Patent ID: 8595847

Claim:
A method comprising: providing a web interface to access the information stored in a first database, the web interface including a plurality of web servers capable to independently serve a current web request through retrieving the information from the first database; in response to the current web request received at one of the web servers, determining identification information indicating a requester of the current web request; logging the current web request in association with the requester in a second database, wherein the second database provides real time statistics on web requests received at the plurality of web servers; accessing the second database, in response to the current web request, for past web requests of the requester logged in the second database, where a portion of the past web requests of the requester were received via each server of the plurality of web servers; determining whether the requester is a web scraper based on whether a characteristic of the past web requests logged in the second database exceeds a threshold, wherein the characteristic of the past web requests logged in the second database is based at least in part on a pattern of unique data accesses over a period of time; determining a type of processing based on the characteristic of the past web requests logged in the second database, such that the type of processing is selected from the list: block the current web request, delay the current web request, and timely reply to the current web request; wherein the characteristic of the past web requests logged in the second database is based at least in part on a pattern of unique data accesses over a period of time; providing the information to the requester through one of the plurality of web servers where the type of processing is to timely reply to the current web request; and delaying provision of the information to the requester through one of web servers where the type of processing is to delay the current web request.