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• US 8,280,820 B2
• Filed: 02/25/2011
• Issued: 10/02/2012
• 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): Reagan, James A
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHEUNG, CALVIN K
• Application Number:
  US13/035,628
• Publication Number:
  US 20110153820A1
• Time in Patent Office: 585 Days
• Field of Search: 705/75, 705/64, 705/14.26, 726 13- 14
• US Class Current: 705/75
• 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 method comprising:

determining, by a computer-based system for capturing data packets, that a captured first data packet includes a first pattern in a coded field, wherein the first data packet includes an authorization request for a transaction;

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

determining, by the computer-based system, that a response time of the second data packet relative to a transmission time of the first data packet has exceeded a predetermined threshold; 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 first packet and the second packet each contain a header portion and a data portion distinct from the header portion,

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

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

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert message includes data from a data portion of the first and second packets, the data including at least one coded field, the authorization request, and the response time.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined threshold is adjustable.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the adjustable predetermined threshold is about 2 seconds.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the adjustable predetermined threshold is adjustable to millisecond intervals.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a warning message in response to determining that no second data packet is captured having a second pattern within a predetermined time period.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the predetermined time period is 7 seconds.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the predetermined time period is adjustable to millisecond intervals.

9. The method of 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.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the data packets are ISO 8583 messages.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a warning message in response to determining that a match has not occurred.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein a determination is automatically made on the origin of a delay based upon a transmitted coded field data within the alert message.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein a penalty for the delay is validated based upon the determination of the origin of the delay.

14. The method of 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.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a match between an additional coded field of the second data packet and an additional coded field of the first packet.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert message includes coded field data from a portion of at least the first data packet or second data packet.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining that the response time of the second data packet relative to the transmission time of the first data packet has exceeded a predetermined threshold, is in response to a determination that a match has occurred between an additional coded field of the second data packet and an additional coded field of the first data packet.

18. A computer based system, comprising:

a computer network communicating with a memory;

the memory communicating with a processor for capturing data packets; and

the processor, when executing a computer program, performs operations comprising;

determining, by the processor, that a captured first data packet includes a first pattern in a coded field, wherein the first data packet includes an authorization request for a transaction;

determining, by the processor, that a captured second data packet includes a second pattern in the coded field that corresponds to the first pattern of the first data packet,

determining, by the processor, that a response time of the second data packet relative to a transmission time of the first data packet has exceeded a predetermined threshold; and

transmitting, by the processor, 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 first packet and the second packet each contain a header portion and a data portion distinct from the header portion,

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

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

19. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory, tangible computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a computer-based system for capturing data packets, cause the computer-based system to be capable of performing operations comprising:

determining, by the computer-based system, that a captured first data packet includes a first pattern in a coded field, wherein the first data packet includes an authorization request for a transaction;

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

determining, by the computer-based system, that a response time of the second data packet relative to a transmission time of the first data packet has exceeded a predetermined threshold; 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 first packet and the second packet each contain a header portion and a data portion distinct from the header portion,

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

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