Patent ID: 7881990

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for automatically tracking time for client billable activities, comprising: determining, based on a user input, a first association between a first billable activity and a first user application activity, wherein the first association is stored in a look up table, and wherein the first user application activity corresponds to an initiation of the first billable activity; determining, based on the user input, a second association between the first billable activity and a companion user application activity associated with the first user application, wherein the second association is stored in the look up table, and wherein the companion user application activity corresponds to a conclusion of the first billable activity; determining, based on the user input, a third association between a second billable activity and a second user application activity, wherein the third association is stored in the look up table, wherein the second user application activity is associated with a duration of the second billable activity, and wherein the first user application activity, the companion user application activity, and the second user application activity are associated with a user application executing on a user computer; detecting, at the user computer, the first user application activity; identifying the first billable activity, by using the lookup table, based on the first user application activity; generating a first time tracking entry associated with the first billable activity, wherein the first time tracking entry comprises a first activity identifier and a first time indicator indicating the initiation of the first billable activity; and automatically storing the first time tracking entry; detecting, at the user computer and subsequent to detecting the first user application activity, the second user application activity; generating a second time tracking entry comprising a second activity identifier and a second time indicator indicating the duration of the second billable activity; storing the second time tracking entry automatically; detecting, at the user computer and subsequent to detecting the second user application activity, the companion user application activity; generating a third time tracking entry comprising a third activity identifier and a third time indicator indicating the conclusion of the first billable activity; storing the third time tracking entry automatically; and facilitating preparation of a bill for a client, wherein the bill is based on: the first, second, and third time indicators, and the first, second, and third activity identifiers, and wherein the bill comprises: a first billable time period based on the duration, and a second billable time period based on subtracting the duration from a time period between the first and second time indicators.