Patent ID: 8588069

Claim:
A method for analyzing packetized network traffic on a packetized network, said method comprising: receiving, at a plurality of locations on the packetized network, said network traffic, wherein said network traffic is received via one or more computing elements at each of the plurality of locations; filtering, at the plurality of locations, said received network traffic and isolating one or more streams from said network traffic, wherein said network traffic is filtered and isolated via the one or more computing elements at each of the plurality of locations; computing, at the plurality of locations, statistics associated with the one or more isolated streams, wherein said statistics are computed via the one or more computing elements at each of the plurality of locations, including at least a delay factor (DF) parameter defining an instantaneous flow rate balance representing a virtual buffer delay that is needed to prevent data loss and absorb network jitter growth, wherein network jitter growth includes a time variation across a plurality of packets, and wherein said statistics associated with the one or more isolated streams provide performance data associated with the one or more isolated streams at each of the plurality of locations; forwarding for the one or more isolated streams, at each of the plurality of locations, said computed statistics to a data consumer; and wherein the one or more computing elements is configured at least to receive said network traffic, filter said received network traffic, isolate the one or more isolated streams from said network traffic, and compute statistics associated with the one or more isolated streams.