Abstract:
A network usage analysis system includes a data collector that is coupled to a network comprising a plurality of links over at least one selected geographic area. The data collector collects usage data corresponding to a level of use of the plurality of links, the cost of maintaining the plurality of links in the selected geographic area, and corresponding to the revenue generated from subscribers using the network in the selected geographic area. The system also includes a system server coupled to the data collector. The system server receives the usage data from the data collector and determines the economic feasibility for maintaining the network in the selected geographic area based on the subscriber usage data.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application is related to the following concurrently filed U.S. patent application Ser. No.______, Docket No. 200205880-1; ______, Docket No. 200208404-1; ______, Docket No. 200208405-1; and ______, Docket No. 200208406-1, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     Network systems are utilized as communication links for everyday personal and business purposes. With the growth of network systems, particularly the Internet and wireless telephone networks, and the advancement of computer hardware and software technology, network use ranges from simple communication exchanges such as electronic mail to more complex and data intensive communication sessions such as web browsing, electronic commerce, and numerous other electronic network services such as Internet voice, and Internet video-on-demand.  
         [0003]     Network usage information does not include the actual information exchanged in a communications session between parties, but rather includes metadata (data about data) information about the communication sessions and consists of numerous usage detail records (UDRs). The types of metadata included in each UDR will vary by the type of service and network involved, but will often contain detailed pertinent information about a particular event or communications session between parties such as the session start time and stop time, source or originator of the session, destination of the session, responsible party for accounting purposes, type of data transferred, amount of data transferred, quality of service delivered, etc. In telephony networks, the UDRs that make up the usage information are referred to as a call detail records or CDRs. In Internet networks, usage detail records do not yet have a standardized name, but in this application they will be referred to as internet detail records or IDRs. Although the term IDR is specifically used throughout this application in an Internet example context, the term IDR is defined to represent a UDR of any network.  
         [0004]     Network usage information is useful for many important business functions such as subscriber billing, marketing and customer care, and operations management. Network usage data reporting systems are utilized for collecting, correlating, and aggregating network usage information as it occurs and creating UDRs as output that can be consumed by computer business systems that support the above business functions. Examples of these computer business systems include billing systems, marketing and customer relationship management systems, customer churn analysis systems, and data mining systems.  
         [0005]     Especially for Internet networks, several important technological changes are key drivers in creating increasing demand for timely and cost-effective analysis of Internet usage information or the underlying IDRs.  
         [0006]     One technological change is the dramatically increasing Internet access bandwidth at moderate subscriber cost. Most consumers today have only limited access bandwidth to the Internet via an analog telephony modem, which has a practical data transfer rate upper limit of about 56 thousand bits per second. When a network service provider&#39;s subscribers are limited to these slow rates there is an effective upper bound to potential congestion and overloading of the service provider&#39;s network. However, the increasing wide scale deployments of broadband Internet access through digital cable modems, digital subscriber line, microwave, and satellite services are increasing the Internet access bandwidth by several orders of magnitude. As such, this higher access bandwidth significantly increases the potential for network congestion and bandwidth abuse by heavy users. With this much higher bandwidth available, the usage difference between a heavy user and light user can be quite large.  
         [0007]     Another technological change is the rapid growth of applications and services that require high bandwidth. Examples include Internet telephony, video-on-demand, and complex multiplayer multimedia games. These types of services increase the duration of time that a user is connected to the network as well as requiring significantly more bandwidth to be supplied by the service provider.  
         [0008]     Another technological change is the transition of the Internet from “best effort” to “mission critical”. As many businesses are moving to the Internet, they are increasingly relying on this medium for their daily success. This transitions the Internet from a casual, best-effort delivery service into the mainstream of commerce. Business managers will need to have quality of service guarantees from their service provider and will be willing to pay for these higher quality services.  
         [0009]     Network usage analysis systems provide information about how the service provider&#39;s services are being used and by whom. This is vital business information that a service provider must have in order to identify fast moving trends, establish competitive prices, and define new services or subscriber class as needed.  
