System and method for reporting packet characteristics in a network environment

摘要

A method is provided in one example and includes receiving a request to initiate a communication flow associated with a subscriber and identifying one or more parameters to be monitored for the communication flow. The method further includes extracting one or more bits from packets associated with the communication flow; the bits are used to determine an operating system associated with the communication flow. A policy decision can be executed for the communication flow based on the operating system associated with the communication flow. In more specific examples, the bits are sent to a next destination in response to a threshold being reached for at least one of the parameters. The parameters can be associated a volume parameter or a time parameter. The policy decision could include blocking traffic associated with the subscriber, initiating billing, redirecting the communication, managing a quality of service level for the communication flow, etc.

主权项

1. A method, comprising:
receiving a request to initiate a communication flow; mapping a source IP address associated with the communication flow to a subscriber; determining a service level for the subscriber; identifying one or more parameters to be monitored for the communication flow; requesting a synchronization packet in response to a threshold being reached for at least one of the parameters; receiving the synchronization packet; extracting one or more bits from the synchronization packet, wherein the bits are attribute value pairs; determining an operating system associated with the communication flow using the one or more bits from the synchronization packet; and executing a policy decision based on the operating system associated with the communication flow and the service level for the subscriber, wherein the policy decision was received from a policy and charging rules function element.