PCT
`INTERNATIONAL APPLICATION PUBLISHED UNDER THE PATENT COOPERATION TREATY (PCT)
`(51) International Patent Classification 6 :
`G06F 17/30
`
`WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION
`International Bureau
`
`(11) International Publication Number:
`
`WO 00/31666
`
`Al
`
`(43) International Publication Date:
`
`2 June 2000 (02.06.00)
`
`(21) International Application Number:
`
`PCT/US99/27695
`
`(22) International Filing Date:
`
`22 November 1999 (22.11.99)
`
`(30) Priority Data:
`60/109,908
`Not furnished
`
`25 November 1998 (25.11.98)
`18 November 1999 (18.11.99)
`
`US
`US
`
`INFORMATION WORKS, LLC [US/US]; 517
`(71) Applicant:
`S.W. Fourth Avenue, Portland, OR 97204 (US).
`
`(81) Designated States: AE, AL, AM, AT, AU, AZ, BA, BB, BG,
`BR, BY, CA, CH, CN, CU, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, Fl, GB,
`GD, GE, GH, GM, HR, HU, ID, IL, IN, IS, JP, KE, KG,
`KP, KR, KZ, LC, LK, LR, LS, LT, LU, LV, MD, MG, MK,
`MN, MW, MX, NO, NZ, PL, PT, RO, RU, SD, SE, SG, SI,
`SK, SL, TJ, TM, TR, TT, UA, UG, UZ, VN, YU, ZA, ZW,
`ARIPO patent (GH, GM, KE, LS, MW, SD, SL, SZ, TZ,
`UG, ZW), Eurasian patent (AM, AZ, BY, KG, KZ, MD,
`RU, TJ, TM), European patent (AT, BE, CH, CY, DE, DK,
`ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, IE, IT, LU, MC, NL, PT, SE), OAPI
`patent (BF, BJ, CF, CG, CI, CM, GA, GN, GW, ML, MR,
`NE, SN, TD, TG).
`
`(72) Inventors: SHORT, Daniel; 1559 S.E. Maple Avenue, Port-
`land, OR 97214 (US). RINESS, Molly; 1559 S.E. Maple Published
`Avenue, Portland, OR 97214 (US). KEMPFER, Wes; 3155
`With international search report.
`N.E. 73rd Avenue, Portland, OR 97213 (US).
`Before the expiration of the time limit for amending the
`claims and to be republished in the event of the receipt of
`amendments.
`
`(74) Agent: SMITH, Michael, S.; Black, Lowe & Graham, PLLC,
`816 Second Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104 (US).
`
`(54) Title: COMPUTER NETWORK BASED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COLLECTING AND REPORTING DATA
`
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`12
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`
`(57) Abstract
`
`A computer network based system and
`method
`for collecting and
`reporting data,
`in real-time.
`preferably market research data
`Real-time feedback enables timely response to
`emerging issues, enhances training/feedback for
`support staff and gives the ability to promptly
`see problem areas through the users' eyes. The
`present invention collects and reports market
`research data. A software implemented data
`collection tool (16) deploys to a client (18) over
`a computer network (2) to elicit data from the
`user. The collection tool (16) returns the elicited
`data to a research database (6), which stores
`the elicited data. The research database (6) is
`accessible to one or more designated persons,
`typically a commissioner of the research work
`and/or someone with their authority.
`
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`FOR THE PURPOSES OF INFORMATION ONLY
`
`Codes used to identify States party to the PCT on the front pages of pamphlets publishing international applications under the PCT.
