Method and apparatus for measurement, analysis, and optimization of content delivery

• US 20020173857A1
• Filed: 05/07/2001
• Published: 11/21/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Quest Software, Inc.
• Original Assignee: eCritical, Inc. (Quest Software, Inc.)
• Inventors: Whitehouse, Mark P., Wixted, William G., Pabari, Vipul J., Willis, Robert L.
• Granted Patent: US 6,928,471 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/142 using statistical or mathematical methods
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/509 wherein the managed service relates to media content delivery, e.g. audio, video or TV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/028 by filtering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/161 Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

An apparatus and method for measurement, analysis, and optimization of content delivery over a communications network is presented. In one embodiment, the apparatus detects data packets en route over a communications network. The detected data packets are read by the apparatus, combined into application messages, and further combined into user centric events. The events are analyzed to identify metrics and statistics relating to the delivery of content over a communications network and the experience of the end user. The metrics and statistics are saved in a data storage area. When the metrics exceed a configurable threshold, the apparatus provides real-time notification of content delivery problems or end user experience problems. Alternatively, the system can take action to proactively prevent anticipated content delivery problems or end user experience problems.

Claims

1. A method for measuring, analyzing, and optimizing the delivery of content over a communications network having an information server communicatively coupled with a network appliance, the method comprising:

detecting a data packet on a communications network;

identifying an application associated with the data packet;

organizing related data packets into an application message;

correlating related application messages into a data object comprising a plurality of data elements;

routing the data object to one or more data object analyzers; and

storing the data elements from the data object in one or more databases.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting step comprises passively detecting the data packet on the communications network.

3. An apparatus for measuring, analyzing, and optimizing the delivery of content over a communications network having an information server communicatively coupled with a network appliance, the apparatus comprising:

a network interface communicatively coupling the apparatus to the network;

a packet detector configured to read a data packet from the network;

a protocol stack configured to analyze a plurality of data packets and combine the data packets into an application message, the protocol stack further configured to combine a plurality of related application messages into a data object comprising a plurality of data elements;

a root analyzer configured to determine the data object type and route the data object to a sub-analyzer;

a sub-analyzer configured to parse the data object into data elements and store the data elements in a data storage area.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the data packet detector is further configured to passively read data packets from the network.

5. A data analyzer for measuring, analyzing, and optimizing the delivery of content over a communications network having an information server communicatively coupled with a network appliance, the apparatus comprising:

an internet protocol layer configured to receive a data packet and combine a plurality of data packets into a datagram;

a transmission control protocol layer configured to receive a datagram from the internet protocol layer, wherein the datagram comprises content and additional information, the transmission control protocol layer additionally configured to combine a plurality of datagrams into an application message;

an application selection layer configured to receive an application message from the transmission control protocol layer, wherein the application message comprises content and additional information, the application selection layer further configured to identify an application related to the application message;

an application decoding layer configured to receive an application message with additional information from the application selection layer and combine related application messages into a data object comprising a plurality of data elements.

6. A method for aggregating data relating to measuring, analyzing, and optimizing the delivery of content over a communications network, comprising:

writing data to a data cache, wherein the data represents real time metrics relating to the delivery of content over a communications network;

periodically migrating the data from the data cache to a temporary storage area;

periodically adding the data from the temporary storage area to a longterm storage area having an initial size, wherein the resulting size of the longterm storage area is less than the size of the temporary storage area and the initial size of the longterm storage area combined.

7. A method for identifying a complete web page from a stream of web content messages, wherein each message comprises a referrer URL, the method comprising the steps of:

obtaining a current web content message having a referrer URL;

parsing the current web content message to obtain the referrer URL;

comparing the referrer URL to the NULL value; and

identifying the current web content message as the start of a web page if the referrer URL is equal to the NULL value.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the referrer URL is not equal to the NULL value, further comprising the steps of:

holding the current web content message as a previous web content message having a previous web content message URL;

obtaining a new current web content message having a new referrer URL;

parsing the new current web content message to obtain the new referrer URL;

comparing the new referrer URL to the previous web content message URL; and

identifying the previous web content message as the start of a web page if the new referrer URL is equal to the previous web content message URL.

9. A method for identifying a complete web page from a stream of web content messages, wherein each message comprises a referrer URL, the method comprising the steps of:

obtaining a current web content message having a referrer URL;

parsing the current web content message to obtain the referrer URL;

comparing the referrer URL to one or more local URL values; and

identifying the current web content message as the start of a web page if the referrer URL is equal to a local URL value.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the referrer URL is not a local URL, further comprising the steps of:

holding the current web content message as a previous web content message having a previous web content message URL;

obtaining a new current web content message having a new referrer URL;

parsing the new current web content message to obtain the new referrer URL;

comparing the new referrer URL to the previous web content message URL; and

identifying the previous web content message as the start of a web page if the new referrer URL is equal to the previous web content message URL.

11. A method for efficiently managing the growth of data in a database having at least two discrete data repositories, the method comprising:

writing data exclusively to a first data repository;

receiving an indicator to switch data repositories;

purging a second data repository; and

writing data exclusively to the second data repository.