         [0010]     For reasons stated above and for other reasons presented in greater detail in the Description of the Preferred Embodiment section of the present specification, more advanced techniques are required in order to more compactly represent key usage information and provide for more timely extraction of the relevant business information from this usage information.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0011]     The present invention is a network usage analysis system. The system includes a data collector that is coupled to a network comprising a plurality of links over at least one selected geographic area. The data collector collects usage data corresponding to a level of use of the plurality of links, the cost of maintaining the plurality of links in the selected geographic area, and corresponding to the revenue generated from subscribers using the network in the selected geographic area. The system also includes a system server coupled to the data collector. The system server receives the usage data from the data collector and determines the economic feasibility for maintaining the network in the selected geographic area based on the subscriber usage data. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]     The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the present invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate the embodiments of the present invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention. Other embodiments of the present invention and many of the intended advantages of the present invention will be readily appreciated as they become better understood by reference to the following detailed description. The elements of the drawings are not necessarily to scale relative to each other. Like reference numerals designate corresponding similar parts.  
         [0013]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a network usage analysis system according to the present invention providing representation of network usage information and interactive usage analysis.  
         [0014]      FIGS. 2A and 2B  illustrate networks on which the network usage analysis system performs its analysis according to the present invention.  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  is a flow diagram illustrating one exemplary embodiment of a method for analyzing network usage using subscriber information according to the present invention.  
         [0016]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram of an alternative embodiment a network usage analysis system according to the present invention providing representation of network usage information and interactive usage analysis.  
         [0017]      FIG. 5  is a flow diagram illustrating one exemplary embodiment of a method for analyzing network usage according to the present invention including providing direct statistical representation of usage information, compact storage and real time interactive usage analysis.  
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0018]     A network usage analysis system according to the present invention is illustrated generally at  10  in  FIG. 1 . Network usage analysis system  10  includes several main components, each of which comprises a software program. The main software program components of network usage analysis system  10  run on one or more computer or server systems. In one embodiment, each of the main software program components runs on its own computer system.  
         [0019]     In one exemplary embodiment, network usage analysis system  10  includes a usage data collector  14 , and a usage data analysis system server  16 . Usage data collector  14  is coupled to usage data analysis system server  16  via communication link  15 . Network usage analysis system  10  further includes user interface  20  and display system  22 . User interface  20  and display system  22  are coupled to usage data analysis system server  16  via communication links  17  and  18 , respectively.  
         [0020]     Usage data collector  14  collects usage data  26 . In one embodiment, the usage data  26  is a real time stream of IDRs generated from a usage data source or a network usage data reporting system  12 , positioned on a network  24  (also indicated by an “N”). As used herein, a network usage data reporting system  12  is one type of usage data source. Alternatively, the IDRs may be received from a database or central data warehouse.  
         [0021]     Usage data analysis system server  16  receives the usage data from usage data collector  14  via communication link  15 . In one aspect, usage data collector  14  is separate from network usage data reporting system  12 , and in another aspect, usage data collector  14  is part of a network usage data reporting system, such that the usage data analysis system server  16  receives the set of usage data directly from the network usage data reporting system. In another aspect, usage data collector  14  is part of the usage data analysis system server  16 . Network  24  may be a plurality of server and host computer networks, such as the Internet, or may be a plurality of wireless networks, such as a cellular phone system.  
         [0022]      FIG. 2A  illustrates an internet network  30 . Internet  30  includes a plurality of routers  32  coupled to each other by a series of links  34 . An access computer  36  and a host computer  38  are illustrated coupled to the network  30 . Routers  32  determine the links  34  used to connect access computer  36  to host computer  38 . There are many options of various links  34  that can be used to connect access computer  36  to host computer  38 . Data, whether in the form of a web-page, a downloaded file or an e-mail message, travels over internet  30  as a packet-switching network system. In this system, the data in a message or in a file is broken up into packages, each about over 1,000 bytes long. Each of these packages gets a wrapper that includes information on the sender&#39;s address, the receiver&#39;s address, the package&#39;s place in the entire message, and how the receiving computer can be sure that the package arrived intact. Each data package, called a packet, is then sent off to its destination via the best available route—a route that might be taken by all the other packets in the message or by none of the other packets in the message. In other words, routers  32  may send packets from the same message or file over different links  34  to eventually arrive at the same destination.  
