Measurement of network performance in transporting packet streams
AssigneeIxia
InventorsEarl Chew, Laura Choy, Kevin M. Cattell
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for measuring network performance. A packet from a stream of multimedia data packets is received from across a network during a measurement interval. The time interval from the start of the measurement interval to receiving the packet is measured. The response of a buffer to the received packet is determined. The level of the buffer just before the packet arrives is calculated, based on the time interval. The level of the buffer just after the packet arrives is calculated, based on the previous level. A performance measure for the network is determined based on at least one of the two levels.
Claims19
A method of determining a performance measure for a network for a measurement interval, the method;
- comprising:
- receiving a packet from a stream of multimedia data packets from across a network;
- measuring an arrival time from the start of the measurement interval to the time at which the packet is received;
- determining a response of a buffer to the packet, said response comprising calculating a plurality of buffer levels including:
- a first buffer level corresponding to a time just after the packet arrives or corresponding to the start of the measurement interval;
- and
- a second buffer level corresponding to the end of the measurement interval, wherein the measurement interval is independent of packet arrival;
- and
- determining the performance measure for the network depending on at leas the second buffer level.
A system that measures performance of a network that transports a packet stream, comprising:
- a packet parser that parses a packet from the packet stream;
- a local clock that determines a packet arrival time measured from the start of a measurement interval;
- and
- a processor that determines a response of a virtual buffer to the packet based on the packet arrival time, and further determines a performance measure for the network based on the response of the virtual buffer, said response comprising calculating a plurality of buffer levels including:
- a first buffer level corresponding to a time just after the packet arrives or corresponding to the start of the measurement interval;
- and
- a second buffer level corresponding to the end of the measurement interval;
- wherein the processor determines the performance measure for the measurement interval based on at least the second buffer level and the measurement interval is independent of packet arrival.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.