Patent ID: 8165030

Claim:
A system for monitoring a communication comprising: a. a network monitor configured to get a media path bill of materials for the communication between a plurality of communication devices across a network, get a signaling path bill of materials for the communication between the plurality of communication devices across the network, wherein the media path bill of materials and the signaling path bill of materials each comprise a plurality of items, and wherein the media path bill of materials and the signaling path bill of materials comprise a communication path bill of materials, send at least one configuration packet to a plurality of network analyzers to monitor one or more packets that contain a status of the communication in relation to at least one of the plurality of items in the communication path bill of materials, receive a response packet that contains the status of the communication in relation to the at least one of the plurality of items in the communication path bill of materials, and output the status of the communication in relation to the monitored at least one of the plurality of items in the communication path bill of materials, wherein one or more of the network monitor and at least one of the plurality of network analyzers are further configured to determine if one of the one or more packets is a signaling packet or a media packet, in response to the one of the one or more packets being the signaling packet, associating the status in the signaling packet with an item in the signaling path bill of materials, and in response to the one of the one or more packets being the media packet, associating the status in the media packet with an item in the media path bill of materials.