Network-quality determining method and apparatus for use therewith

• US 20060045017A1
• Filed: 08/25/2005
• Published: 03/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Yamasaki, Yasuhiro
• Granted Patent: US 7,773,523 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/236
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/18 Automatic repetition systems, e.g. Van Duuren systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/24 Testing correct operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0829 Packet loss
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0864 Round trip delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0888 Throughput

Abstract

A data receiving portion receives data from a network. A filtering portion classifies the data received at the data receiving portion by flow. A condition monitoring portion monitors, for each flow, ACK-number information and SN-number information of the received data. A quality-determining portion determines whether or not a packet loss has occurred and the position of occurrences of packet losses, on the basis of information from the condition monitoring portion.

Claims

1. A method for determining the quality of a network comprising the steps of:

receiving data being communicated between terminals which belong to said network;

deciding whether or not a receiving terminal is at a re-transmission requiring state where it is requiring data retransmission; and

determining the quality of said network on the basis of at least one of transmission-sequence-number information indicating the data-transmission sequence number included in said received data, reception-acknowledgement information indicating information about the data which,has been received by said terminals and the result of said decision.

2. A method for determining the quality of a network comprising the steps of:

receiving data being communicated between terminals which belong to said network;

deciding whether or not a receiving terminal is at a re-transmission requiring state where it is requiring data retransmission and outputting the result of determination; and

determining the quality of said network, on the basis of transmission-sequence-number information, indicating the data-transmission sequence number included in said received data and the result of said determination.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein

said deciding step decides that the receiving terminal is at said re-transmission requiring state when data with the same reception-acknowledgement information is received predetermined times or more at said receiving step or when data indicating the reception-acknowledgement information which corresponds to the transmission-sequence-number information is not received within a certain time at said received step;

and

said determining step determines whether or not a data loss has occurred, by making a comparison between the transmission-sequence-number information of the received data and the transmission-sequence-number information which has been received up to the previous reception.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein said determining step records the history of the reception acknowledgement information of said received data along with the time at which said received data was received at said receiving step and determines the amount of communication at the terminals.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein said determining step refers to said recorded history of the reception-acknowledgement information and the record of the reception times and determines the difference between the amount of data with reception-acknowledgement information having the maximum value and the amount of data with reception-acknowledgement information having the minimum value within the record for a certain time period, as the amount of communication during the time period.

9. The method according to claim 2, wherein said determining step records the history of the transmission-sequence-number information of said received data along with the time at which said received data was received at said receiving step and determines the amount of communication at the terminals.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein said determining step refers to said recorded history of the transmission-sequence-number information and the record of the reception times and determines the difference between the amount of data with data-transmission-sequence-number information having the maximum value and the amount of data with data-transmission-sequence-number information having the minimum value within the record for a certain time period, as the amount of communication during the time period.

6. A method for determining the quality of a network comprising the steps of:

receiving data being communicated between terminals which belong to said network; and

determining the quality of said network on the basis of transmission-sequence-number information indicating the data-transmission sequence number included in said received data and transmission-sequence-number history information indicating transmission-sequence numbers which have been received up to the previous reception.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein said determining step creates the history of the transmission-sequence-number information of said received data and makes a comparison between the transmission-sequence-number information of the current received data and said history to detect a data-loss or the position of the occurrence of data loss.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein

said determining step determines that a data loss has occurred between a measuring apparatus and the receiving terminal when the value of said transmission-sequence-number information is not greater than that of the transmission-sequence-number information of data which has been determined up to the previous reception and also data with said transmission-sequence-number information has been received in the past, and determines that a data loss has occurred between the transmission terminal and the measuring apparatus when the value of said transmission-sequence-number information is not greater than that of the transmission-sequence-number information of data which has been determined up to the previous reception and also said receiving means has not received data with said transmission-sequence-number information in the past.

26. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said determining means creates the history, of the transmission-sequence-number information of said received data and makes a comparison between the transmission-sequence-number information of the current received data and said history to detect a data loss or the position of the occurrence of data loss.

