partially, within the main memory  604 , the static memory  606 , and/or within the processor  602  during execution by the computer system  600 . The main memory  604  and the processor  602  also may include computer-readable media. 
     In an alternative embodiment, dedicated hardware implementations, such as application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic arrays and other hardware devices, can be constructed to implement one or more of the methods described herein. Applications that may include the apparatus and systems of various embodiments can broadly include a variety of electronic and computer systems. One or more embodiments described herein may implement functions using two or more specific interconnected hardware modules or devices with related control and data signals that can be communicated between and through the modules, or as portions of an application-specific integrated circuit. Accordingly, the present system encompasses software, firmware, and hardware implementations. 
     In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure, the methods described herein may be implemented by software programs executable by a computer system. Further, in an exemplary, non-limited embodiment, implementations can include distributed processing, component/object distributed processing, and parallel processing. Alternatively, virtual computer system processing can be constructed to implement one or more of the methods or functionality as described herein. 
     The present disclosure contemplates a computer-readable medium that includes instructions  624  or receives and executes instructions  624  responsive to a propagated signal, so that a device connected to a network  626  can communicate voice, video, or data over the network  626 . Further, the instructions  624  may be transmitted or received over the network  626  via the network interface device  620 . 
     While the computer-readable medium is shown to be a single medium, the term “computer-readable medium” includes a single medium or multiple media, such as a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers that store one or more sets of instructions. The term “computer-readable medium” shall also include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by a processor or that cause a computer system to perform any one or more of the methods or operations disclosed herein. 
     In a particular non-limiting, exemplary embodiment, the computer-readable medium can include a solid-state memory such as a memory card or other package that houses one or more non-volatile read-only memories. Further, the computer-readable medium can be a random access memory or other volatile re-writable memory. Additionally, the computer-readable medium can include a magneto-optical or optical medium, such as a disk or tapes or other storage device to capture carrier wave signals such as a signal communicated over a transmission medium. A digital file attachment to an e-mail or other self-contained information archive or set of archives may be considered a distribution medium that is equivalent to a tangible storage medium. Accordingly, the disclosure is considered to include any one or more of a computer-readable medium or a distribution medium and other equivalents and successor media, in which data or instructions may be stored. 
     Although the present specification describes components and functions that may be implemented in particular embodiments with reference to particular standards and protocols, the invention is not limited to such standards and protocols. For example, standards for Internet and other packet switched network transmission (e.g., TCP/IP, UDP/IP, HTML, HTTP) represent examples of the state of the art. Such standards are periodically superseded by faster or more efficient equivalents having essentially the same functions. Accordingly, replacement standards and protocols having the same or similar functions as those disclosed herein are considered equivalents thereof. 
     The illustrations of the embodiments described herein are intended to provide a general understanding of the structure of the various embodiments. The illustrations are not intended to serve as a complete description of all of the elements and features of apparatus and systems that utilize the structures or methods described herein. Many other embodiments may be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the disclosure. Other embodiments may be utilized and derived from the disclosure, such that structural and logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Additionally, the illustrations are merely representational and may not be drawn to scale. Certain proportions within the illustrations may be exaggerated, while other proportions may be minimized. Accordingly, the disclosure and the figures are to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. 
     One or more embodiments of the disclosure may be referred to herein, individually, and/or collectively, by the term “invention” merely for convenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope of this application to any particular invention or inventive concept. Moreover, although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it should be appreciated that any subsequent arrangement designed to achieve the same or similar purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to cover any and all subsequent adaptations or variations of various embodiments. Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments not specifically described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the description. 
     The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b) and is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, various features may be grouped together or described in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter may be directed to less than all of the features of any of the disclosed embodiments. Thus, the following claims are incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as defining separately claimed subject matter. 
     The above disclosed subject matter is to be considered illustrative, and not restrictive, and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications, enhancements, and other embodiments which fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, to the maximum extent allowed by law, the scope of the present invention is to be determined by the broadest permissible interpretation of the following claims and their equivalents, and shall not be restricted or limited by the foregoing detailed description.