System, method and computer program product for policy-based billing in a network architecture
First Claim
1. A method of reconstructing a session, the method comprising:
- receiving a plurality of packets over a network interface;
analyzing the plurality of packets to identify at least a first flow;
identifying an application for the at least a first flow;
selecting a corresponding application flow identifier for the application;
using the corresponding application flow identifier to identify a plurality of flows in the plurality of packets corresponding to the session.
2 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for reconstructing sessions on a network is described. The method allows for monitoring of quality of service at an application level as well as for understanding application specific events. This allows the method to be used to generate service detail records for usage based on application type for use in billing. It also allows the qualitative and quantitative analysis of quality of service based on application specific parameters. For example, for web applications, quality of service can be measured by the time from requesting a link till the close of the session by delivery of the whole page. Similarly, for voice over IP calls, application events like adding participants and removing participants can be detected and billed accordingly. Also, the quality of service can be measured. For example, the actual latency can be compared to a predetermined latency amount set by a provider for voice over IP calls. Additionally, service detail records can be generated based on application specific events instead of generic flows, so usage billing can be performed based on factors such as a price per minute per leg, etc, with application specific events generated each time a leg is added or dropped. Further, because the periodicity of the output can be controlled on a per application basis, output for voice over IP calls can be generated more often than for other applications. Additionally, embodiments of the invention can reconstruct sessions that are flowing across multiple network devices.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method of reconstructing a session, the method comprising:
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receiving a plurality of packets over a network interface;
analyzing the plurality of packets to identify at least a first flow;
identifying an application for the at least a first flow;
selecting a corresponding application flow identifier for the application;
using the corresponding application flow identifier to identify a plurality of flows in the plurality of packets corresponding to the session. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A system for reconstructing a session, the system comprising:
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a packet source, the packet source generating a plurality of packets;
a flow manager coupled to the packet source, the flow manager identifying at least one flow in the plurality of packets;
an application recognizer coupled to the flow manager, the application recognizer identifying an application corresponding to the at least one flow;
a session streamer coupled to the flow manager, the session streamer identifying a plurality of flows in the plurality of packets corresponding to the session based on the application. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An apparatus for reconstructing a session, the apparatus comprising:
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means for receiving a plurality of packets;
means for identifying at least a first flow in the plurality of packets;
means for identifying an application for the at least a first flow;
means for selecting a corresponding application flow identifier for the application;
means for identifying a plurality of flows in the plurality of packets corresponding to the session using the corresponding application flow identifier. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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19. A computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave comprising:
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a computer program for session reconstruction;
a first set of instructions for identifying at least one flow in a plurality of packets;
a second set of instructions for analyzing the at least one flow to identify an application corresponding to the flow; and
a third set of instructions for identifying a plurality of flows in the plurality of packets corresponding to the session based on the application.
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Specification