         [0023]     For example, if there is a problem with one piece of equipment in internet  30  while a message is being transferred, packets can be routed around the problem, ensuring the delivery of the entire message. Routers  32  that make up the main part of internet  30  can reconfigure links  34 , or the paths, that packets take because they look at the information surrounding the data packet, and they tell each other about line conditions, such as delays in receiving and sending data and traffic on various pieces of the network. Consequently, some links  34  of network  30  may be more used than other links for sending packets.  
         [0024]      FIG. 2B  illustrates a wireless network  40 . Wireless network  40  includes a plurality of cells  42 , each of which include a tower  44  and associated transmission equipment  46  for sending and receiving signals. Although wireless network  40  differs in operation from internet  30 , it similarly bundles and transmits data in packets that are transferred from tower  44  to tower  44  from a source to a destination. Again, the route or path that the packets take can differ, and some cells  42 , or links, may be more used than others.  
         [0025]     Usage analysis system  10  is used in association with networks such as networks  30  and  40  illustrated in  FIGS. 2A and 2B . Usage data source  12  receives usage data  26  and passes usage data  26  to usage data collector  14 . Usage data analysis system server  16  then receives and uses usage data  26  to perform analysis on the usage data  26 . In addition to the type of service and network involved, information about a particular event or communications session between parties such as the session start time and stop time, source or originator of the session, destination of the session, responsible party for accounting purposes, type of data transferred, amount of data transferred, quality of service delivered, the usage data  26  in the present invention also includes geographic-specific information about the most popular routes, the costs to maintain those routes, and actual revenue generated from subscribers using those routes. Consequently, usage data analysis system server  16  can monitor geographic areas selected by a user, analyze the popular routes in this selected geographic area and determine whether the pricing in that area is viable or whether a new cost-effective plan must be established.  
         [0026]     In one embodiment, usage analysis system  10  is used to make business decisions about network  24  based on consideration of a selected geographic location covered by network  24 , consideration of the routes in this selected geographic area, consideration of the costs of maintaining routes in the selected geographic area, the revenue generated from subscribers using network  24  in the selected geographic area, and the viability of the pricing plan in the selected geographic area. Business decisions, such as a modification to the pricing plan for access to network  24  or elimination of service in certain geographic areas, can be based on an analysis of the routes in this selected geographic area, consideration of the costs of maintaining routes in the selected geographic area, and the revenue generated from subscribers using network  24  in the selected geographic area.  
         [0027]     In  FIG. 3 , a flow diagram illustrating one exemplary embodiment of a method for analyzing network usage according to the present invention is shown generally at  50 . Reference is also made to  FIGS. 1, 2A  and  2 B. In step  52 , a network  24  is identified for analysis. In step  54 , a geographical area of network  24  is selected for analysis. In one embodiment, a user may be prompted to select a geographic area to be evaluated. In this way, analysis of network usage can be tailored to any particular selected geographic area.  
         [0028]     In step  56 , usage data is collected from the network for analysis. The type of usage data collected is that which can be generated from a network usage data reporting system or a usage data source  12 . In one exemplary embodiment, the usage data  26  consists of a real time or real time stream of IDRs received from a network usage data reporting system. The usage data collector  14  collects usage data from the IDRs that may include the type of service and network involved, information about a particular event or communications session between parties such as the session start time and stop time, source or originator of the session, destination of the session, responsible party for accounting purposes, type of data transferred, a usage metric (e.g., bandwidth, megabytes, time), amount of data transferred, quality of service delivered, routes used in a geographic area, cost of maintaining routes used in a geographic area, cost of maintaining routes in a geographic area, and revenue generated from subscribers using routes in a geographic area. When the user has selected a particular geographic area for analysis, usage data  26  will include routes used in the selected geographic area, cost of maintaining routes used in the selected geographic area, and revenue generated from subscribers using routes in the selected geographic area.  
         [0029]     In step  58 , the collected usage data  26  is analyzed in order to evaluate the viability of pricing in the selected geographic area. The analysis includes determining the most popular routes or links of network  24  that are used by subscribers in the selected geographic area, as well as the cost of maintaining these routes or links. This information can then be compared to the calculated revenue generated from subscribers using these routes or link of network  24  in the selected geographic area. This comparison will determine whether the pricing plan used by the network service provider in generating the revenue is viable or whether it could be improved.  