`
`AL
`AM
`AT
`AU
`AZ
`BA
`BB
`BE
`BF
`BG
`BJ
`BR
`BY
`CA
`CF
`CG
`CH
`Cl
`CM
`CN
`cu
`CZ
`DE
`DK
`EE
`
`Albania
`Annenia
`Austria
`Australia
`Azerbaijan
`Bosnia and Herzegovina
`Barbados
`Belgium
`Burkina Faso
`Bulgaria
`Benin
`Brazil
`Belarus
`Canada
`Central African Republic
`Congo
`Switzerland
`Ct\te d'Ivoire
`Cameroon
`China
`Cuba
`Czech Republic
`Gennany
`Denmark
`Estonia
`
`ES
`Fl
`FR
`GA
`GB
`GE
`GH
`GN
`GR
`HU
`IE
`IL
`IS
`IT
`JP
`KE
`KG
`KP
`
`KR
`KZ
`LC
`LI
`LK
`LR
`
`Spain
`Finland
`France
`Gabon
`United Kingdom
`Georgia
`Ghana
`Guinea
`Greece
`Hungary
`Ireland
`Israel
`Iceland
`Italy
`Japan
`Kenya
`Kyrgyzstan
`Democratic People's
`Republic of Korea
`Republic of Korea
`Kazakstan
`Saint Lucia
`Liechtenstein
`Sri Lanka
`Liberia
`
`LS
`LT
`LU
`LV
`MC
`MD
`MG
`MK
`
`ML
`MN
`MR
`MW
`MX
`NE
`NL
`NO
`NZ
`PL
`PT
`RO
`RU
`SD
`SE
`SG
`
`Lesotho
`Lithuania
`Luxembourg
`Latvia
`Monaco
`Republic of Moldova
`Madagascar
`The fonner Yugoslav
`Republic of Macedonia
`Mali
`Mongolia
`Mauritania
`Malawi
`Mexico
`Niger
`Netherlands
`Norway
`New Zealand
`Poland
`Portugal
`Romania
`Russian Federation
`Sudan
`Sweden
`Singapore
`
`SI
`SK
`SN
`sz
`TD
`TG
`TJ
`TM
`TR
`TT
`UA
`UG
`us
`uz
`VN
`YU
`zw
`
`Slovenia
`Slovakia
`Senegal
`Swaziland
`Chad
`Togo
`Tajikistan
`Turkmenistan
`Turkey
`Trinidad and Tobago
`Ukraine
`Uganda
`United States of America
`Uzbekistan
`Viet Nam
`Yugoslavia
`Zimbabwe
`
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`COMPUTER NETWORK BASED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COLLECTING
`
`AND REPORTING DATA
`
`5
`
`Field of the Invention
`
`The present invention relates to computerized market research tools, and in particular
`
`to a computer network based system and method for collecting and reporting data, preferably
`
`IO market research data, such as survey data.
`
`Background of the Invention
`
`As computer network technology, in particular Internet technology, has rapidly
`
`developed in recent years and businesses and other organizations have found or been
`
`presented with more effective ways to take advantage of this Internet technology, the World
`
`15 Wide Web has taken on ever increasing importance in the world of commerce. More and
`
`more organizations are using the Internet as a primary channel of communication,
`
`supplementing or even replacing traditional lines of communication such as face-to-face
`
`meetings, mail, fax and phone. A recent study by
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`Forrester Research, Inc. estimates that Internet commerce will grow forty fold over a period of
`
`five years, from US$8 billion in 1997 to US$327 billion in goods and services by the year 2002.
`
`Even now the Internet plays a very significant role as a distribution channel, a point of
`
`contact with customers, a marketing and advertising medium and a channel for services and
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`5
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`support, and the significance of this role will only increase in the future. Concordant with this
`
`growing significance of commerce over the Internet, in order that organizations can maintain and
`
`improve on the standards of information they share via the Internet, there is a rapidly growing
`
`need for feedback on the organizations' Internet presence, and thus a need for tools which can
`
`quickly and efficiently collect and report relevant market research data characterizing and
`
`10
`
`evaluating the organizations 1 Internet efforts.
