Method, device, and computer program product for detecting and encoding states for accurate measurement

A computing device, comprising:

• memory for storing a program for determining states in a flow of transmitted packets and encoding the states;
• and
• a processor, functionally coupled to the memory, the processor being responsive to computer-executable instructions contained in the program and operative for:
• receiving the flow of transmitted packets, where each transmitted packet has a monotonically increasing integer sequence number;
• wherein a next expected sequence number is equal to a largest previous sequence number of a previous packet received incremented by 1 and the next expected sequence number is in a monotonically increasing series with non-reversing values;
• for a predefined number of consecutively received packets, when a difference between a sequence number of an arriving packet and the next expected sequence number is equal to zero and when a time to live number of the arriving packet is equal to a time to live number of the previous packet, determining that there is a stable state for the predefined number of consecutively received packets;
• for each received packet, when it is determined that the sequence number of the arriving packet is greater than a calculated next expected sequence number by more than 1, determining that a not stable state exists;
• for each received packet, when the time to live number of the arriving packet is not equal to the time to live number of the previous packet, determining that a not stable state exists;
• and
• determining a number of holes, the holes being a time between an end of one stable state and a start of a next stable state.

A computer program product, tangibly embodied on a computer readable storage medium, the computer program product including instructions for causing a computer to execute a method for determining states in a flow of transmitted packets and encoding the states, comprising:

• receiving a flow of transmitted packets, where each transmitted packet has a monotonically increasing integer sequence number;
• wherein a next expected sequence number is equal to a largest previous sequence number of a previous packet received incremented by 1 and the next expected sequence number is in a monotonically increasing series with non-reversing values;
• for a predefined number of consecutively received packets, when a difference between a sequence number of an arriving packet and the next expected sequence number is equal to zero and when a time to live number of the arriving packet is equal to a time to live number of the previous packet, determining that there is a stable state for the predefined number of consecutively received packets;
• for each received packet, when it is determined that the sequence number of the arriving packet is greater than a calculated next expected sequence number by more than 1, determining that a not stable state exists;
• for each received packet, when the time to live number of the arriving packet is not equal to the time to live number of the previous packet, determining that a not stable state exists:
• and
• determining a number of holes, the holes being a time between an end of one stable state and a start of a next stable state.