Method and apparatus for monitoring a packet network

• US 8,477,637 B1
• Filed: 12/31/2006
• Issued: 07/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lee, Herman, Lee, John, Tu, Ker-Ren, Lang, Howard, Boni, Jeff, Johnson, Byron, Mayr, John H., Nordberg, Mark P., Vestal, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): Chery, Dady
• Application Number:
  US11/618,888
• Time in Patent Office: 2,375 Days
• Field of Search: 370/252, 370/253, 370/241, 370/242, 714/4, 714/253, 714/37, 714/39, 714/42, 714/43, 709/223, 709/224, 379/133, 379/137, 379/139
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5067 Customer-centric QoS measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5074 Handling of user complaints or trouble tickets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5087 wherein the managed service relates to voice services management of VoIP services H04M7/0081
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/41 Billing record details, i.e. parameters, identifiers, structure of call data record [CDR]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/56 for VoIP communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/58 based on statistics of usage or network monitoring

Abstract

A method and system for enabling a network service provider to monitor a packet network by using call detail records (CDRs) are disclosed. The method first detects a termination of a call by at least one voice gateway router and generates a call detail record (CDR) at said termination of said call by said at least one voice gateway router. The method then forwards said call detail record by said at least one voice gateway router to at least one CDR collecting and analysis server.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring an internet protocol service on a packet network, comprising:

receiving a call detail record at a termination of a call by a call detail record collecting and analysis server, wherein the call detail record is received from a voice gateway router, wherein the voice gateway router is deployed at a customer premises, wherein the customer premises is external to a core network and is external to an access network;

forwarding the call detail record by the call detail record collecting and analysis server to a database; and

accessing the database by the call detail record collecting and analysis server, wherein the call detail record collecting and analysis server monitors the internet protocol service on the packet network in accordance with call detail records that are retrieved from the database, wherein the call detail record collecting and analysis server monitors the internet protocol service by monitoring a performance parameter to determine whether the performance parameter has exceeded a threshold value.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the voice gateway router comprises an ingress voice gateway router.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the call detail record collecting and analysis server is a dedicated server for collecting call detail records from the voice gateway router.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the packet network is an internet protocol network.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the internet protocol service comprises a voice over internet protocol service.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable medium to store instructions which, when executed by a processor of a call detail record collecting and analysis server, cause the processor to perform operations for monitoring an internet protocol service on a packet network, the operations comprising:

receiving a call detail record at a termination of a call by the call detail record collecting and analysis server, wherein the call detail record is forwarded call detail record collecting and analysis server, wherein the call detail record is received from a voice gateway router, wherein the voice gateway router is deployed at a customer premises, wherein the customer premises is external to a core network and is external to an access network;

forwarding the call detail record by the call detail record collecting and analysis server to a database; and

accessing the database by the call detail record collecting and analysis server, wherein the call detail record collecting and analysis server monitors the internet protocol service on the packet network in accordance with call detail records that are retrieved from the database, wherein the call detail record collecting and analysis server monitors the internet protocol service by monitoring a performance parameter to determine whether the performance parameter has exceeded a threshold value.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the voice gateway router comprises an ingress voice gateway router.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the call detail record collecting and analysis server is a dedicated server for collecting call detail records from the voice gateway router.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the packet network is an internet protocol network.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the internet protocol service comprises a voice over internet protocol service.

11. A system for monitoring a packet network, comprising:

a processor of a call detail record collecting and analysis sever; and

a computer-readable medium in communication with the processor, to store instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising;

receiving a call detail record at a termination of a call by the call detail record collecting and analysis server, wherein the call detail record is received from a voice gateway router, wherein the voice gateway router is deployed at a customer premises, wherein the customer premises is external to a core network and is external to an access network;

forwarding the call detail record by the call detail record collecting and analysis server to a database; and

accessing the database by the call detail record collecting and analysis server, wherein the call detail record collecting and analysis server monitors an internet protocol service on the packet network in accordance with call detail records that are retrieved from the database, wherein the call detail record collecting and analysis server monitors the internet protocol service by monitoring a performance parameter to determine whether the performance parameter has exceeded a threshold value.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the voice gateway router comprises an ingress voice gateway router.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the call detail record collecting and analysis server is a dedicated server for collecting call detail records from the voice gateway router.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the packet network is an internet protocol network.