`
`Traditionally, market research has been conducted by way of a survey completed during
`
`an interview between a market researcher and a consumer, either face-to-face or over the
`
`telephone. As an alternative, the survey may be mailed on paper or on computer diskette to the
`
`consumer for them to complete and return. The survey contains a series of questions designed to
`
`15
`
`elicit relevant information from the consumer, which can be collated and analyzed with answers to
`
`the survey from a number of other consumers to provide a characterization and/or an evaluation
`
`of particular facets of the organization, services or products of the entity for whom the survey is
`
`being conducted.
`
`Many companies or businesses initially developed on line survey tools in-house. More
`
`20
`
`recently, computerized survey tools have been provided, whereby survey or other market research
`
`information can be elicited over the Internet. One example of such a tool is 'SurveySez', which
`
`allows an organization to create their own HTML-based survey as a page or pages hosted on the
`
`SurveySez Internet Web Site. The organization then includes a link to the survey on their own
`
`Web site.
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`25
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`
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`A second example is 'SurveySite 1, which uses a pop-up invitation implemented in Java
`
`which acts as a link to an HTML survey hosted at a separate site. A report is generated and
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`delivered to the organization commissioning the research at the end of the survey's life, e.g.
`
`after a pre-determined number of surveys have been responded to.
`
`Another example is 'CLTResearch', offering a survey in flat HTML. Similarly to
`
`'SurveySite' a report is generated at the conclusion of the complete survey period. Yet
`
`5
`
`another example of an HTML survey with a report generated on completion is 'KB&P'. In the
`
`latter example, the respondents to the survey may either be visitors to a particular Web Site,
`
`as in the above examples, or previously registered participants.
`
`A final example, which employs a very different methodology to the previous
`
`examples, is 'RelevantKnowledge'/Nielsen Group. A group of people (called a web panel or
`
`IO
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`research panel) agree in advance to have their Internet usage monitored, and then periodically
`
`a log of which Web Sites these people have visited is uploaded to a central collection point,
`
`and a report is generated.
`
`Summary of the Invention
`
`The present invention provides a computer network based system and method for
`
`15
`
`collecting and reporting data, preferably market research data in real-time. Whatever the
`
`application to which the invention is applied, particularly where it is market research oriented,
`
`the real-time feedback it provides can enable timely response to emerging issues, can enhance
`
`training/feedback for support staff and can give the ability to promptly see problem areas
`
`through the users' eyes.
`
`20
`
`From one aspect, the invention provides a computer network based, preferably
`
`Internet based, system and method for collecting and reporting data, preferably market
`
`research data A software implemented data collection tool is deployed to a client on the
`
`computer network (for example a Web browser) to elicit data from a user accessing the
`
`computer network through that client. The collection tool returns the elicited data to a
`
`25
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`research database, which stores the elicited data. The research database is made accessible to
`
`one or more designated persons, typically a commissioner of the research work and/or
`
`someone with their authority.
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`The data collection tool can be deployed to successive users of the computer network,
`
`accessing the network via the same or, more typically, a different client. Each time the
`
`collection tool is deployed and data returned, the research database is updated, and thus
`
`updated, real time results are made accessible to the designated person(s).
`
`5
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`Preferably, the deployment of the data collection tool is initiated by the user visiting a
`
`particular pre-defined trigger page of information on the computer network, or any one of a
`
`number of such pre-defined trigger pages. Typically, each trigger page will be associated with
`
`a particular information site of the organization commissioning the research. For example,
`
`where the system is implemented on the Internet, each trigger page may be a page of their
`
`10 Web site.
`
`If there are two or more trigger pages at an information site. the system is
`
`preferably controlled so as to suppress deployment of the data collection tool more than once
`
`during any single visit to the information site by a user. For instance, the data collection tool
`
`can function to detect whether or not it has previously been run during the current browser
`
`session in order to prevent multiple deployments.
`
`15
`
`In some embodiments of the invention, further control is exercised over the
`
`deployment of the data collection tool. For instance, a first stage in the deployment of the
`
`collection tool may be the issue of an invitation to the user, for example giving them the
`
`option to decline to take the survey or other data collection means if they wish. If desired,
`
`any such decision to decline to take a survey may be recorded in the research database. A
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`20
`
`further possibility is to control the frequency at which the data collection tool is deployed.