         [0030]     In step  59  a business decision is made about the pricing of network services based on the viability of the pricing plan. For example, usage analysis system  10  can be used by a network service provider to determine the viability of a pricing plan for subscribers in the San Francisco area. After the user of the system select San Francisco, the usage data is analyzed and it is determined that the monthly costs incurred in transmitting data for the San Francisco subscribers is $X. Furthermore, the usage data is analyzed and it is determined that the monthly revenue generated from the San Francisco subscribers is $Y. When X is less than Y, the pricing plan in San Francisco is viable because it is profitable based on the analysis of the usage data. When X is grater than Y, however, the pricing plan in San Francisco is not viable because the service provider is loosing money with the plan. Consequently, under these circumstances the pricing plans would need to be modified to achieve profitability. If the rates cannot be increased in the applicable selected area, it may be determined that the market is not viable.  
         [0031]     Usage analysis system  10  accomplishes optimization of network resources in the form of viability assessment of pricing plans that is specifically tailored to a geographic region. With prior systems, business decisions such as evaluating pricing plans of network services were made by only generally monitoring the overall network, and could not achieve such tailored optimization.  
         [0032]     In another embodiment of the present invention, illustrated in  FIG. 4 , network usage analysis system  90  provides direct statistical representation of usage information and provides compact storage and real time, interactive usage analysis. The network usage analysis system  90  in accordance with the present invention provides for the use of statistical models and the storage of statistical data representative of critical usage data in lieu of storing the critical usage data, thereby allowing for real time interactive statistical analysis and greatly reducing usage data storage requirements. Since statistical models are stored and not the usage data itself, with the present invention the storage requirements do not grow with the amount of usage data. The storage requirements for the statistical models are a function of the complexity of the business to be modeled and the granularity of the desired results.  
         [0033]     In one exemplary embodiment, network usage analysis system  90  includes a critical usage data collector  92 , a critical usage data analysis system server  94  and a data storage system  96 . Critical usage data collector  92  is coupled to critical usage data analysis system server  94  via communication link  98 . Data storage system  96  is coupled to critical usage data analysis system server  94  via communication link  100 . Network usage analysis system  90  further includes user interface  102  and display system  104 . User interface  102  and display system  104  are coupled to critical usage data analysis system server  94  via communication links  109  and  108  respectively.  
         [0034]     Critical usage data collector  92  collects critical usage data (e.g., a set of critical usage data) from usage data  106 . Preferably, the usage data  106  is a real time stream of network usage data records. In one embodiment, the usage data  106  is a real time stream of IDRs generated from a usage data source or a network usage data reporting system  91 , positioned on a network  107  (also indicated by an “N”). As used herein, a network usage data reporting system  90  is one type of usage data source. Alternatively, the IDRs may be received from a database or central data warehouse.  
         [0035]     One network usage data reporting system suitable for use with the present invention is commercially available under the tradename SMART INTERNET USAGE 2.01 (SIU 2.01), from Hewlett-Packard, U.S.A. Other network usage data reporting systems suitable for use with the usage analysis system in accordance with the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art after reading the present application.  
         [0036]     Usage data analysis system server  94  receives the critical usage data from the critical usage data collector  92  via communication link  98 . In one aspect, the critical usage data collector  92  is separate from a network usage data reporting system, and in another aspect, the critical usage data collector  92  is part of a network usage data reporting system, such that the critical usage data analysis system server  94  receives the set of critical usage data directly from the network usage data reporting system. In another aspect, the critical usage data collector  92  is part of the critical usage data analysis system server  94 .  
         [0037]     The critical usage data analysis system server  94  uses the set of critical usage data to perform predetermined network usage statistical analysis. In particular, a statistical model  110  is defined for solving a network usage related business problem. The critical usage data analysis system server  94  uses the critical usage data and the statistical model  110  to generate statistical data  112 . The critical usage data analysis system server  94  operates to store the statistical data  112  in the data storage system  96 . In one aspect, the statistical data is stored in the form of a table (e.g., a distribution table).  
