System and method for recording history of content accessed in a communications network

Abstract

Process steps are provided for electronically sending promotional and advertising materials based upon consumer preferences by providing a unique identifier to a consumer's electronic mail address and sending electronic mail to the consumer, wherein the electronic mail includes a plurality of embedded Internet web sites. Thereafter, the consumer accesses the plurality of embedded Internet web sites in response to the sent electronic mail, and consumer movement within the plurality of accessed embedded Internet web sites is tracked. Promotional material can then be sent to the consumer based upon the tracked consumer movement within the embedded Internet web sites. Process steps are also provided to track consumer movement without the consumer's electronic mail address, if the consumer makes a purchase with a credit card while at a seller's web site. The IP address is linked to the credit card to track consumer movement within the web site.

1 . A method for recording history of content accessed on a web server, the method comprising: 
 receiving a first uniform resource locator (URL) from a client computer to access a web server's content, wherein the first URL comprises a unique identifier (UID), the first URL identifying a first content and the UID identifying a user using the client computer;    sending the first content identified by the first URL to the client computer;    recording an IP Address in association with the first URL, comprising the UID, in a first log entry;    recording the IP Address and a second URL, not comprising the UID, in a second log entry, in response to receiving the second URL from the client computer to access a second content on the web server,    wherein information in said at least one of the first and second log entries provides a history of content requested by the user.    
     
     
         2 - 74 . (canceled)  
     
     
         75 . A method for recording history of content accessed on a web server, the method comprising: 
 receiving a first content identifier in a first request from a client computer to access a web server's content, wherein the first content identifier comprises a first unique identifier;    sending a first content identified by the first content identifier to the client computer, in response to the first request;    recording the first content identifier comprising the first unique identifier in a first log entry in association with a second unique identifier, wherein:    the second unique identifier identifies the client computer, and    the first unique identifier identifies a requesting party using the client computer; and    recording a second content identifier in a second log entry in association with the second unique identifier, in response to receiving a second request from the client computer to access second content on the web server,    wherein information in said at least one of the first and second log entries provides a history of content requested by the requesting party.    
     
     
         76 . The method of  claim 75 , wherein the first request is submitted to the web server in response to the requesting party actively selecting the first content identifier in an interactive document.  
     
     
         77 . The method of  claim 76 , wherein the interactive document is forwarded to the requesting party in an email message generated by a third party.  
     
     
         78 . The method of  claim 75 , wherein the first content identifier is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) referencing a first content stored on the web server.  
     
     
         79 . The method of  claim 75 , wherein the first unique identifier is an email address of the requesting party.  
     
     
         80 . The method of  claim 75 , wherein the second content identifier is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) referencing a second content stored on the web server.  
     
     
         81 . A method of recording history of content requested from a web server, the method comprising: 
 in response to a user actively selecting a hyperlink included in an email message sent to the user's email address, a web server receiving a first URL comprising an embedded user identifier from a client computer used by the user to receive the email message, 
 (1) the first URL identifying a first content provided by the web server for display on the client computer,  
 (2) the user identifier identifying the user, and  
 (3) an origination identifier associated with the client computer;  
   in response to the web server receiving the first URL, sending the first content identified by the first URL to the client computer;    recording the origination identifier in association with the user identifier in a first log entry to define a first association between the client computer and the user, respectively;    in response to the user interacting with the first content displayed on the client computer, the web server receiving a second URL from the client computer, 
 wherein the second URL identifies a second content provided by the web server for display on the client computer; and  
   recording the origination identifier in association with the second URL in a second log entry, to define a second association between the client computer and the second content, respectively, 
 wherein the origination identifier defines a common relationship between the first association and the second association to provide a history of content requested by the user from the web server based on URL information recorded in the log entries.  
   
     
     
         82 . The method of  claim 81 , wherein the origination identifier corresponds to an IP address of the client computer.  
     
     
         83 . The method of  claim 81 , wherein the origination identifier corresponds to an operating system of the client computer.  
     
     
         84 . The method of  claim 81 , wherein the origination identifier corresponds to an environment variable uniquely identifying the client computer.  
     
     
         85 . The method of  claim 81 , further comprising parsing the information stored in the log entries to determine the user's preferences based on the common relationship between the first association and the second association.