Patent ID: 8856276

Claim:
A method of collecting web usage data over a computer network, said method comprising the steps of: inserting a script at the top of each web page of a plurality of web pages to be metered, wherein said script identifies a list of metric servers to be contacted in a priority order for recording web usage data collected, and wherein said inserting said script step consists essentially of inserting said script at the beginning of said each web page of said plurality of web pages to be metered; sending a web page request over a computer network to a web server for a web page of said plurality of web pages; loading said web page while executing said script inserted within said web page for collecting said web usage data without substantially increasing load time for said web page; after said web page is loaded, selecting a metric server from said list of metric servers according to said priority order provided in said script; for each metric server selected from said list of metric servers: attempting to establish a connection to the selected metric server; if the attempt to establish the connection with the selected metric server is determined to be unsuccessful, selecting another metric server from said list of metric servers according to said priority order provided in said script; if the attempt to establish the connection to the selected metric server is determined to be successful, determining whether the selected metric server is currently busy recording other web usage data; if the selected metric server is determined to not be currently busy recording other web usage data, sending a record request to the selected metric server to record said web usage data collected for said web page; if the selected metric server is determined to be currently busy recording other web usage data, arbitrarily selecting another metric server from the list of metric servers.