Patent ID: 7257081

Claim:
A method of determining traffic intensity associated with one or more users of a communications network, comprising: identifying a set of packets of data that travel across one or more links of a communications network, wherein the set of packets is associated with a group of users of the network, the group comprising one or more users; identifying a plurality of network paths across which the packets travel; determining an intensity of packet traffic corresponding to one or more portions of the network paths, wherein at least a portion of the intensity corresponds to the group of users of the network, wherein each of the portions of the network paths comprises a link, and wherein the determining step comprises: monitoring traffic at a point that is common to a plurality of the network paths using one or more monitoring parameters, determining a traffic fraction for each link of at least one network path, and determining a traffic intensity for one or more of the links of the at least one network path by multiplying the traffic fraction for each link by a measurement corresponding to the traffic monitored at the point, wherein the measurement is also associated with the set of network paths to which each link belongs; and providing the intensity of packet traffic to a network traffic monitor to generate one or more of a performance measure, a metering amount, a metering projection, a service level agreement, an alarm trigger and an alarm.