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• US 7,917,446 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2007
• Issued: 03/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Liberty Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Atkinson, Jon E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Augustin, Evens J
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cheung, Calvin K
• Application Number:
  US11/932,508
• Publication Number:
  US 20090112651A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,245 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.23, 705/64, 705/75, 705/79
• US Class Current: 705/64
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/027 involving a payment switch or gateway
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0864 Round trip delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/12 Network monitoring probes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources

Abstract

A method for capturing data packets sent on a network for evaluating response time performance, the network including a financial institution and a partner bank. The method includes associating a captured data packet sent to the partner bank with a captured data packet received from the partner bank, by comparing at least one coded field of a data portion of the captured data packet sent to the partner bank with at least one coded field of a captured data portion of the data packet received from the partner bank. The method also includes measuring a response time of the associated data packet received from the partner bank, relative to a transmission time of the captured data packet sent to the partner bank. The method further includes transmitting an alert message upon determining that the response time is not within an adjustable predetermined threshold, wherein the alert message includes data from a data portion of the associated data packets.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions for causing a computer to capture data packets on a network for evaluating response time performance, the plurality of instructions, when executed by a processor, are configured to cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

capturing a first data packet, the first data packet including an authorization request for a transaction;

determining that the captured first data packet includes a first pattern in a coded field;

capturing a second data packet;

determining that the captured second data packet includes a second pattern in a coded field that corresponds to the first pattern;

determining that the captured second data packet contains the second pattern, wherein an additional coded field of the captured second data packet is checked to determine that the second data packet matches an additional coded field of the captured first packet to determine whether a match has occurred;

determining that the response time of the second data packet relative to a transmission time of the first data packet has exceeded a predetermined threshold in response to the determination that the match has occurred; and

transmitting an alert message, in response to the determination that the response time of the second data packet relative to the transmission time of the first data packet has exceeded the predetermined threshold,

wherein the alert message includes coded field data from a portion of at least the captured first data packet or captured second data packet,

wherein the captured first packet and the captured second packet each contain a header portion and a data portion distinct from the header portion,

wherein the coded field and the at least one additional coded field of the captured first packet are contained within the data portion of the captured first packet, and

wherein the coded field and the at least one additional coded field of the captured second packet are contained within the data portion of the captured second packet.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 1, wherein each additional coded field is one of a date, a time, a credit card number, a transaction amount, a reconciliation amount, a position in the data packet, and a length of the field.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 1, wherein the alert message includes data from the data portion of the first and second packets, the data including at least one coded field, the authorization request, and the response time.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined threshold is adjustable.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 4, wherein the adjustable predetermined threshold is 2 seconds.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 4, wherein the adjustable predetermined threshold is adjustable to millisecond intervals.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 1, further comprising transmitting a warning message upon determining that no second data packet is captured having the second pattern within a predetermined time period.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 7, wherein the predetermined time period is 7 seconds.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 8, wherein the predetermined time period is adjustable to millisecond intervals.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 1, wherein the alert message includes at least one of a date, a time, a credit card number, a transaction amount, a reconciliation amount, a position in the data packet, a length of the field, and the response time.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 1, wherein the data packets are ISO 8583 messages.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 1, further comprising transmitting a warning message upon determining that a match has not occurred.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 1, wherein a determination is automatically made on the origin of a delay based upon the transmitted coded field data within the alert message.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 13, wherein penalties for delays may be validated based upon the determination of delay origin.

15. A computer based system, comprising:

a computer network communicating with a memory;

the memory communicating with a processor; and

the processor, when executing a computer program for causing a computer to capture data packets on a network for evaluating response time performance, is configured to;

capture a first data packet, the first data packet including an authorization request for a transaction;

determine that the captured first data packet includes a first pattern in a coded field;

capture a second data packet;

determine that the captured second data packet includes a second pattern in a coded field that corresponds to the first pattern;

determine that the captured second data packet contains the second pattern, wherein an additional coded field of the captured second data packet is checked to determine that the second data packet matches an additional coded field of the captured first packet to determine whether a match has occurred;

determine that the response time of the second data packet relative to a transmission time of the first data packet has exceeded a predetermined threshold in response to the determination that the match has occurred; and

transmit an alert message, in response to the determination that the response time of the second data packet relative to the transmission time of the first data packet has exceeded the predetermined threshold,

wherein the alert message includes coded field data from a portion of at least the captured first data packet or captured second data packet,

wherein the captured first packet and the captured second packet each contain a header portion and a data portion distinct from the header portion,

wherein the coded field and the at least one additional coded field of the captured first packet are contained within the data portion of the captured first packet, and

wherein the coded field and the at least one additional coded field of the captured second packet are contained within the data portion of the captured second packet.

16. A method comprising:

capturing, by a computer based system for evaluating response time performance, a first data packet, the first data packet including an authorization request for a transaction;

determining, by the computer based system, that the captured first data packet includes a first pattern in a coded field;

capturing, by the computer based system, a second data packet;

determining, by the computer based system, that the captured second data packet includes a second pattern in a coded field that corresponds to the first pattern;

determining, by the computer based system, that the captured second data packet contains the second pattern, wherein an additional coded field of the captured second data packet is checked to determine that the second data packet matches an additional coded field of the captured first packet to determine whether a match has occurred;

determining, by the computer based system, that the response time of the second data packet relative to a transmission time of the first data packet has exceeded a predetermined threshold in response to the determination that the match has occurred; and

transmitting, by the computer based system, an alert message, in response to the determination that the response time of the second data packet relative to the transmission time of the first data packet has exceeded the predetermined threshold,

wherein the alert message includes coded field data from a portion of at least the captured first data packet or captured second data packet,

wherein the captured first packet and the captured second packet each contain a header portion and a data portion distinct from the header portion,

wherein the coded field and the at least one additional coded field of the captured first packet are contained within the data portion of the captured first packet, and

wherein the coded field and the at least one additional coded field of the captured second packet are contained within the data portion of the captured second packet.