Patent ID: 7539749

Claim:
A method for gathering statistics associated with a network session, comprising: receiving a plurality of packets including payload text portions at a plurality of analyzers; analyzing the plurality of packets including the payload text portions thereof to identify a plurality of flows: identifying a session associated with the plurality of flows; identifying at least one application associated with the session; reconstructing the session utilizing the identified application; analyzing the reconstructed session; gathering a plurality of statistics associated with the session based on the analysis; determining a policy; outputting records reflecting the statistics; and wherein an accounting operation is performed based on the records and the policy; wherein an aspect associated with the output of the records is based on the identified application; wherein the statistics include at least three of the following: start time, end time, time since last output, number of packets, number of bytes, average time between packets, moving average, latency, throughput, jitter, and an application specific statistic; wherein a plurality of reports are outputted including a plurality of the statistics records in terms of the identified application.