METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SUBSCRIBER BASE MONITORING IN IP DATA NETWORKS

• US 20110265109A1
• Filed: 01/14/2010
• Published: 10/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Guavus, Inc. (Thales SA)
• Original Assignee: Neuralitic Systems, Inc. (Thales SA)
• Inventors: Melin, Eric, Goyet, Jean-Philippe, Carre, Nicolas
• Granted Patent: US 8,321,504 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/9
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/106 using time related information in packets, e.g. by adding timestamps
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/12 Network monitoring probes
• 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: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

The present method and system relate to monitoring a subscriber base in an IP data network. The method and system receive at a subscriber base system information extracted from collected data of IP data sessions. The extracted information comprises at least a unique identifier and a timestamp. The subscriber base system queries a subscriber database with the extracted information to correlate with a corresponding subscriber record. If the extracted information is correlated to the corresponding subscriber record, the extracted information is used to update the subscriber database. If the extracted information cannot be correlated to an existing subscriber record, the extracted information is used to create a new subscriber record in the subscriber database.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring a subscriber base in an IP data network, the method comprising:

collecting by means of at least one monitoring probe real time data from IP data sessions;

extracting information from said real time data, the information comprising at least a unique identifier and a timestamp;

transmitting said information to a subscriber base system, the subscriber base system comprising at least a subscriber database;

querying the subscriber database with the extracted information to correlate the extracted information with a corresponding subscriber record; and

updating the subscriber record with the extracted information,

or alternatively creating a new subscriber record based on the extracted information when no corresponding subscriber record is found in the subscriber database.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allocating to each subscriber record one of the following labels;

new, unchanged, upgraded, or inactive, and a timestamp of when the label was allocated; and

the label allocated is based on the extracted information.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the label new is allocated to a subscriber record upon creation in the subscriber database.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the label unchanged is allocated to a subscriber record with the label new or upgraded, after a pre-defined amount of time.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the label inactive is allocated to a subscriber record, for which no information has been received by the subscriber base system for a pre-defined amount of time.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein the label upgraded is allocated to a subscriber record for which the information extracted indicates that a new terminal is used for this subscriber record.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

querying the subscriber database to identify a number of subscriber records subscribing to a particular service.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

querying the subscriber database to identify a number of subscriber records subscribing to a particular service, the label of said subscriber records being a combination of at least one among new, unchanged, upgraded and inactive.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

querying the subscriber database to identify a number of subscriber records subscribing to a particular service;

querying the subscriber database to identify a number of subscriber records subscribing to the particular service, the label of said subscriber records being a combination of at least one among new, unchanged, upgraded and inactive; and

generating a report comparing the number of subscriber records and the number of subscriber records with said combination of labels subscribing to the particular service.

10. (canceled)

11. A subscriber base system comprising:

a subscriber database for storing a plurality of subscriber records, each subscriber record comprising at least one service subscribed to, and a unique identifier for the subscriber record;

an input module for receiving information extracted in real time from an IP session, the information comprising at least one of the unique identifiers and a corresponding timestamp; and

a processing unit for correlating received unique identifier with a corresponding subscriber record, and for updating the corresponding subscriber record with the extracted information, or alternatively for creating a new subscriber record based on the extracted information when no corresponding subscriber record is found in the subscriber database.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the service subscribed to is a subscription to a mobile data service.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the service subscribed to is a subscription to an IPTV service.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein:

the subscriber database further comprises for each subscriber record an allocated label and a timestamp of the allocated label, the allocated label consisting of one of the following;

new, unchanged, upgraded, or inactive; and

the label is allocated based on the extracted information.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the label new is allocated to a subscriber record upon creation in the subscriber database.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the label unchanged is allocated to a subscriber record with the label new or upgraded, after a pre-defined amount of time.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the label inactive is allocated to a subscriber record, for which no information has been received for a pre-defined amount of time.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the label upgraded is allocated to a subscriber record for which the information extracted indicates that a new terminal is used for this subscriber record.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein a reporting module further queries the subscriber database to identify a number of subscriber records subscribing to a particular service.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein a reporting module further queries the subscriber database to identify a number of subscriber records subscribing to a particular service, the label of said subscriber records being a combination of at least one among new, unchanged, upgraded and inactive.

21. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

a reporting module for;

querying the subscriber database to identify a number of subscriber records subscribing to a particular service;

querying the subscriber database to identify a number of subscriber records subscribing to the particular service, the label of said subscriber records being a combination of at least one among new, unchanged, upgraded and inactive; and

wherein the reporting module further generates a report comparing the number of subscriber records and the number of subscriber records with said combination of labels subscribing to the particular service.

22. (canceled)