Patent ID: 8427966

Claim:
A method of monitoring a communication network, the method comprising: sending instructional templates via the network to a probe inserted at a data access point in said network, said templates for storage at said probe for a period of time, each said template stored at said probe in association with a particular one of various probe control elements of said probe, said control elements comprising a packet header parser, a packet filter and a packet data extractor; each said template defining when to execute a function and defining a location of data in a data stream for said control elements to execute said function on, said control elements acting in parallel with each other and in dependent fashion upon each other; wherein said templates comprise at least a packet header parser template, a packet filter template and a packet data extractor template; and receiving information from said probe, said received information resulting from a function executed on particular data by said probe, said data passing by said data access point, said data function and a location of said data being in accordance with said information contained in said templates.