`
`That is to say, the tool need not be deployed each time a user visits a trigger page, but rather
`
`can be presented only to every nth user to visit the page, or to a random one of every n users
`
`(where n is any real integer greater than 1) and/or only after lapse of a predetermined time
`
`interval following a preceding deployment of the tool. Yet a further possibility, where the
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`25
`
`users of the computer network are identified with a user name or other identifier such as
`
`machine or source IP address, is to place limitations on the identity of the users to whom the
`
`data collection tool is presented. For instance, it may be desirable to exclude certain
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`named/identified users from the market research or other data collection process, for example
`
`employees of the research commissioner.
`
`In addition or alternatively, particularly on
`
`computer networks such as the Internet where individual users do not necessarily require
`
`positive identification as a condition of access, specific network addresses ( e.g. IP addresses
`
`5
`
`on the Internet) can be blocked to provide a similar control over the persons to whom the data
`
`collection tool is presented.
`
`Once the data collection tool has been deployed, the system preferably has the ability
`
`to delay the actual commencement of data elicitation. For example, the data collection tool
`
`may have the ability to linger within the client for a period of time after its deployment, during
`
`10 which time the client device can be operated to perform other functions. For example, it may
`
`be desirable to deploy the data collection tool when a user first arrives at an information site,
`
`but to delay elicitation of the market research data, or other data, until after the user has had
`
`an opportunity to explore the site more fully.
`
`In a typical implementation of the invention, the data collection tool will provide a
`
`I 5
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`survey or other data form, presenting the user with a series of questions to be answered. For
`
`some questions the user may be presented with a series of possible responses from which they
`
`must choose one, or in some cases one or more. Other questions may require a response by
`
`way of a value on a continuous scale, and another option is to allow the user to enter free text
`
`answers. Where there is some control placed on the response to a question, such that the
`
`20
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`response is predictable, the system may be designed to use the response to that question to
`
`decide whether a subsequent question in the survey be used. Once all of the answers to the
`
`survey have been provided, the data collection tool delivers the answers to the research
`
`database for access by the reporting tool at the report site.
`
`In addition to the answers
`
`themselves, the data collection tool may also collect and return other types of information, for
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`25
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`example information indicating the state of completion of a survey, or other similar sample
`
`incidence information.
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`In some embodiments of the system, the data collection tool conducts one or more
`
`analyses of the data to produce one or more report results, which are stored in the database.
`
`The analysis or analyses may be relatively simple, for example calculating occurrences of a
`
`particular class of answer as a percentage of total answers to a question, or relatively
`
`5
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`complex, for example deriving a report result based on answers to a number of different
`
`questions. The data collection tool may also directly store the raw information elicited as
`
`report results in the database, for example answers to one of more of the questions presented
`
`in a survey may be stored without further analysis. Furthermore, in preferred embodiments,
`
`the at least some report results are also available in an interactive query format, allowing
`
`10
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`someone accessing the results via the report site to specify an analysis based on a combination
`
`of any two, or possibly more than two, of the non-free text questions of a survey.
`
`The research database is preferably accessible via a report site on the computer
`
`network which, if desired, can provide secure access to the database. For instance, the report
`
`site may be set up so that a pre-arranged password is required before the report site enables
`
`15
`
`the research database to be accessed, the password only being made available to pre(cid:173)
`
`authorized designated persons. In this way, the results of the market research, or other data
`
`collection process, can be made available only to the desired parties, for example the
`
`commissioner of the research, or persons with their express consent.
