Methods, systems, and computer readable media for monitoring latency and/or time-based data locations of multicast communications

#The subject matter described herein relates to monitoring latency associated with communicating data in a network. More specifically, the subject matter relates to methods, systems, and computer readable media for monitoring latency and/or time-based data locations of multicast communications.

#Multicast communications are those in which one or more senders transmit a data stream or data feed to multiple different receivers using multiple different channels. That is, multicast communications include packet data feeds that are addressed to a group of destinations simultaneously. Individual packets of a multicast data feed are embedded with monotonically increasing sequence numbers, so that dropped or lost packets may be more easily detected. Currently, the embedded or encoded sequence numbers associated with multicast data packets are only analyzed to determine whether there are gaps in the data, for example, by determining which packet sequence numbers were not received by a receiver or receiving endpoint.

#In multicast communications, it is desirable to measure packet latency, where latency is defined as the relative delay in delivery of the same multicast packet to different network locations. This is especially true in the field of financial market and stock exchange communications. In some aspects, receivers may even pay a premium price to guarantee receipt of exchange communications over a low latency channel. Thus, it is useful to monitor and calculate respective channel latency in real-time, for example, to diagnose and hopefully resolve communication issues. Currently, there is not a simple, inexpensive, and real-time or near real-time method of monitoring and calculating latency within a multicast network.

#The subject matter described herein will now be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings of which:

#FIG. 1 is an exemplary network diagram for sending and receiving multicast communications according to an embodiment of the subject matter described herein;

#FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating exemplary routing of a multicast communication according to an embodiment of the subject matter described herein;

#The subject matter described herein includes methods, systems, and computer readable media for monitoring latency of multicast communications. Multicast communications (packets, multiple messages within packets, or messages spread across multiple packets) include embedded sequence numbers, referred to herein as sequence number identifier values. Notably, methods, systems, and computer readable media set forth herein are configured to utilize these pre-existing sequence numbers identifier values associated with packets to passively monitor latency associated with multicast communications, for example, by tracking the arrival time of each packet sequence identifier value at and/or between various physical locations (e.g., hops) in real-time, or near real-time. This information can be used to detect trouble spots within a multicast network so that network operators can identify, de-bug, and improve multicast communication efficiency.

#The term “multicast data feeds”, “multicast communications”, and/or “multicast packets” refer to data feeds sent by at least one sender to multiple receivers, simultaneously. Multicast communications are those having a transport layer protocol including a User Datagram Protocol (UDP), a Pragmatic General Multicast (PGM), or any other suitable protocol.

#Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments of the subject matter described herein, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts.