Patent ID: 7990870

Claim:
A method for managing transmission of peer-to-peer content over a telecommunications network, the method comprising: receiving a first plurality of packets transmitted between a peer-to-peer (P2P) client and a P2P central entity, the first plurality of packets received in a network element in the telecommunications network; performing deep packet inspection (DPI) to extract a key from one or more of the first plurality of packets, the key identifying a P2P content item; receiving a second plurality of packets transmitted between the P2P central entity and the P2P client, the second plurality of packets received in the network element; performing DPI to extract location information of a plurality of P2P peers from one or more of the second plurality of packets; detecting at least one subsequent IP flow between the P2P client and the plurality of P2P peers using the extracted location information, the at least one subsequent IP flow relating to a transfer of the P2P content item, comprising detecting a plurality of subsequent IP flows, each subsequent IP flow relating to a transfer of the P2P content item between the P2P client and a respective P2P peer of the plurality of P2P peers, and placing a marking in a database upon detection of each subsequent IP flow; and performing, upon detection of the at least one subsequent IP flow between the P2P client and the at least one P2P peer, a traffic management action on the at least one subsequent IP flow, wherein the step of performing a traffic management action is only performed when a total number of markings in the database divided by a total number of P2P peers exceeds a predetermined threshold.