Patent ID: 7483379

Claim:
A network performance monitoring system, comprising: a database; at least one network performance monitoring circuit coupled to a network along which network traffic flows in a form of packets, said at least one network performance monitoring circuit programmed to perform the steps of: receiving a video packet communicated along the network; determining whether data in the packet satisfies a rule set; and responsive to determining that data in the packet satisfies a rule set, copying information relating to the packet to be stored into the database; a recorder layer for communicating between the database and the monitoring circuit, the recorder layer comprising manager applications and meter reading applications, the recorder layer configured to provide the rule set in a flow store to a meter that identifies packets based on a service type and a Quality of Service (QoS) of each of the packets in response to the rule set, said meter programmed to perform the steps of: selecting a source and a destination for each of the identified packets when the QoS exceeds a value; and forwarding the selected packets to the recorder layer; querying circuitry for querying the information communicated by the at least one network performance monitoring circuit to the database to identify an irregularity in the network traffic originated when a route related to the forwarded selected packets is compared to a route related to a source and a destination for each of the identified packets when the QoS does not exceed the value; and corrective circuitry for electronically providing a corrective action with respect to the identified irregularity in the network traffic, the corrective action ensuring a quality of the video based on the compared routes.