Patent ID: 8874720

Claim:
Apparatus for monitoring a telecommunications network having a plurality of users and network elements, comprising: a network transaction data management module having: a first input for receiving configuration information for configuring the module to analyze transaction event data according to predetermined criteria and required result structures; a second input for receiving the transaction event data, wherein the transaction event data is built from passively monitored related data messages exchanged between two network devices on the network, wherein the two network devices are separate from the network transaction data management module; at least one output formatter coupled to receive the transaction event data and add additional data not available at the second input to provide enriched transaction event data; a processor configured to construct a model of internal states of one or more predetermined network devices and their respective relationships from the configuration information and to update each model with a status of state variables reflecting the internal states of the one or more predetermined network devices, obtained by analyzing the transaction event data built from passively monitored related data messages exchanged between two network devices; a memory for storing the configuration information and each updated model; and, a result interface for receiving queries, for obtaining appropriate result information for the queries from the memory and for outputting the appropriate result information.