Patent ID: 8174983

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: at least one pre-capture filter, a plurality of post-capture filters, wherein each post-capture filter is associated with an application type and wherein the plurality of post-capture filters includes post-capture filters for at least two of: a video application type, an audio application type, and a text application type; and a plurality of monitoring stations, wherein each monitoring station is associated with an application type, wherein the at least one pre-capture filter is operative to: receive a plurality of packets transmitted in a network, and for each received packet to: identify an application type of the received packet, and, responsively to the identified application type, to select a post-capture filter from the plurality of post-capture filters, such that the selected post-capture filter is associated with the identified application-type, and to send the received packet to the selected post-capture filter; and wherein each of said plurality of application-type specific post capture filters is operative to: receive from said at least one pre-capture filter packets of a specific application type and to distribute said packets of said specific application type among at least two monitoring stations associated with said specific application type.