11. A method for determining the quality of a network comprising the steps of:

receiving data being communicated between terminals which belong to said network;

deciding whether or not the receiving terminal is at a re-transmission requiring state where it is requiring data retransmission; and

determining the quality of said network on the basis of transmission-sequence-number information indicating the data-transmission-sequence number included in said received data, transmission-sequence-number history information indicating the transmission-sequence-number information which has been received up to the previous reception, and the result of said decision.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein said determining step includes the steps of:

making a comparison between the transmission-sequence-number information of said received data and the transmission-sequence-number information of data which has been received up to the previous reception; and

determining that no data loss has occurred when the result of said comparison shows that the number of the transmission-sequence-number information of the data which has been received up to the previous reception is greater and also the result of said decision reveals that the receiving terminal is not at a re-transmission requiring state.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein said determining step includes the steps of:

making a comparison between the transmission-sequence-number information of said received data and the transmission-sequence-number information of data which has been received up to the previous reception; and

determining that a data loss has occurred when the result of said comparison shows that the value of the transmission-sequence-number information of the data which has been received up to the previous reception is greater and also the result of said decision reveals that the receiving terminal is at a re-transmission requiring state.

14. The method according to claim 11, wherein

said deciding step determines that the receiving terminal is at a re-transmission requiring state when data with the same reception-acknowledgement information is received predetermined times or more at said receiving step or when data indicating the reception-acknowledgement information which corresponds to the transmission-sequence-number information is not received within a certain time at said receiving step.

15. The method according to claim 11, wherein said determining step creates the history of the transmission-sequence-number information of said received data and makes a comparison between the transmission-sequence-number information of the current received data and said history to detect a data loss or the position of the occurrence of data loss.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein

said determining step determines that a data loss has occurred between a measuring apparatus and the receiving terminal when the value of said transmission-sequence-number information is not greater than that of the transmission-sequence-number information of data which has been determined up to the previous reception and also data with said transmission-sequence-number information has been received in the past, and said determining step determines that a data loss has occurred between the transmission terminal and the measuring apparatus when the value of said transmission-sequence-number information is not greater than that of the transmission-sequence-number information of data which has been determined up to the previous reception and also said receiving step has not received data with said transmission-sequence-number information in the past.

17. The method according to claim 11, wherein said determining step records the history of the transmission-sequence-number information of said received data along with the time at which said received data was received at said receiving step and determines the amount of communication at the terminals.

18. The method according to claim 11, wherein said determining step, records the history of the reception-acknowledgement information of said received data along with the time at which said received data was received at said receiving step and determines the amount of communication at the terminals.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein said determining step refers to said recorded history of the reception-acknowledgement information and the record of the reception times and determines the difference between the amount of data with reception-acknowledgement information having the maximum value and the amount of data with reception-acknowledgement information having the minimum value within the record for a certain time period, as the amount of communication during the time period.

20. An apparatus for determining the quality of a network comprising:

receiving means for receiving data being communicated between terminals which belong to said network;

deciding means for deciding whether or not the receiving terminal is at a re-transmission requiring state where it is requiring data retransmission; and

determining means for determining the quality of said network on the basis of at least one of transmission-sequence-number information indicating the data-transmission sequence number included in said received data, reception-acknowledgement information, indicating information about the data which has been received by said terminals and the result of said deciding means.

21. An apparatus for determining the quality of a network comprising:

receiving means for receiving data being communicated between terminals which belong to said network;

deciding means for deciding whether or not the receiving terminal is at said re-transmission requiring state where it is requiring data retransmission; and

determining means for determining the quality of said network, on the basis of transmission-sequence-number information indicating the data-transmission sequence-number included in said received data and the result of said deciding means.

22. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein

said determining means determines that the receiving terminal is at a re-transmission requiring state when data with the same reception-acknowledgement information is received predetermined times or more by said receiving means or when data indicating the reception-acknowledgement information which corresponds to the transmission-sequence-number information is not received within a certain time by said receiving means;

and

said determining means determines whether or not a data loss has occurred, by making a comparison between the transmission-sequence-number information of the received data and the transmission-sequence-number information which has been received up to the previous reception.

23. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein said determining means records the history of the reception-acknowledgement information of said received data along with the time at which said received data was received by said receiving means and determines the amount of communication at the terminals.

24. The method according to claim 21, wherein said determining means refers to said recorded history of the reception-acknowledgement information and the record of the reception times and determines the difference between the amount of data with reception-acknowledgement information having the maximum, value and the amount of data with reception-acknowledgement information having the minimum value within the record for a certain time period, as the amount of communication during the time period.

