MANAGING MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS PACKET DATA SERVICE TRAFFIC IN REAL-TIME

• US 20100080140A1
• Filed: 09/30/2009
• Published: 04/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: EXFO Incorporated (11172239 Canada, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bankruptcy Estate Of Iptune Oy
• Inventors: HAIMI, Vesa
• Granted Patent: US 8,213,330 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/028 by filtering

Abstract

The invention allows managing mobile telecommunications packet data service traffic. Packet data service traffic of a mobile telecommunications network is received from data collectors. The service traffic is stored in a traffic file. The traffic file is split into service specific capture files. The capture files are stored. Key information is extracted from the capture files for entry points of the network. The key information is stored in entry point specific tables.

Claims

1. A method of managing mobile telecommunications packet data service traffic, comprising:

receiving, from one or more data collectors, packet data traffic related to one or more services of a mobile telecommunications network;

wherein the method further comprises;

storing at least a portion of the received packet data traffic in a traffic file;

splitting the stored traffic file into capture files, each of the capture files specific to one service of said one or more services;

storing the service specific capture files, with each capture file assigned an index;

extracting predetermined key information from the stored service specific capture files for entry points of said one or more services by utilizing one or more filters configured for searching one or more strings related to said predetermined key in-formation, said key information including at least the index assigned to the associated service specific capture file, at least one user identification, and time data; and

storing the extracted key information in entry point specific tables.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises performing a traffic analysis utilizing at least a portion of at least one of the stored key in-formation and the stored service specific capture files.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the performing the traffic analysis further comprises executing an end-to-end search on a given user identification, wherein the stored key information is searched for the given user identification and given time data, and the search results are used to select one or more entry point transactions to pass on to further analysis.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the performing the traffic analysis further comprises collecting traffic statistics, wherein the number of transactions in a given service specific capture file matching a statistics filter is counted and stored for further processing.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the performing the traffic analysis further comprises monitoring a given service, wherein the number of transactions in a given service specific capture file matching a first monitoring filter is counted, the number of transactions in the given service specific capture file matching a second monitoring filter is counted, and a predetermined ratio of the both numbers is compared to a predetermined thresh-old value to determine if sufficient network operability has been reached.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein the performing the traffic analysis further comprises tracking users fulfilling a given criteria, wherein user identifications in the transactions in a given service specific capture file matching a tracking criteria filter are extracted, and a list of the extracted user identifications is generated for further processing.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the services include at least one of a multimedia messaging service, a wireless application protocol related service, a short message service, a remote authentication dial in user service, an email service, and a session initiation protocol related service.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the entry points include at least one of a remote authentication dial in user service entry point, a multimedia messaging service interface between the first multimedia messaging service relay/server and an external messaging system, a short message service entry point, a multimedia messaging service interface between the first multimedia messaging service relay/server and a second multimedia messaging service relay/server, a multimedia messaging service interface between the first multimedia messaging service relay/server and a value added service application of the multimedia messaging service, a Gn interface of a gateway GPRS support node, and a Gi interface (1207) of the gateway GPRS support node.

9. An apparatus for managing mobile telecommunications packet data service traffic, comprising:

a receiver configured to receive, from one or more data collectors, packet data traffic related to one or more services of a mobile telecommunications network;

wherein the apparatus further comprises;

a first storage configured to store at least a portion of the received packet data traffic in a traffic file;

a splitter configured to split the stored traffic file into capture files, each of the capture files specific to one service of said one or more services;

a second storage configured to store the service specific capture files, with each capture file assigned an index;

an extractor configured to extract predetermined key information from the stored service specific capture files for entry points of said one or more services by utilizing one or more filters configured for searching one or more strings related to said predetermined key information, said key information including at least the index assigned to the associated service specific capture file, at least one user identification, and time data; and

a third storage configured to store the extracted key information in entry point specific tables.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the apparatus further comprises an analyzer configured to perform a traffic analysis utilizing at least a portion of at least one of the stored key information and the stored service specific capture files.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the analyzer is further configured to perform the traffic analysis by executing an end-to-end search on a given user identification, wherein the stored key information is searched for the given user identification and given time data, and the search results are used to select one or more entry point transactions to pass on to further analysis.

12. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the analyzer is further configured to perform the traffic analysis by collecting traffic statistics, wherein the number of transactions in a given service specific capture file matching a statistics filter is counted and stored for further processing.

13. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the analyzer is further configured to perform the traffic analysis by monitoring a given service, wherein the number of transactions in a given service specific capture file matching a first monitoring filter is counted, the number of transactions in the given service specific capture file matching a second monitoring filter is counted, and a predetermined ratio of the both numbers is compared to a pre-determined threshold value to determine if sufficient network operability has been reached.

14. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the analyzer is further configured to perform the traffic analysis by tracking users fulfilling a given criteria, wherein the user identifications in the transactions in a given service specific capture file matching a tracking criteria filter are extracted, and a list of the extracted user identifications is generated for further processing.

15. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the apparatus further comprises one or more bonded interfaces via which the packet data service traffic is received.

16. A computer program embodied on a computer readable medium, the computer program controlling a data-processing device to perform the step of:

receiving, from one or more data collectors, packet data traffic related to one or more services of a mobile telecommunications network;

wherein the computer program further controls the data-processing device to perform the steps of;

storing at least a portion of the received packet data traffic in a traffic file;

splitting the stored traffic file into capture files, each of the capture files specific to one service of said one or more services;

storing the service specific capture files, with each capture file assigned an index;

extracting predetermined key information from the stored service specific capture files for entry points of said one or more services by utilizing one or more filters configured for searching one or more strings related to said predetermined key in-formation, said key information including at least the index assigned to the associated service specific capture file, at least one user identification, and time data; and

storing the extracted key information in entry point specific tables.