Method for statistical object identification

1 . A method comprising the steps of:

an object activation agent ( 48 ) having access to a clock ( 47 ) and having at least one original object ( 12 S);

said object activation agent ( 48 ) communicating said original object ( 12 S) and time from said clock ( 47 ) to an object activation service ( 50 ); and

said object activation service ( 50 ) providing and communicating keying information ( 61 ) and expiration criterion ( 63 ) for at least one of said original objects ( 12 S) to said object activation agent ( 48 ).

2 . A method as recited in claim 1 , where

said original object ( 12 S) is obtained from an external service.

3 . A method as recited in claim 1 , where

said object activation service ( 50 ) determines if network address translation was performed between said object activation agent ( 48 ) and said object activation service ( 50 ).

4 . A method as recited in claim 3 , where

said object activation service ( 50 ) communicates said determination of network address translation to said object activation agent ( 48 ).

5 . A method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising the additional steps of:

providing an SOI policy service ( 40 ), an SOI Insertion Policy service ( 42 ) and a network resource ( 66 );

said object activation agent ( 48 ) communicating said keying information ( 61 ), and expiration criterion ( 63 ) for each of the said original objects ( 12 S) to said SOI insertion service ( 40 );

said network client ( 66 ) sending a message ( 68 ) to said network resource ( 62 );

said message ( 68 ) being communicated through said SOI insertion service ( 42 );

said SOI insertion service ( 42 ) selecting one of said original objects ( 12 S) and generating a statistical object ( 14 S) using said keying information ( 61 ) associated with said selected original object ( 12 S);

said SOI insertion service ( 42 ) inserting said statistical object ( 14 S) into said message ( 68 ) and forwarding said message ( 68 ) to said network resource ( 62 );

6 . A method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising the additional steps of:

said object activation agent ( 48 ) communicating said keying information ( 61 ), and said expiration criterion ( 63 ) for each of said original objects ( 12 S) to an SOI identification service ( 40 );

said SOI Policy service ( 40 ) generating a plurality of statistical objects ( 14 S) using said keying information ( 61 ) for each of the said original objects ( 12 S).

7 . A method as recited in claim 6 , further comprising the additional steps of:

said SOI Policy service ( 40 ) ceasing generation of statistical objects ( 14 S) after said expiration criterion ( 63 ) has been met;

8 . A method as recited as claim 6 in which:

said expiration criterion ( 63 ) is expressed as a function of time;

9 . A method as recited in claim 7 in which:

said expiration criterion ( 63 ) is expressed as a function of statistical objects ( 14 S);

10 . A method as recited in claim 7 in which:

said expiration criterion ( 63 ) is expressed as a function of messages ( 68 );

11 . A method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising the additional steps of:

said object activation agent ( 48 ) communicating said keying information ( 61 ), and said expiration criterion ( 61 ) for each of said original objects ( 12 S) to an SOI resolution service ( 46 );

said SOI resolution service ( 46 ) generating a plurality of statistical objects ( 14 S) using said keying information ( 61 ) for each of the said original objects ( 12 S).

12 . A method as recited in claim 11 , further comprising the additional steps of:

said identity fault resolution service ( 46 ) ceasing generation of statistical objects ( 14 S) after said expiration criterion ( 63 ) has been met;

13 . A method as recited as claim 11 in which:

said expiration criterion ( 63 ) is expressed as a function of time;

14 . A method as recited in claim 11 in which:

said expiration criterion ( 63 ) is expressed as a function of statistical objects ( 14 S);

15 . A method as recited in claim 11 in which:

said expiration criterion ( 63 ) is expressed as a function of messages ( 68 );

16 . A method comprising the steps of:

An SOI Policy service ( 40 ) receiving a statistical object ( 14 S) associated with a message ( 68 )

using statistical object identification, determining that said received statistical object ( 14 S) is not present in a plurality of statistical object ( 14 S); and

sending said statistical object ( 14 S) and said associated message ( 68 ) to an SOI resolution service ( 46 );

17 . A method as recited in claim 16 , further comprising the additional steps of:

accumulating a statistic of failed statistical object resolutions on a per source address basis;

determining that said count of failed statistical object resolutions exceeds a threshold; and

discarding messages received from said source address until an expiration criterion is met;

18 . A method as recited in claim 16 , further comprising the additional steps of:

accumulating a statistic of failed statistical object resolutions on a per source address basis;

determining that said count of failed statistical object resolutions exceeds a threshold; and

adjusting the probability threshold for messages received from said source address until an expiration criterion is met;

19 . A method comprising the steps of:

An SOI resolution service ( 46 ) receiving an original object ( 12 S), keying information ( 61 ), expiration criterion ( 63 ), a message ( 68 ) and policy information ( 60 ) from a second SOI resolution service ( 49 ); and

said SOI resolution service ( 46 ) generating statistical objects ( 14 S) from said original objects ( 12 S) until said expiration criterion ( 63 ) is satisfied;

20 . A method as recited in claim 19 , further comprising the additional steps of:

said SOI resolution service ( 46 ) associating a source IP address contained in said message ( 68 ) with said original object ( 12 S);