27. The apparatus according to claim 28, wherein

said determining means determines that a data loss has occurred between a measuring apparatus and the receiving terminal when the value of said transmission-sequence-number information is not greater than that of the transmission-sequence-number information of data which has been determined up to the previous reception and also data with said transmission-sequence-number information has been received in the past, and said determining means determines that a data loss has occurred between the transmission terminal and the measuring apparatus when the value of said transmission-sequence-number information is not greater than that of the transmission-sequence-number information of data which has been determined up to the previous reception and also said receiving means has not received data with said transmission-sequence-number information in the past.

28. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein said determining means records the history of the transmission-sequence-number information of said received data along with the time at which said received data was received by said receiving means and determines the amount of communication at the terminals.

29. The apparatus according to claim 28, wherein said determining means refers to said recorded history of the transmission-sequence-number information and the record a of the reception times and determines the difference between the amount of data with data-transmission-sequence-number information having the maximum value and the amount of data with data-transmission-sequence-number information having the minimum value within the record for a certain time period, as the amount of communication during the time period.

25. An apparatus for determining the quality of a network comprising:

receiving means for receiving data being communicated between terminals which belong to said network; and

determining means for determining the quality of said network on the basis of transmission-sequence-number information indicating the data-transmission sequence number included in said received data and transmission-sequence-number history information indicating transmission-sequence numbers which have been received up to the previous reception.

30. An apparatus for determining the quality of a network comprising:

receiving means for receiving data being communicated between terminals which belong to said network;

deciding means for determining whether or not the receiving terminal is at a re-transmission requiring state where it is requiring data retransmission; and

determining means for determining the quality of said network on the basis of transmission-sequence-number information indicating the data-transmission-sequence number included in said received data, transmission-sequence-number history information indicating the transmission-sequence-number information which has been received up to the previous reception, and the result of said deciding means.

31. The apparatus according to claim 30, wherein said determining means includes;

means for making a comparison between the transmission-sequence-number information of said received data and the transmission-sequence-number information of data which has been received up to the previous reception; and

means for determining that no data loss has occurred when the result of said comparison shows that the value of the transmission-sequence-number information of the data which has been received up to the previous reception is greater and also the result of said deciding means reveals that the receiving terminal is not at a re-transmission requiring state.

32. The apparatus according to claim 30, wherein said determining means including:

means for making a comparison between the transmission-sequence-number information of said received data and the transmission-sequence-number information of data which has been received up to the previous reception; and

means for determining that a data loss has occurred when the result of said comparison shows that the value of the transmission-sequence-number information of the data which has been received up to the previous reception is greater and also the result of said deciding means reveals that the receiving terminal is at a re-transmission requiring state.

33. The apparatus according to claim 30, wherein

said determining means determines that the receiving terminal is at a re-transmission requiring state when data with the same reception-acknowledgement information is received predetermined times or more by said receiving means or when data indicating the reception-acknowledgement information which corresponds to the transmission-sequence-number information is not received within a certain time by said receiving means.

34. The apparatus according to claim 30, wherein said determining means creates the history of the transmission-sequence-number information of said received data and makes a comparison between the transmission-sequence-number information of the current received data and said history to detect a data loss or the position of the occurrence of data loss.

35. The apparatus according to claim 34, wherein

said determining means determines that a data loss has occurred said apparatus and the receiving terminal when the value of said transmission-sequence-number information is not greater than that of the transmission-sequence-number information of data which has been determined up to the previous reception and when said value of said transmission-sequence-number information has been received in the past, and said determining means determines that a data loss has occurred between the transmission terminal and said apparatus when the value of said transmission-sequence-number information is not greater than that of the transmission-sequence-number information of data which has been determined up to the previous reception and when said receiving means has not received data with said transmission-sequence-number information in the past.

36. The apparatus according to claim 30, wherein said determining means records the history of the transmission-sequence-number information of said received data along with the time at which said received data was received by said receiving means and determines the amount of communication at the terminals.

37. The apparatus according to claim 30, wherein said determining means records the history of the reception-acknowledgement information of said received data along with the time at which said received data was received by said receiving means and determines the amount of communication at the terminals.

38. The apparatus according to claim 37, wherein said determining means refers to said recorded history of the reception-acknowledgement information and the record of the reception times and determines the difference between the amount of data with reception-acknowledgement information having the maximum value and the amount of data with reception-acknowledgement information having the minimum value within the record for a certain time period, as the amount of communication during the time period.