Patent ID: 7260837

Claim:
A method of collecting data relating to a user's usage over a network, the user utilizing a computing device to send and receive data over the network, the computing device having an address on the network, the method comprising: identifying a user of the computing device, wherein the computing device has at least one input device, and identifying the user further includes: monitoring, during an ongoing online session of the user, the at least one input device to collect data on at least one mannerism of the user in operating the at least one input device; accumulating, during the ongoing online session of the user, the data on the at least one mannerism of the user in operating the at least one input device to provide accumulated mannerism data for the ongoing online session; comparing the accumulated mannerism data to a mannerisms database that associates at least one mannerism with at least one user; and providing an indication of an identity of the user of the at least one input device based on the comparison; readdressing requests for data received from the computing device to indicate that the requests for data originated in an intermediary domain; recording information related to the requests for data together with the identity of the user; and sending the readdressed requests for data onto the network.