         [0038]     After storage of the statistical model  110 , the set of critical usage data is no longer retained. In one aspect, the critical usage data analysis system server  94  is responsive to the user interface  102  for interactive analysis of the statistical model  110 . Further, a graphical display of the statistical model  110  can be output to display system  104 . One exemplary embodiment of interactive analysis of critical usage data using the statistical model  110  is described in related application INTERNET USAGE ANALYSIS SYSTEM AND METHOD, Ser. No. 09/548,124, filed Apr. 12, 2000, which is incorporated by reference herein.  
         [0039]     In  FIG. 5 , a flow diagram illustrating one exemplary embodiment of a method for analyzing network usage according to the present invention is shown generally at  120 . Reference is also made to  FIG. 5 . In step  122 , a statistical model is defined for solving a network usage related business problem, such as evaluating the viability of a pricing plan in a selected geographic area. Such decision can be based on an analysis of the routes in this selected geographic area, consideration of the costs of maintaining routes in the selected geographic area, and the revenue generated from subscribers using network  24  in the selected geographic area.  
         [0040]     In step  124 , critical usage data types required by the statistical model are determined. The type of statistical model chosen is based on the network usage related business problem to be solved. By defining only critical usage data types required by the statistical model, the volume of usage data that needs to be collected is greatly reduced. For example, the critical usage data may be a selected geographic area, costs of maintaining routes in the selected geographic area, and revenue generated from subscribers using those routes in the selected geographic area.  
         [0041]     In step  126 , critical usage data  98  of the critical usage data types are collected from usage data  106  that can be generated from a network usage data reporting system or a usage data source  91 . In one exemplary embodiment, the usage data  106  consists of a real time or real time stream of IDRs received from a network usage data reporting system. A real time stream of IDRs is defined as a stream of IDRs that is “flushed” or transferred from a data storage location at regular and frequent intervals (e.g., which may be substantially instantaneous or, based on the usage data source, from seconds to minutes). The critical usage data collector  92  collects critical usage data from the IDRs that may actual usage by subscribers of particular network links and relative importance of those subscribers.  
         [0042]     In step  128 , statistical data representative of the critical usage data are generated. In particular, statistical data are generated using the critical usage data and the statistical model. The step of generating the statistical data can be done in real time.  
         [0043]     In step  130 , the statistical data are stored. The statistical data may be stored in various forms, such as in the form of a table or graph in volatile or nonvolatile memory. After storing of the statistical data, the critical usage data can be deleted, since it is not necessary to retain it for the selected network usage related business problem. As such, storing of the statistical data representative of the collected critical usage data in lieu of storing the critical usage data itself greatly reduces data storage requirements.  
         [0044]     In step  132 , the statistical data can be analyzed to produce a result addressing the network usage related business problem. Also, the statistical data may be stored in volatile memory (e.g., RAM) to provide for interactive analysis and presentation of results pertinent to a network usage related business problem. The statistical data may be stored and/or archived in non-volatile memory, such as a hard disk drive. In particular, the statistical model is used to determine/analyze usage characteristics. The statistical model may also be used for performing interactive analysis of the critical usage data via user interface  102 . In particular, the statistical model may include one or more variable elements, wherein the variable elements are changeable via user interface  102  to interactively model network usage. The statistical model results can be graphically or otherwise displayed using display system  104 .  
         [0045]     For example, a user can be prompted via display system  104  to select a geographical area to be analyzed. Once a particular geographic region is selected, the critical usage data may be a selected geographic area, costs of maintaining routes in the selected geographic area, and revenue generated from subscribers using those routes in the selected geographic area.  
         [0046]     Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein for purposes of description of the preferred embodiment, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that a wide variety of alternate and/or equivalent implementations calculated to achieve the same purposes may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown and described without departing from the scope of the present invention. Those with skill in the chemical, mechanical, electromechanical, electrical, and computer arts will readily appreciate that the present invention may be implemented in a very wide variety of embodiments. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the preferred embodiments discussed herein. Therefore, it is manifestly intended that this invention be limited only by the claims and the equivalents thereof.