AUTOMATED TIME ZONE BASED GROUPING

• US 20080250128A1
• Filed: 04/03/2007
• Published: 10/09/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sargent, Alvan
• Granted Patent: US 7,730,193 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/69 using geographic information, e.g. room number
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/06 Generation of reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/106 using time related information in packets, e.g. by adding timestamps
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

Time zone data is obtained from clients, such as web browsers, which interact with a server, and used to classify metrics of the clients such as response times. This classification technique does not require that a mapping of IP addresses to geographic location is available. Metrics from the clients are communicated from the server to a manager, which aggregates the metrics for each time zone. The manager can automatically associate geographic descriptors, such as names of cities, with the metrics in a report such as in a user interface display. If a partial mapping of IP address to location is available, the report can aggregate metrics which are grouped by IP address separately from metrics which are not grouped by IP address. The user interface display can be automatically populated with selectable nodes which allow a user to selectively view the metrics.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for grouping metrics, comprising:

receiving, at a server, requests from a plurality of clients; and

responsive to the requests, providing responses to the clients with code which causes the clients to provide information identifying a respective time zone in which each client is located, the clients are located in different time zones;

obtaining metrics associated with the requests and/or responses; and

providing the metrics and the information identifying the respective time zones to a manager, in response to which the manager provides a report in which the metrics are grouped according to time zone, the metrics are aggregated for at least one of the respective time zones.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

the metrics and the information identifying the respective time zones are communicated to the manager from the server.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

the clients comprise web browsers, the requested information comprises web pages, and the responses comprise the web pages with the code embedded therein.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

the metrics identify response times.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing network address data associated with the clients to the manager, the metrics are grouped in the report according to the network address data and the information identifying the respective time zones.

6. A computer-implemented method for grouping metrics, comprising:

receiving, at a manager, a) information identifying respective time zones in which clients associated with at least one server are located and b) metrics associated with the clients; and

providing a report in which the metrics are grouped according to the respective time zones, the metrics are aggregated for at least one of the respective time zones.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein:

the metrics identify response times.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein:

the report presents the metrics aggregated over at least two of the respective time zones.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein:

the report presents the metrics aggregated over at least two of the respective time zones when a number of clients in the at least two of the respective time zones is determined to be below a threshold.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising:

using the information identifying the respective time zones, accessing data which associates geographic descriptors with different time zones; and

responsive to the accessing, providing geographic descriptors for the respective time zones in the report.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein:

the report indicates whether the aggregated metrics for the at least one of the respective time zones is anomalous.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising:

accessing network address data associated with the clients, the report presents the metrics according to the respective time zones and the network address data.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein:

the report presents aggregated metrics for at least a first group of the clients which are in one of the respective time zones and which have been associated by virtue of their network address data, and aggregated metrics for other ones of the clients which are in the one of the respective time zones and which have not been associated by virtue of their network address data.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining whether network address data associated with the clients is available at the manager, and in response, presenting in the report metrics of clients whose network address data is available according to the network address data and the respective time zones, and metrics of clients whose network address data is unavailable according to the respective time zones.

15. A computer-implemented method for grouping metrics, comprising:

accessing information at a manager identifying respective time zones in which clients are located and metrics associated with the clients; and

providing a user interface display in which the metrics are grouped according to the respective time zones, the user interface display provides selectable elements for the respective time zones in response to the information identifying the respective time zones, each selectable element is selectable by a user to view the metrics associated with clients in the respective time zone associated with the selected element.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising:

accessing network address data associated with the clients;

determining at least a first group of the clients which are associated by virtue of their network address data;

providing a first selectable child element of one of the selectable elements for the respective time zone in which the at least a first group of the clients is located, the selectable child element is selectable by a user to view metrics associated with the at least a first group of the clients.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein:

the user interface display includes a selectable element which is selectable by a user to view metrics which are aggregated over at least two of the respective time zones.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein:

the metrics are aggregated for at least one of the respective time zones.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein:

the user interface display is automatically populated with the selectable elements in response to the information identifying respective time zones in which clients are located and the metrics associated with the clients.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein:

the selectable elements are automatically labeled with geographic descriptors which are associated with the respective time zones in response to the information identifying the respective time zones.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 20, wherein:

the labeled elements are text-editable by a user.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein:

the selectable elements are provided as nodes of a tree.

23. At least one processor readable storage device having processor readable code embodied thereon for programming at least one processor to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving a) information identifying respective time zones in which clients associated with at least one server are located and b) metrics associated with the clients; and

determining whether network address data associated with the clients is available at the manager, and in response, providing a report which presents metrics of clients whose network address data is available according to the network address data and the respective time zones, and metrics of clients whose network address data is unavailable according to the respective time zones.

24. The at least one processor readable storage device of claim 23, wherein:

the report presents the metrics aggregated for at least one of the respective time zones.

25. The at least one processor readable storage device of claim 23, wherein:

the report indicates whether the aggregated metrics for the at least one of the respective time zones is anomalous.

26. The at least one processor readable storage device of claim 23, wherein:

the report presents the metrics aggregated over at least two of the respective time zones when a number of clients in the at least two of the respective time zones is determined to be below a threshold.

27. The at least one processor readable storage device of claim 23, wherein:

the report presents aggregated metrics for at least a first group of the clients which are in one of the respective time zones and which have been associated by virtue of their network address data, and aggregated metrics for other ones of the clients which are in the one of the respective time zones and which have not been associated by virtue of their network address data.

28. At least one processor readable storage device having processor readable code embodied thereon for programming at least one processor to perform a method, the method comprising:

accessing information at a manager identifying respective time zones in which clients are located and metrics associated with the clients; and

providing a user interface display in which the metrics are grouped according to the respective time zones, the user interface display provides selectable elements for the respective time zones in response to the information identifying the respective time zones, each selectable element is selectable by a user to view the metrics associated with clients in the respective time zone associated with the selected element.

29. The at least one processor readable storage device of claim 28, wherein the method performed further includes:

accessing network address data associated with the clients;

determining at least a first group of the clients which are associated by virtue of their network address data;

providing a first selectable child element of one of the selectable elements for the respective time zone in which the at least a first group of the clients is located, the selectable child element is selectable by a user to view metrics associated with the at least a first group of the clients.

30. The at least one processor readable storage device of claim 28, wherein:

the metrics are aggregated for at least one of the respective time zones.

31. The at least one processor readable storage device of claim 28, wherein:

the user interface display is automatically populated with the selectable elements in response to the information identifying respective time zones in which clients are located and the metrics associated with the clients.

32. The at least one processor readable storage device of claim 28, wherein:

the selectable elements are provided as nodes of a tree.