IP traffic or Internet flow classification has played an important role in many network activities. Many works have been carried out for the past several years targeting different goals including Quality-of-Service support, security, management, and provisioning. However, these approaches are developed and evaluated separately without a general model that can be used to identify, categorize, and compare them. Thus, it is difficult for a newcomer to understand the principle or flow classification and to find a suitable method for her domain. This paper brings forth a mathematical model that describes the flow classification components and processes on an abstract level. We then classify existing flow classification approaches and compare them in a unified framework.
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