Network traffic visualization
First Claim
1. A method for graphically presenting characteristics of data traffic on a distributed computer network, comprising:
- monitoring traffic on said network;
storing records relating to said traffic in one or more network information files;
selecting a characteristic of said traffic for display;
obtaining a plurality of values of said characteristic of said traffic from said one or more network information files for a selected plurality of time intervals within a larger time interval; and
displaying a map of a network topology of said network;
presenting said characteristic by playing a rapid succession of graphical images of said map of said network topology, each graphical image representing said network as nodes connected by lines overlaid on said map, said nodes each representing components in said network, said lines representing traffic flow between said components, each graphical image graphically representing the value of said characteristic at a particular selected time interval of said plurality of time intervals within the larger time interval with a property of at least one line of said lines that connect nodes, wherein said property includes a density of said at least one line,wherein a change in said density of said at least one line that connects nodes in successive graphical images of said map of the network topology indicates a change in the value of said characteristic of said traffic between said components.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system containing a visualization application which enables the user or other user to obtain information about various types of transactions involving the respective activities of the components. The user selects filtering criteria that identify various types of transactions performed on each network component from the visualization application and the visualization application uses these criteria in compiling the appropriate records from the network information files. The visualization application then forms the data that represent the records that meet each selected criterion and stores the data in a local file. Thereafter, the user may view the network activity through the visualization application which displays a map of the network and overlays the map with graphical moving images that represent the data for each selected criterion. The graphical images change with time to reflect changes in the underlying data.
64 Citations
37 Claims
-
1. A method for graphically presenting characteristics of data traffic on a distributed computer network, comprising:
-
monitoring traffic on said network; storing records relating to said traffic in one or more network information files; selecting a characteristic of said traffic for display; obtaining a plurality of values of said characteristic of said traffic from said one or more network information files for a selected plurality of time intervals within a larger time interval; and displaying a map of a network topology of said network; presenting said characteristic by playing a rapid succession of graphical images of said map of said network topology, each graphical image representing said network as nodes connected by lines overlaid on said map, said nodes each representing components in said network, said lines representing traffic flow between said components, each graphical image graphically representing the value of said characteristic at a particular selected time interval of said plurality of time intervals within the larger time interval with a property of at least one line of said lines that connect nodes, wherein said property includes a density of said at least one line, wherein a change in said density of said at least one line that connects nodes in successive graphical images of said map of the network topology indicates a change in the value of said characteristic of said traffic between said components. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A data visualization apparatus for graphically presenting characteristics of data traffic on a distributed computer network, comprising:
-
means for monitoring traffic on said network; means for storing records relating to said traffic; means for selecting characteristics of said traffic for display; means for obtaining a plurality of values of said characteristics of said traffic from said means for storing for a selected plurality of time intervals within a larger time interval; and means for displaying a map of a network topology of said network; means for presenting said characteristics by playing a rapid succession of graphical images of said map of said network topology, each graphical image representing said network as nodes connected by lines overlaid on said map, said nodes each representing components in said network, said lines representing traffic flow between said components, each graphical image graphically representing the value of said characteristics at a particular time interval of said plurality of time intervals within the larger time interval with a property of at least one line of said lines that connects nodes, wherein said property includes a density of said at least one line, wherein a change in said density of said at least one line that connects nodes in successive graphical images of said map of said network topology indicates a change in the value of said characteristics of said traffic between said components. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-
-
23. A data visualization apparatus for graphically presenting characteristics of data traffic on a distributed computer network, comprising:
-
a computer to monitor traffic on said network and store storing records relating to said traffic; a graphical user interface to select a characteristic of said traffic for display; a reporting system executing on said computer to obtain a plurality of values of said characteristic of said traffic from said stored records for a selected plurality of time intervals within a larger time interval; and a visualization system executing on said computer to display a map of a network topology of said network and present said characteristic by playing a rapid succession of graphical images of said map of said network topology, each graphical image representing said network as nodes connected by lines overlaid on said map, said nodes each representing components in said network, said lines representing traffic flow between said components, each graphical image graphically representing the value of said characteristic at a particular selected time interval of said plurality of time intervals within the larger time interval with a property of at least one line of said lines that connect nodes, wherein said property includes a density of said at least one line, wherein a change in said density of said at least one line that connects nodes in successive graphical images of said map of the network topology indicates a change in the value of said characteristic of said traffic between said components. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
-
-
34. A method comprising:
-
monitoring data traffic in a distributed computer network; storing records relating to the data traffic in one or more network information files; selecting a characteristic of the data traffic for display; extracting data from the network information files related to the selected characteristic for a plurality of time intervals within a larger time interval; and for each time interval within the larger time interval, generating a frame that visually depicts a map of the network topology of the distributed computer network, with nodes of the map representing network components, the nodes interconnected by lines overlaid on the frame that represent traffic flow between the network components, the frame, that visually depicts the map of the network topology, to visually indicate a value of the characteristic of data traffic between two network components with the visual appearance of a line interconnecting the two nodes representing those two network components; and playing a rapid succession of frames, that visually depict the map of the network topology, to a user to illustrate changes in the characteristic of the data traffic over the larger time interval, wherein changes in a density of a line interconnecting the two nodes in successive frames indicate changes in the value of the characteristic of the data traffic between the two network components. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37)
-
Specification