`
`The report site preferably also provides a user friendly front end to the database, and
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`20
`
`comprises or works in conjunction with a software implemented report tool to extract relevant
`
`report results from the database and present them to the designated person(s) as an
`
`appropriately formatted report. Typically, the results will be presented graphically as bar
`
`charts, pie charts, tables or the like, but any one of a large number of other graphical or
`
`textual formats are possible. It is particularly preferred that the report tool has the capability
`
`25
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`to manipulate the report results and/or carry out one or more analyses of them, in order to
`
`present the designated person(s) with a variety of differently focused reports. For example,
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`the system may allow the designated person to select one of a number of focused reports, or
`
`even to define the focus of the report themselves.
`
`Advantageously, the data collection tool can be deployed from a server (referred to
`
`hereinafter a "survey server") associated with the computer network, other than a server
`
`5
`
`(referred to hereinafter as an "information server") on which the information site containing
`
`the trigger page or pages is located. This arrangement, unlike prior survey systems, can avoid
`
`placing additional load on the information server. The research database is also preferably
`
`resident on a server (referred to hereinafter as a "report server") other than the information
`
`server, as is the report site and report tool. The research database, the report site and the
`
`IO
`
`report tool are preferably resident on a single report server, which conveniently may be the
`
`same server as the survey server from which the data collection tool is deployed.
`
`In a development of the present invention, the data collecting and reporting system
`
`elicits information from the users of a plurality of distinct information sites on the computer
`
`network, which may be resident on the same or different information servers. For each
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`15
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`information site the same data collection tool and/or the same report tool may be employed.
`
`Alternatively, custom versions of one or both of these tools may be provided for use with one
`
`or more of the information sites served. If different, customized collection and report tools
`
`are used for respective ones of the information sites served by the system, they are preferably
`
`each based on a respective one of a master data collection tool and a master report tool, which
`
`20
`
`provide common functions generally required by most, if not all market research applications
`
`or, if applicable, other data collection applications to which the system applies. In this way,
`
`the effort required to provide a custom data collection and/or report tool for any particular
`
`application can be minimized.
`
`Where multiple information sites are served, all of the data elicited may be stored in a
`
`25
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`single research database, but access to the data is preferably controlled so that the report
`
`results associated with the distinct information sites are only accessible to the respective
`
`designated person or persons. For example, each designated person may be given a unique
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`access name and corresponding password which they use to enter the report site, the report
`
`site and report tool utilizing the unique access name, if verified with the corresponding
`
`password, to determine which report results should be made accessible to a particular
`
`designated person.
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`5
`
`Brief Description of the Drawings
`
`The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will
`
`become more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the
`
`following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,
`
`wherein:
`
`IO
`
`FIGURE I schematically illustrates a market research data collection and reporting
`
`system that operates in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
`
`FIGURE 2 is a block diagram showing the structure of the client side component of
`
`the data collection tool of the system of FIGURE 1;
`
`FIGURE 3 schematically illustrates the procedure by which the system of FIGURE I
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`15
`
`collects data;
`
`FIGURES 4 to 17 show screen shots from an exemplary survey conducted over the
`
`Internet using the inventive system; and
`
`FIGURES 18 to 28 show pages from an exemplary report site according to the present
`
`invention.
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`20
`
`Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment
`
`The present invention is a computer network based system and method for collecting
`
`and reporting data, preferably market research data in real time. Currently, the primary
`
`application of the invention is seen to be in the field of gathering customer feedback regarding
`
`the quality of services, information and products that are being provided by an organization
`
`25
`
`doing business on the World Wide Web, and the following description of an exemplary
`
`illustrates such an application. However, the invention is also applicable to gathering other
`
`types of data, whether market research data or other informational data, in any of a number of
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`computer network environments.
`
`In this sense, it can be considered as a general purpose
`
`market research tool.
`
`Referring to FIGURE 1, a data collection and reporting system is implemented on the
`
`World Wide Web, data exchange between various components of the system being effected
`
`5
`
`over the Internet 2. Visitors to a specific information site 4 on the Web, typically a Web site
`
`of the research commissioner, are presented with a survey including a number of questions.
