Patent ID: 7702778

Claim:
A method implemented by a computing system having a processor and memory, comprising: the computing system taking a first snapshot of incoming and outgoing network packet counts and incoming and outgoing error counts at a first discrete time; the computing system maintaining the first snapshot of the incoming and outgoing network packet counts and the incoming and outgoing error counts, which are indicative of network activity at the first discrete time, within a first cache; the computing system obtaining values indicative of network activity at a second discrete time by taking a second snapshot of incoming and outgoing network packet counts and incoming and outgoing error counts at the second discrete time; the computing system storing the second snapshot of the incoming and outgoing network packet counts and the incoming and outgoing error counts at the second discrete time within a second cache; the computing system evaluating the differences between the snapshot of the network packet counts and the error counts maintained within the first cache, corresponding to the first discrete time, and the snapshot of the network packet counts and the error counts stored in the second cache, corresponding to the second discrete time; the computing system determining a state of network connectivity based on the evaluation, the state of network connectivity comprising either an active state or an inactive state; and the computing system selectively outputting the state of network connectivity.