Packet network traffic flow effective bandwidth estimation apparatus and method

A method of estimating an effective bandwidth of a traffic flow in a packet network, the method comprising:

• a. receiving a plurality of traffic packets of a traffic flow comprising a plurality of bytes;
• b. determining a number of conformant bytes, being bytes of those packets which conform to an estimated committed information rate (ECIR) and an estimated committed burst size (ECBS) and determining a number of violating bytes, being bytes of those packets which violate at least one of the estimated committed information rate and the estimated committed burst size;
• c. determining a subsequent estimated committed information rate, being a number of bytes per second, from the number of conformant bytes and the number of violating bytes;
• d. determining an estimated committed burst size correction in dependence on the number of violating bytes and applying the correction to the estimated committed burst size, and outputting the previously used estimated committed burst size;
• e. repeating steps a. to d.;
• f. determining an estimated peak information rate (EPIR) in dependence on the last output estimated committed burst size and the estimated committed information rate;
• and
• g. determining an effective bandwidth of the traffic flow from the estimated peak information rate, estimated committed burst size and estimated committed information rate.

A non-transitory data carrier having computer readable instructions embodied therein, the computer readable instructions being for providing access to resources available on a processor and the computer readable instructions comprising instructions to cause the processor to perform a method of estimating an effective bandwidth of a traffic flow in a packet network, the method comprising:

• a. receiving a plurality of traffic packets of a traffic flow comprising a plurality of bytes;
• b. determining a number of conformant bytes, being bytes of those packets which conform to an estimated committed information rate (ECIR) and an estimated committed burst size (ECBS) and determining a number of violating bytes, being bytes of those packets which violate at least one of the estimated committed information rate and the estimated committed burst size;
• c. determining a subsequent estimated committed information rate, being a number of bytes per second, from the number of conformant bytes and the number of violating bytes;
• d. determining an estimated committed burst size correction in dependence on the number of violating bytes and applying the correction to the estimated committed burst size, and outputting the previously used estimated committed burst size;
• e. repeating steps a. to d.;
• f. determining an estimated peak information rate (EPIR) in dependence on the last output estimated committed burst size and the estimated committed information rate;
• and
• g. determining an effective bandwidth of the traffic flow from the estimated peak information rate, estimated committed burst size and estimated committed information rate.