Patent ID: 7003565

Claim:
A method of providing improved clickstream data collection over a series of related messages exchanged between computers in a networking environment, comprising: determining at a server computer a clickstream correlator value to be applied to related messages sent from a client computer, wherein the clickstream correlator value indicates whether clickstream data collection is being performed; annotating at the server computer at least one of the related messages sent from the client computer with information reflecting the determined clickstream correlator value by storing the information reflecting the determined clickstream correlator value as part of a routing token in the annotated messages, wherein the routing token further comprises information enabling identification of the client computer and server computer; transmitting at least one of the annotated messages with the routing token containing the determined clickstream correlator value and the information enabling identification of the client computer and server computer for delivery to the client computer; receiving at the server computer the clickstream correlator value and the information enabling identification of the client computer and server computer that are sent from the client computer with subsequent ones of the related messages; and using the clickstream correlator value at the server computer to collect clickstream data that is indicative of how a user at the client computer interacts with content at the server computer.