System and method for filtering collected data

Abstract

A system and method for filtering collected data in connection with tracking the use of resources of a computer is disclosed. Embodiments of the system comprise a plurality of client computers, wherein each computer has one or more resources that the system tracks; a client application for each client computer, each client application for collecting utilization duration data relating to the utilization of the resources of the application's corresponding client computer; an application server for receiving the utilization duration data collected by the client applications and for storing the received data in a storage structure; wherein each client application has a filter for filtering data collected by the client application. Embodiments of the method comprise identifying an instance when a particular software resource is used; measuring and recording a period relating to the detected utilization of the software resource; wherein the period is an estimated duration of the utilization of the software resource.

1 . A system for tracking utilization of resources of computers, the system comprising: 
 a plurality of client computers, wherein each computer has at least one resource that the system tracks;    a client application for each client computer, each client application collecting utilization duration data relating to the utilization of the at least one resource of the application's corresponding client computer, each client application including a filter for filtering data collected by the client applications; and    an application server for receiving the utilization duration data collected by the client applications and for storing the received data in a storage structure.    
   
   
       2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein each of a first set of the client applications collects different types of utilization data, wherein the filter of each client application in the first set includes a rule set for each type of utilization data collected by the filter's corresponding client application.  
   
   
       3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the filtering rule sets are embedded in XML documents.  
   
   
       4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein each XML rule document comprises a set of filtering rules for data items selected from the group consisting of: browser utilization data items; software utilization data items; software inventory data items; hardware utilization data items; and hardware inventory data items.  
   
   
       5 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the filtering rules of the rule set specify the elimination of a data item.  
   
   
       6 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the filtering rules of the rule set specify the modification of at least one attribute of a data item.  
   
   
       7 . The system of claim of  2 , wherein the filtering rules of the rule set specify that the filter pass a data item without modification.  
   
   
       8 . A method for filtering collected data, comprising: 
 providing a filtering engine;    receiving a data item;    identifying the appropriate rule set for the data item;    sequentially invoking the rules in the identified rule set; and    passing the data item to each invoked rule.    
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising commanding the data item to modify at least one attribute.  
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising commanding the data item to mark itself for deletion by the filtering engine.  
   
   
       11 . A system for tracking utilization of resources of computers, the system comprising: 
 a plurality of client computers, wherein each computer has at least one resource that the system tracks;    a client application for each client computer, each client application for collecting utilization duration data relating to the utilization of the resources of the application's corresponding client computer;    an application server for receiving the utilization duration data collected by the client applications and for storing the received data in a storage structure, the application server having a filter for filtering data collected by the client applications.    
   
   
       12 . The system of claim of  claim 11 , wherein the filtering of data at the application server is readily modifiable.  
   
   
       13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the application server filter performs a categorization operation.  
   
   
       14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the categorization operation is performed each time the application server filter receives an inventory add data item for a new software resource.  
   
   
       15 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the categorization operation is performed each time the application server filter receives a start data item for a URL event.