Method and apparatus for providing an application-level utility metric

• US 8,098,686 B1
• Filed: 12/01/2006
• Issued: 01/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Krishnamurthy, Balachander, Spatscheck, Oliver
• Primary Examiner(s): Kizou, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jiang, Charles C
• Application Number:
  US11/566,084
• Time in Patent Office: 1,873 Days
• Field of Search: 370/464, 370/465, 370/469, 370/474, 455/403, 455405-406, 455/422.1, 455423-425
• US Class Current: 370/469
• 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: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/12 Application layer protocols, e.g. WAP [Wireless Application Protocol]

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing an application utility metric for an application by taking into account of multiple protocols used by the application as well as at least one interaction of the application at the application-level that is deemed to be useful are disclosed. For example, the method computes a protocol overhead of one or more underlying Internet Protocol suite protocols supporting the application. The method also computes an application-level overhead based on at least one application-level interaction. Finally, the method computes the application-level utility metric in accordance with the protocol overhead and the application-level overhead.

Claims

1. A method for providing an application-level utility metric for an application, comprising:

computing by a processor a protocol overhead of a plurality of underlying internet protocol suite protocols supporting the application;

computing by the processor an application-level overhead based on an application-level interaction, wherein the application-level interaction comprises a client-server based interaction, and wherein the computing the application-level overhead comprises computing a fraction of traffic at an application-level of the application that comprises requests for non-existent resources; and

computing by the processor the application-level utility metric in accordance with the protocol overhead and the application-level overhead, wherein the application-level utility metric is computed by multiplying a first efficiency value derived from the protocol overhead with a second efficiency value derived from the application-level overhead.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the Internet protocol suite protocols comprise:

a network layer protocol, a transport layer protocol, and an application layer protocol.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a presence of the application-level interaction is determined by examining system logs from a client system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing the protocol overhead comprises:

computing a fraction of traffic due to a protocol header and a fraction of traffic due to a data portion of the underlying internet protocol suite protocols.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the fraction of traffic due to the protocol header and the fraction of traffic due to the data portion of the underlying internet protocol suite protocols are obtained by monitoring actual traffic exchanged by the application.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the protocol overhead and the application-level overhead are computed on a per client basis.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the protocol overhead and the application-level overhead are computed on an aggregated basis over a period of time.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method for providing an application-level utility metric for an application, comprising:

computing a protocol overhead of a plurality of underlying internet protocol suite protocols supporting the application;

computing an application-level overhead based on an application-level interaction, wherein the application-level interaction comprises a client-server based interaction, and wherein the computing the application-level overhead comprises computing a fraction of traffic at an application-level of the application that comprises requests for non-existent resources; and

computing the application-level utility metric in accordance with the protocol overhead and the application-level overhead, wherein the application-level utility metric is computed by multiplying a first efficiency value derived from the protocol overhead with a second efficiency value derived from the application-level overhead.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the Internet protocol suite protocols comprise:

a network layer protocol, a transport layer protocol, and an application layer protocol.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the computing the protocol overhead comprises:

computing a fraction of traffic due to a protocol header and a fraction of traffic due to a data portion of the underlying internet protocol suite protocols.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the fraction of traffic due to the protocol header and the fraction of traffic due to the data portion of the underlying Internet protocol suite protocols are obtained by monitoring actual traffic exchanged by the application.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the protocol overhead and the application-level overhead are computed on a per client basis.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the protocol overhead and the application-level overhead are computed on an aggregated basis over a period of time.

14. An apparatus for providing an application-level utility metric for an application, comprising:

a processor, wherein the processor is configured to;

compute a protocol overhead of a plurality of underlying internet protocol suite protocols supporting the application;

compute an application-level overhead based on an application-level interaction, wherein the application-level interaction comprises a client-server based interaction, and wherein the computing the application-level overhead comprises computing a fraction of traffic at an application-level of the application that comprises requests for non-existent resources; and

compute the application-level utility metric in accordance with the protocol overhead and the application-level overhead, wherein the means for computing the application-level utility metric computes the application-level utility metric by multiplying a first efficiency value derived from the protocol overhead with a second efficiency value derived from the application-level overhead.