Method of determining real-time data latency and apparatus therefor

A method of determining real-time data latency comprising:

• transmitting first and second pluralities of data packets from a first electronic apparatus during a first time period,
• each data packet of the first and second pluralities of data packets comprising:
• a time stamp indicating a time when the data packet was transmitted;
• and
• a signature located at a signature offset within the data packet,
• size of the data packet;
• each data packet of the first plurality of data packets further comprising:
• a first packet group identification (PGID) located at a PGID offset within the data packet;
• and
• each data packet of the second plurality of data packets further comprising:
• a second PGID different from the first PGID and located at the PGID offset within the data packet;
• receiving a third plurality of data packets at the first electronic apparatus during a second time period;
• identifying signatures in the third plurality of data packets;
• comparing each of the signatures of the third plurality of data packets to the signature of the first and second pluralities of data packets;
• rejecting a first data packet of the third plurality of data packets if a signature of the first data packet of the third plurality of data packets fails to match the signature of the first and second pluralities of data packets;
• checking a validity of the third plurality of data packets;
• rejecting a second data packet of the third plurality of data packets if the second data packet of the third plurality of data packets is invalid;
• identifying PGIDs in the third plurality of data packets;
• identifying time stamps in each of the data packets in the third plurality of data packets, each of the time stamps in the third plurality of data packets originating from the time stamps in the first and second pluralities of data packets;
• using the time stamps to determine time delays for the third plurality of data packets;
• comparing the time delays of each of the third plurality of data packets having the first PGID to a first minimum time delay and storing a time delay of a third data packet of the third plurality of data packets having the first PGID as the first minimum time delay if the time delay of the third data packet of the third plurality of data packets is less than the first minimum time delay;
• comparing the time delays of each of the third plurality of data packets having the second PGID to a second minimum time delay and storing a time delay of a fourth data packet of the third plurality of data packets having the second PGID as the second minimum time delay if the time delay of the fourth data packet of the third plurality of data packets is less than the second minimum time delay;
• comparing the time delays of each of the third plurality of data packets having the first PGID to a first maximum time delay and storing a time delay of a fifth data packet of the third plurality of data packets having the first PGID as the first maximum time delay if the time delay of the fifth data packet of the third plurality of data packets is greater than the first maximum time delay;
• comparing the time delays of each of the third plurality of data packets having the second PGID to a second maximum time delay and storing a time delay of a sixth data packet of the third plurality of data packets having the second PGID as the second maximum time delay if the time delay of the sixth data packet of the third plurality of data packets is greater than the second maximum time delay;
• summing a number of data packets in the third plurality of data packets having the first PGID as a first total count;
• summing a number of data packets in the third plurality of data packets having the second PGID as a second total count;
• summing the time delays of the third plurality of data packets having the first PGID as a first total time delay;
• and
• summing the time delays of the third plurality of data packets having the second PGID as a second total time delay.

An electronic apparatus for determining real-time data latency comprising:

• a data packet reception portion to receive data packets;
• a data packet signature verification portion coupled to the data packet reception portion, the data packet signature verification portion to verify signatures in the data packets;
• a data packet validity verification portion coupled to the data packet reception portion, the data packet validity verification portion to verify a validity of the data packets;
• a group identification portion coupled to the data packet reception portion, the group identification portion to identify PGIDs in the data packets;
• a statistic array retrieval portion coupled to the data packet signature verification portion, the data packet validity verification portion, and the group identification portion, the statistic array retrieval portion to retrieve statistics stored in a memory;
• a time delay determination and statistics portion coupled to the statistic array retrieval portion and the data packet reception portion, the time delay determination and statistics portion to
• determining time delays for the data packets,
• compare the time delays to the statistics, and
• update the statistics;
• and
• a statistic array storage portion coupled to the time delay determination and statistics portion and the group identification portion, the statistic array storage portion to store the statistics updated by the time delay determination and statistics portion.

A method for determining in real-time a round-trip time delay for data packets comprising:

• creating a plurality of outgoing data packets having an outgoing time stamp, a group identifier and validation information
• transmitting the outgoing data packets onto a network
• receiving a plurality of incoming data packets over the network
• validating the incoming data packets
• for each of the incoming data packets that is valid
• calculating a round-trip time delay for the incoming data packet
• updating statistics for the incoming data packets based on the round-trip time delay and the group identifier included in the incoming data packet.