`
`The answers to these questions given by the visitors are stored in a database 6 and made
`
`immediately accessible to a designated person or persons, typically the research commissioner,
`
`by way of one or more user friendly survey reports available on-line over the Internet 2 at a
`
`10
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`report Web site 8. The survey remains active for a finite period defined by the number of
`
`visitors to take the survey, an overall time duration, or a combination of the two. At the end
`
`of the complete survey period, the results remain accessible to the designated person(s) for a
`
`further pre-defined post-survey time period. At any time during pendency of the survey or
`
`during the post-survey period, the survey results can be down-loaded from the survey
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`15
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`database 6, in order that a permanent record may be kept by the research commissioner.
`
`Additionally, any of the graphical reports at the report site 8 can be captured using common
`
`methods for HTML capture and reposted to any other Web site (for example in order that the
`
`research commissioners intranet can be used to share the information within an organization)
`
`or the graphics can be incorporated into any compatible tool for presentation. The main
`
`20
`
`elements of a currently preferred embodiment of the system are: (a) a data collection tool,
`
`having both server side and client side components, for presenting the user with the survey
`
`and collecting their answers as survey data; (b) a survey database 6 for storing the survey
`
`data, either in raw form or following one or more analyses or manipulations, as survey results,
`
`and which also contains survey configuration data and survey question text; ( c) a report site 8
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`25
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`through which the designated person can access the survey results; ( d) a report tool 10 which
`
`is implemented within the report site 8 to present the designated person with the survey results
`
`in the form of one or more focused survey reports; and ( e) a trigger, resident on a trigger page
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`12 of an information site 4, typically a Web page of the research commissioner, to initiate the
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`survey when the visitor requests that trigger page 12.
`
`Advantageously, a single survey server 14 operating the inventive system may be used
`
`to simultaneously conduct more than one survey, each survey being associated with the same
`
`5
`
`or a different Web site or page on the World Wide Web. For each Web site or page the same
`
`fundamental data collection tool is employed, although an expanded survey (including
`
`additional questions) or otherwise customized survey ( e.g. including revised questions and/or
`
`graphic images) may be used. Where multiple surveys are being conducted, the survey results
`
`from each survey are stored in the database 6 in a manner identifying them with their
`
`10
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`respective survey, in order that the report site 8 and report tool 10 can distinguish them. It is
`
`also
`
`likely that the designated person( s) will be different for the different surveys.
`
`Consequently, each designated person is assigned a unique user name, verified by a password,
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`for accessing the report site 8 and hence the survey results stored in the survey database 6. In
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`this way it is possible to restrict access to the survey results associated with particular surveys
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`only to respective authorized designated persons.
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`In the preferred implementation of the data collection tool, there is a capability to
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`suppress presentation of the survey to the visitor in certain circumstances. More particularly,
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`when initially deployed the survey applet 16 conducts a validation operation to determine
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`whether to proceed with the survey, in which it is determined, for example: (a) whether the
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`implementation of the survey is supported by the visitor's Web browser 18; (b) whether the
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`survey has been previously executed in the current browser session; and ( c) whether the IP
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`address from which the visitor is accessing the network is on a list of addresses excluded from
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`participation in the survey. If these and/or other validation tests are passed, that is to say, for
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`example, the visitor's browser 18 will support the survey, the survey has not been previously
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`executed and the visitor is not excluded, the applet 16 proceeds to the next step in the
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`procedure. If any one of the tests is failed, the survey applet 16 exits without ever presenting
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`itself to the user.
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`Also in this preferred implementation, the frequency at which the survey is presented
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`to visitors to the trigger page I 2 can be controlled. That is to say the survey need not be
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`presented to each visitor who passes the above validation operation. This frequency control is
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`implemented by setting an invitation frequency (j) within the survey applet 1 6 The value f is
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`an integer which determines the probability that a user will be presented with the survey. Ifj
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`is set to I, every visitor who passes the validation will be presented with the survey, whereas
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`integers greater than I will reduce the probability that a given visitor will be presented with a
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`survey. For instance, the survey applet 16 can be configured to randomly present the survey
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`to one out of every n visitors, where f
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`n.
