System and method for analyzing the performance of multiple transportation streams of streaming media in packet-based networks
First Claim
1. A method for simultaneously analyzing multiple packetized media streams in a network, said method comprising:
- (a) receiving network traffic corresponding to a plurality of media streams at a node of the network, said network traffic including packets having destination information and a media payload;
(b) filtering said network traffic into said plurality of media streams on a packet-by-packet basis, in accordance with said destination information;
(c) passing the media payload of each packet to one of a plurality of hardware-implemented analyzer ports respectively associated with each destination, to build a plurality of isolated media streams substantially in parallel with one another;
(d) effecting said filtering (b) and passing (c) substantially at the rate said network traffic passes through the node; and
(e) computing statistics associated with each isolated stream.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Streaming media network parameters are measured using an electronic system and displayed directly to a user or transmitted via an electronic interface such as an existing system network conduit, either in or out-of-band. A scalable hardware and/or software compute engine filters and reduces network parameters to simplify tracking the instantaneous and long term streaming media performance of the network. Hence, the entire set of active media streams is continuously monitored concurrently, thereby providing the ability to detect impairments as well as predict impending impairments. In one example, an existing packetized network conduit containing streaming media is tapped to concurrently and objectively analyze the streaming media streams, producing statistics (such as delay factor and media loss rate) and alarm-type events according to predetermined rules. Tapping the existing packetized network in multiple points provides comparison points and assists in pinpointing the source(s) of the impairment(s).
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Citations
48 Claims
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1. A method for simultaneously analyzing multiple packetized media streams in a network, said method comprising:
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(a) receiving network traffic corresponding to a plurality of media streams at a node of the network, said network traffic including packets having destination information and a media payload;
(b) filtering said network traffic into said plurality of media streams on a packet-by-packet basis, in accordance with said destination information;
(c) passing the media payload of each packet to one of a plurality of hardware-implemented analyzer ports respectively associated with each destination, to build a plurality of isolated media streams substantially in parallel with one another;
(d) effecting said filtering (b) and passing (c) substantially at the rate said network traffic passes through the node; and
(e) computing statistics associated with each isolated stream. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein which simultaneously analyzes multiple packetized media streams in a network, said medium comprising:
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computer readable program code aiding in receiving network traffic corresponding to a plurality of media streams at a node of the network, said network traffic including packets having destination information and a media payload;
computer readable program code to aid in filtering said received network traffic into said plurality of media streams on a packet-by-packet basis, in accordance with said destination information;
computer readable program code to aid in passing the media payload of each packet to one of a plurality of hardware-implemented analyzer ports respectively associated with each destination, to build a plurality of isolated media streams substantially in parallel with one another; and
computer readable program code to compute statistics associated with each isolated stream. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
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25. A system for simultaneously analyzing multiple packetized media streams in a network at a network node, the system comprising:
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one or more interfaces configured to forward a copy of the multiple packetized media streams, the streams including packets having destination information and a media payload;
one or more filters configured to receive and filter said forwarded media streams on a packet by packet basis in accordance with said destination information;
a plurality of hardware-implemented analyzer ports respectively associated with each destination, configured to receive the media payload of each filtered packet to build a plurality of isolated media streams substantially in parallel with one another;
a computing engine configured to compute statistics associated with each isolated media stream. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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Specification