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US 8,797,870 B2Granted
Method and system for calculation of QOV metrics
AssigneeCisco Technology, Inc.
InventorsShiva Shankar J, Ottalingam Satyanarayan, Srinivas Muktevi, Naresh Chand
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Abstract
A method, system and apparatus are provided for measuring the quality of voice (QOV) in a communication network. A time-stamped voice data packet is received. The time stamped on the voice data packet indicates the time at which the voice data packet arrives at intermediate devices. In an embodiment of the invention, the intermediate devices at each hop stamp the time. Thereafter, the voice data packets are analyzed to measure the quality of voice in the communication network.
Claims26
A method for measuring quality of voice in a communication network, the method comprising:
- receiving, from a source of a voice data packet, the voice data packet at a first intermediate device located at a hop in the communication network;
- appending, by the first intermediate device, a first time stamp to the voice data packet indicating a time at which the voice data packet arrived at the first intermediate device;
- generating, at the first intermediate device, a copy of the voice data packet with the first time stamp;
- sending, from the first intermediate device, the copy of the voice data packet with the first time stamp relating to packet interaction with the first intermediate device but without a time stamp relating to packet interaction with a second intermediate device;
- receiving the voice data packet with the first time stamp at a second intermediate device located at a next hop in the communication network;
- appending, by the second intermediate device, a second time stamp to the voice data packet indicating a time at which the voice data packet arrives at the second intermediate device, wherein the first and second intermediate devices have internal clocks, and wherein the internal clock of the second intermediate device is synchronized with the internal clock of the first intermediate device;
- generating, at the second intermediate device, a copy of the voice data packet with the second time stamp;
- sending from at least the second intermediate device, the copy of the voice data packet to a monitoring station, including sending, from the second intermediate device, the copy of the voice data packet appended with the first and second time stamps from each of the first intermediate device and second intermediate device;
- calculating, by the monitoring station, a difference between the first and second time stamps appended on the copy of the voice data packet;
- determining, by the monitoring station, a delay in transmission between the first intermediate device and the second intermediate device based on calculating the difference between the first and second time stamps;
- and
- determining an indication of the quality of voice available in the communication network based on determining the delay in transmission.
9 more elements
A system for measuring quality of voice in a communication network, the system comprising:
- a first intermediate device and a second intermediate device located at first and second hops respectively in the communication network, each of the first and second intermediate devices including:
- a receiver configured to receive a voice data packet from a source of the voice data packet or a network device in the communication network;
- and
- a time stamper configured to append a time stamp to the voice data packet indicating a time at which the voice data packet arrived at the respective intermediate device,
- wherein the first and second intermediate devices each include internal clocks that are configured to be synchronized with each other, each of the first and second intermediate devices configured to generate a copy of the voice data packet with first and second time stamps respectively appended to the respective copy of the voice data packet, and
- wherein the first intermediate device is configured to send a copy of the voice data packet with a time stamp relating to packet interaction with the first intermediate device but without a time stamp relating to packet interaction with the second intermediate device, while the second intermediate device is configured to send a copy of the voice data packet appended with time stamps from each of the first intermediate device and second intermediate device;
- and
- a monitoring station that is configured to receive copies of the time stamped voice data packet from at least the second intermediate device, the monitoring station configured to determine a delay in transmission between the first intermediate device and the second intermediate device based on calculating a difference between the first and second time stamps, the monitoring station including:
- a means for analyzing the copies of the time stamped voice data packet to measure the quality of voice in the communication network.
6 more elements
A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions executable by one or more processors, wherein the instructions, when executed, are configured to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
- receiving, from a source of a voice data packet, the voice data packet at a first intermediate device located at a hop in a communication network;
- appending, by the first intermediate device, a first time stamp to the voice data packet indicating a time at which the voice data packet arrived at the first intermediate device;
- generating, at the first intermediate device, a copy of the voice data packet with the appended first time stamp;
- sending, from the first intermediate device, the copy of the voice data packet with the first time stamp relating to packet interaction with the first intermediate device but without a time stamp relating to packet interaction with a second intermediate device;
- receiving the voice data packet with the first time stamp at a second intermediate device located at a next hop in the communication network;
- appending, by the second intermediate device, a second time stamp to the voice data packet indicating a time at which the voice data packet arrives at the second intermediate device, wherein the first and second intermediate devices have internal clocks, and wherein the internal clock of the second intermediate device is synchronized with the internal clock of the first intermediate device;
- generating, at the second intermediate device, a copy of the voice data packet with the appended second time stamp;
- sending from at least the second intermediate device, the copy of the voice data packet to a monitoring station, including sending, from the second intermediate device, the copy of the voice data packet appended with the first and second time stamps from each of the first intermediate device and second intermediate device;
- calculating, by the monitoring station, a difference between the first and second time stamps appended on the copy of the voice data packet;
- determining, by the monitoring station, a delay in transmission between the first intermediate device and the second intermediate device based on calculating the difference between the first and second time stamps;
- and
- determining an indication of a quality of voice available in the communication network based on determining the delay in transmission.
9 more elements
A method comprising:
- receiving, at a network management station in a communication network, a first copy of a voice data packet from a first intermediate device that is located at a first hop in the communication network between a source of the voice data packet and a destination of the voice data packet, the first copy of the voice data packet generated by the first intermediate device and including a first time stamp representing a time of arrival of the voice data packet at the first intermediate device, the first time stamp appended to the first copy of the voice data packet by the first intermediate device;
- receiving, at the network management station, a second copy of the voice data packet from a second intermediate device that is located at a second hop in the communication network between the source and the destination of the voice data packet, the second intermediate device receiving the voice data packet subsequent to the first intermediate device receiving the voice data packet, the second copy of the voice data packet generated by the second intermediate device and including a second time stamp representing a time of arrival of the voice data packet at the second intermediate device, the second time stamp appended to the second copy of the voice data packet by the second intermediate device,
- wherein the first intermediate device is configured to send the first copy of the voice data packet with the first time stamp relating to packet interaction with the first intermediate device but without a time stamp relating to packet interaction with the second intermediate device, while the second intermediate device is configured to send the second copy of the voice data packet appended with the first and second time stamp s from each of the first intermediate device and second intermediate device;
- calculating, by the network management station, a difference in time between the time of arrival of the voice data packet at the first intermediate device and time of arrival of the voice data packet at the second intermediate device based on the first time stamp and the second time stamp;
- and
- determining, by the network management station, at least one of a delay in transmission and an amount of jitter between the first intermediate device and the second intermediate device based on the calculated difference in time.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.