Large Scale Analysis Of Push-To-Talk Traffic

An apparatus adapted for passive evaluation of push-to-talk traffic in a communication network, wherein push-to-talk traffic is generated through at least one push-to-talk session dividing into a plurality of data transactions according to different traffic classes, a first traffic class covers interactions between a user terminal and the communication network for logon of user terminals to the communication network, a second traffic class covers interactions between a user terminal and a push-to-talk management node in the communication network for push-to-talk session initialization, and a third traffic class covers push-to-talk payload data exchange among user terminals, said passive evaluation implying non-intrusive monitoring of ongoing processes without interference or disturbance of network operation, the apparatus comprising:

• a capturing unit adapted to capture data transactions in the communication network;
• an extracting unit adapted to extract interpretations of data transactions being relevant for push-to-talk, traffic classes, and users, from captured data transactions;
• a storing unit adapted to store a correlation of extracted interpretations of data transactions being relevant for push-to-talk, traffic classes, and users in a traffic data base;
• and
• a calculation unit adapted to calculate at least one performance indicator with respect to at least one selected push-to-talk session as a function of information stored in the traffic database.