Time measurement on a packet flow in a packet-switched communication network

A node of a communication network, wherein the node is configured to:

• transmit at least two packets of a packet flow during a block period to another node of the communication network;
• determine, for the at least two packets of the packet flow transmitted during the block period, a medium transmission timestamp indicative of an average of at least two transmission timestamps generated upon transmission of the at least two packets, wherein the at least two transmission timestamps relate to the at least two packets;
• and
• transmit the medium transmission timestamp for determining, based on the medium transmission timestamp and a medium reception timestamp, a medium time measurement indicative of an average performance of the packet flow during the block period, wherein the medium reception timestamp is determined by the another node of the communication network.

A node of a communication network, wherein the node is configured to:

• receive, from another node of the communication network, at least two packets of a packet flow which were transmitted by the another node during a block period;
• determine, for the received at least two packets of the packet flow which were transmitted by the another node during the block period, a medium reception timestamp indicative of an average of at least two reception timestamps generated upon reception of the at least two packets, wherein the at least two reception timestamps relate to the at least two packets;
• and
• transmit the medium reception timestamp for determining, based on a medium transmission timestamp and the medium reception timestamp, a medium time measurement indicative of an average performance of the packet flow during the block period, wherein the medium transmission timestamp is determined by the another node of the communication network.

A communication network comprising:

• a first node;
• and
• a second node, wherein the first node is configured to:
• transmit, to the second node of the communication network, at least two packets of a packet flow during a block period;
• determine, for the at least two packets of the packet flow transmitted during the block period, a medium transmission timestamp indicative of an average of at least two transmission timestamps generated upon transmission of the at least two packets, wherein the at least two transmission timestamps relate to the at least two packets;
• and
• transmit the medium transmission timestamp for determining, based on the medium transmission timestamp and a medium reception timestamp, a medium time measurement indicative of an average performance of the packet flow during the block period, and
• wherein the second node is configured to:
• receive, from the first node, the at least two packets of the packet flow;
• determine, for the at least two packets of the packet flow transmitted during the block period, the medium reception timestamp indicative of an average of at least two reception timestamps generated upon reception of the at least two packets, wherein the at least two transmission timestamps relate to the at least two packets from the first node;
• and
• transmit the medium reception timestamp for determining, based on the medium transmission timestamp and the medium reception timestamp, the medium time measurement indicative of the average performance of the packet flow from the first node during the block period.

A non-transitory computer readable medium including software code portions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one computer, perform a method of performing a time measurement comprising:

• transmitting at least two packets of a packet flow during a block period and from a first node of a communication network to a second node of the communication network;
• determining, for the at least two packets of the packet flow transmitted during the block period, a medium transmission timestamp indicative of an average of at least two transmission timestamps generated upon transmission of the at least two packets, wherein the at least two transmission timestamps relate to the at least two packets, and wherein the determining the medium transmission timestamp is performed by the first node of the communication network;
• determining, for the at least two packets of the packet flow transmitted during the block period, a medium reception timestamp indicative of an average of at least two reception timestamps generated upon reception of the at least two packets, wherein the at least two reception timestamps relate to the at least two packets, and wherein the determining the medium reception timestamp is performed by the second node of the communication network;
• and
• determining, based on the medium transmission timestamp and the medium reception timestamp, a medium time measurement indicative of an average performance of the packet flow during the block period.