System, method and computer program product for reporting in a network-based filtering and aggregating platform
First Claim
1. A system for tracking network session information, the system comprising:
- an information source module having a source information input and a standardized information output, a source information corresponds to network usage information, a standardized information corresponds to the network usage information transformed into a standard format;
a first program having at least a first standardized information input and an enhanced data output, a first standardized information input corresponding to the standardized information, an enhanced data corresponding to the standardized data after at least a partial transformation, the at least partial transformation being defined according to a data record format;
a second program having at least a first enhanced data input and a data record output, the first enhanced data corresponding to the enhanced data, a data record corresponding to the first enhanced data, the data record being formatted according to the data record format;
a database storing the data record; and
wherein the second program merges duplicate data records that represent the same network usage information.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
In some embodiments, network traffic information is captured at network information sources. These sources provide detailed information about the network communications transactions at a network device. Importantly, different types of sources can provide different types of information. Gatherer devices gather the detailed information from the various information source devices and convert the information into standardized information. The gatherer devices can correlate the gathered information with account information for network transaction accounting. Manager devices manage the gatherer devices and store the gathered standardized information. The manager devices eliminate duplicate network information that may exist in the standardized information. The manager devices also consolidate the information. Importantly, the information stored by the manager devices represents the consolidated, account correlated, network transaction information that can be used for billing or network accounting. The system thereby provides a distributed network accounting and billing system.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. A system for tracking network session information, the system comprising:
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an information source module having a source information input and a standardized information output, a source information corresponds to network usage information, a standardized information corresponds to the network usage information transformed into a standard format;
a first program having at least a first standardized information input and an enhanced data output, a first standardized information input corresponding to the standardized information, an enhanced data corresponding to the standardized data after at least a partial transformation, the at least partial transformation being defined according to a data record format;
a second program having at least a first enhanced data input and a data record output, the first enhanced data corresponding to the enhanced data, a data record corresponding to the first enhanced data, the data record being formatted according to the data record format;
a database storing the data record; and
wherein the second program merges duplicate data records that represent the same network usage information. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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7. The system of 6 further comprising a proxy server and a domain name system (DNS) server, and wherein the information source module receives the network usage information from the proxy server, and wherein the second information source module receives the second network information from the DNS server, and wherein the first definition defines that a source IP address supplied by the proxy server should be put into the first field, and wherein the second definition defines a URL supplied by the DNS server should be put into the second field.
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15. A network usage accounting system comprising:
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an information source module coupled to receive network information from a network device;
a gatherer coupled to receive the network information source module, the gatherer for performing data enhancements on the network information to create a plurality of data records;
a central database storing the plurality of data records; and
a central event manager coupled to receive the plurality of data records, the central event manager merging duplicate records in the plurality of data records, the duplicate records representing the same network usage information. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method of gathering and aggregating network usage information from a set of network devices, the system using at least a first program and a second program coupled in communications, the method comprising:
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accessing network communications usage information;
filtering and aggregating the network communications usage information using the first program;
completing a plurality of data records from the filtered and aggregated network communications usage information, the plurality of data records corresponding to network usage by a plurality of users;
storing the plurality of data records; and
merging duplicate records in the plurality of data records. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A network usage tracking system comprising:
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means for accessing network communications usage information;
means for filtering and aggregating the network communications usage information using the first program;
means for completing a plurality of data records from the filtered and aggregated network communications usage information, the plurality of data records corresponding to network usage by a plurality of users;
means for storing the plurality of data records; and
means for merging duplicate records in the plurality of data records.
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- 29. The network usage tracking system of claim 29 wherein the means for completing the plurality of data records includes one or more networked computers running one or more programs.
Specification