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`In the current implementation, a visitor is
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`presented with an invitation if the results of floor(R x f) equals 0, where R is a pseudo random
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`number between O and l . The floor() function truncates the product of R x f, that is to say
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`subtracts the fractional part of the product, to give an integer value.
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`In the preferred
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`implementation, the value f can be changed during the course of a survey, allowing control of
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`the period during which data collection is completed, providing the unique ability to ensure
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`collection of a representative sample of site traffic.
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`The survey applet 16 also has the capability to provide a further front end filter to the
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`survey. If desired, rather than launching straight in to the full survey itself, the visitor can be
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`presented with an invitation to take the survey. This invitation can give the visitor the
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`opportunity to decline to take the survey ( such a decision to decline itself being recorded as
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`the survey data), can be used to "screen" for a specific type of visitor ( e.g. visitors with a
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`specific connection speed or other screening information), and can also be conveniently used
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`to offer the visitor an incentive for completing the survey.
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`Whatever front end filters are used, if and when the full survey is launched, the survey
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`applet 16 presents the visitor with a "START SURVEY" icon, along with instructions on the
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`completion of the survey and, if desired, a suggestion to them that they complete their
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`business at the Web site before taking the survey, in order that their responses might be based
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`on a more complete review of the Web site. The "ST ART SUR VEY" icon exists in its own
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`window separate from the main browser window, so it may be minimized or lowered while the
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`visitor continues to browse the information Web site 4. When the user is ready to commence
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`answering the survey questions, they simply activate the "ST ART SUR VEY" icon as they
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`would any other icon (e.g. by clicking on it with their mouse), and they are presented with the
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`first question.
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`Considering the data collection tool in more detail. As mentioned above, the data
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`collection tool comprises both server side and client side components, which communicate via
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`the Internet 2 using the standard HTTP protocol. The server side components are resident
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`on, and are executed by the survey server 14. They are currently implemented as a series of
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`l 0
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`servlets, which run under the Java Web Server 1.1 environment. They could. however, be
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`implemented to run under any HTTP server that supports Java servlets or other equivalent
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`applets. Currently there are four server side components.
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`First, there is a survey servlet 20 which, at the request of the client side component 16,
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`extracts the appropriate survey configuration data from the survey database 6 and posts it to
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`client side component 16. Where the system is set up to handle multiple surveys, in order that
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`the survey servlet 20 can extract and post the correct survey configuration data for the survey
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`that is to be activated, the survey servlet 20 is first passed a pre-assigned. unique survey job
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`code by the client side component 16. The client side component 16 itself obtains the unique
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`survey job code from the trigger on the trigger page 12, the code being one component of the
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`20
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`trigger. Using the unique survey job code, the survey servlet 20 retrieves the appropriate
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`configuration data from the survey database 6, puts it in name-value pair format and posts it
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`to the client side component 16. In currently preferred embodiments, the configuration data
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`includes the following elements:
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`"Survey class name" - this is a class file that determines the question set
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`for each survey. Each different survey may be associated with its own unique
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`survey class, in which case the text of the questions, which make up the survey
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`can be coded into the class. However, in a preferred implementation a generic
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`survey class is used for a number of different surveys, the genenc class
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`configuring itself for any particular survey by retrieving the respective question
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`set from the survey database. With this latter implementation, the survey class
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`name will be the same for all surveys sharing the generic survey class.
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`"Survey Job Code" - this is the key to retrieving the correct survey
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`configuration for a particular survey. It is passed to the client side component
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`16 of the data collection tool as a parameter from the trigger.
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`"Question Image (banner)" - this is an image that is displayed at the top
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`of each question frame and may, for example, contain the name or other
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`identifying symbol of the research commissioner.
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`"Start Image (logo)" - this is an image that appears with the "START
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`SUR VEY" icon.
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`"Question Color" - in the exemplary implem