Network user usage profiling

• US 9,794,361 B2
• Filed: 03/16/2017
• Issued: 10/17/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Casey, Steven M., Elcan, Amie, Butala, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Rahman, Mahfuzur
• Application Number:
  US15/461,082
• Publication Number:
  US 20170187816A1
• Time in Patent Office: 215 Days
• Field of Search: 726 4
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/507 Filtering out customers affected by service problems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/091 Measuring contribution of individual network components to actual service level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/106 using time related information in packets, e.g. by adding timestamps
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2483 involving identification of individual flows
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/30 Profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

Methods, systems, devices, and software are disclosed for generating a network usage profile. Certain embodiments of the network usage profile include a devices-by-node profile, indicating the set of customer devices available for use in communicating with a customer-side network node located at a customer side of an access network over a period of time, where some of the customer devices are not in operative communication with the customer-side network node during a portion of that time. Other embodiments associate the network usage profile with customer information to generate device-by-customer profiles. Still other embodiments associate the network usage profile with network traffic information to generate traffic-by-device profiles. Even other embodiments associate the multiple sources and types of information to generate traffic-by-customer profiles and/or traffic-by-device-by-customer profiles. Any of the profiles may then be accessed by one or more parties for use in affecting various network services, including targeting content delivery.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring network traffic of a subscriber of an Internet Service Provider (ISP), the method comprising:

routing, with a device aggregator located in a subscriber premise network, traffic between a plurality of end user network devices in the subscriber premise network and an access network of the ISP, wherein the device aggregator is integrated with a subscriber network access point, which provides connectivity between the subscriber premise network and the access network of the ISP;

examining, with the device aggregator, network traffic between one or more of the plurality of end user devices and the access network, wherein examining traffic between one or more of the plurality of end user devices and the network comprises examining network traffic destined for the one or more end user devices;

identifying a user associated with at least one device of the one or more devices;

generating a traffic profile for each of the one or more of the plurality of end user devices, based on examination of the network traffic;

based on the traffic profile of each of the one or more of the plurality of end user devices, determining a device type of each of the one or more of the plurality of end user devices; and

managing, with the device aggregator, network traffic between the one or more of the plurality of end user devices and the access network, based at least in part on the traffic profiles of each of the one or more of the plurality of end user devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the device aggregator comprises a wireless access point.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the subscriber network access point comprises a broadband modem.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of end user network devices comprises one or more laptop or desktop computers, one or more personal digital assistants or cell phones, one or more printers, and one or more additional end user devices.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein examining traffic between one or more of the plurality of end user devices and the network comprises examining network traffic originating from the one or more end user devices.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining one or more user preferences of the user, based on examination of network traffic between the at least one device and the access network, wherein managing network traffic comprises managing the network traffic based at least in part on the user preferences.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein managing network traffic comprises limiting bandwidth available to at least some of the network traffic, based at least in part on one or more device profiles.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein managing network traffic comprises targeting a specific set of network traffic received at the device aggregator to a specific end user device, based at least in part on a device type of the specific device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the specific set of network traffic comprises multimedia content.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the specific set of network traffic is targeted based at least in part on device capabilities of the specific end user device.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the specific set of network traffic is targeted based at least in part on an identity of a user of the specific end user device.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the specific set of network traffic is targeted based at least in part on a status of the specific end user device as active.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising collecting, at the device aggregator, network performance information associated with the network traffic between the one or more of the plurality of end user devices and the access network.

14. A device aggregator located in a subscriber premise network, the device aggregator comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium having encoded thereon instructions executable by the processor to;

route traffic between a plurality of end user network devices in the subscriber premise network and an access network of the ISP;

examiner, with the device aggregator, network traffic between one or more of the plurality of end user devices and the access network, wherein examining traffic between one or more of the plurality of end user devices and the network comprises examining network traffic destined for the one or more end user devices;

identify a user associated with at least one device of the one or more devices;

generate a traffic profile for each of the one or more of the plurality of end user devices, based on examination of the network traffic;

based on the traffic profile of each of the one or more of the plurality of end user devices, determine a device type of each of the one or more of the plurality of end user devices; and

manage network traffic between the one or more of the plurality of end user devices and the access network, based at least in part on the traffic profiles of each of the one or more of the plurality of end user devices;

wherein the device aggregator is integrated with a subscriber network access point, which provides connectivity between the subscriber premise network and the access network of the ISP.

15. The device aggregator of claim 14, wherein the device aggregator is integrated within a wireless access point.

16. The device aggregator of claim 14, wherein the subscriber network access point comprises a broadband modem.

17. The device aggregator of claim 14, wherein managing network traffic comprises targeting a specific set of network traffic received at the device aggregator to a specific end user device, based at least in part on a device type of the specific device.

18. The device aggregator of claim 17, wherein the specific set of network traffic is targeted based at least in part on device capabilities of the specific end user device.