US 9,794,361 B2Granted

Network user usage profiling

AssigneeCenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC

InventorsSteven M. Casey, Amie Elcan, John Butala

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

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.

Claims18

Dependent claims

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.

4 more elements

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.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/461,082Filed 16 Mar 2017 · continuation
Priority: 23 Dec 2008
Published: US 2017/0187816 A129 Jun 2017
Granted: 17 Oct 2017
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification10 codes

H04L 67/535
Network services: tracking the activity of the user
H04L 41/507
Characterised by the interaction between service providers and their network customers, e.g. customer relationship management: filtering out…
H04L 43/0876
Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters: network utilisation, e.g. volume of…
H04L 43/091
Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters: measuring contribution of individual…

Family

Application12/342,789Parent of this continuation · filed 23 Dec 2008
Application13/473,410Parent of this continuation · filed 16 May 2012
US 8,201,220 B2Parent of this continuation · filed 12 Jun 2012
Application14/282,162Parent of this continuation · filed 20 May 2014
US 8,769,617 B2Parent of this continuation · filed 1 Jul 2014
Application14/847,638Parent of this continuation · filed 8 Sep 2015
US 9,160,642 B2Parent of this continuation · filed 13 Oct 2015
Application15/056,824Parent of this continuation · filed 29 Feb 2016
US 9,300,550 B2Parent of this continuation · filed 29 Mar 2016
US 2017/0187816 A1Pre-grant publication · published 29 Jun 2017
US 9,635,117 B2Parent of this continuation
US 2010/0162359 A1Published application
US 2012/0230203 A1Published application
US 2014/0258517 A1Published application
US 2015/0381438 A1Published application
US 2016/0182662 A1Published application
US 9,794,361 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.