APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MONITORING QUALITY METRICS ASSOCIATED WITH A WIRELESS NETWORK

• US 20110085466A1
• Filed: 12/17/2010
• Published: 04/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shim, Choon B.
• Granted Patent: US 8,559,327 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/253
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/08 Locating faults in cables, transmission lines, or networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/0667 Bidirectional timestamps, e.g. NTP or PTP for compensation of clock drift and for compensation of propagation delays arrangements for monitoring round trip delays in packet switching networks H04L43/0864
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0829 Packet loss
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0852 Delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/087 Jitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/02 Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control

Abstract

An apparatus and method for measuring metrics associated with a wireless network is described. One embodiment includes capturing a packet transmitted over a network and determining a minimum delay of a plurality of previously captured packets, where each previously captured packet of the plurality of previously captured packets is associated with a delay. The embodiment further includes determining a current overall delay of the packet based on features of the packet and calculating a congestion indicator based on the current overall delay and the minimum delay.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

capturing a packet transmitted over a network;

determining, using a processor, a minimum delay of a plurality of previously captured packets, each previously captured packet of the plurality of previously captured packets associated with a delay;

determining a current overall delay of the packet based on features of the packet; and

calculating a congestion indicator based on the current overall delay and the minimum delay.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the minimum delay comprises:

identifying a plurality of overall delays of the plurality of previously captured packets; and

associating the minimum delay with a shortest delay of the plurality of overall delays.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of overall delays are determined during a calibration time period.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising calibrating a time clock of a capturing device based on the minimum delay.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating the minimum delay based on the current overall delay of the packet.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising associating the congestion indicator with at least one of a terminal that created the packet, a monitoring device that captured the packet, and a network over which the packet was transmitted.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the features of the packet comprise a creation time of the packet and a capture time of the packet,

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the congestion indicator is calculated based on the difference between the current overall delay and the minimum delay.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the packet from a plurality of packets based on a filter criterion.

10. A system comprising:

a receiver module to receive a packet transmitted over a network; and

a processor;

to determine a minimum delay of a plurality of previously captured packets, each previously captured packet of the plurality of previously captured packets associated with a delay;

to determine a current overall delay of the packet based on features of the packet; and

calculate a congestion indicator based on the current overall delay and the minimum delay.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further to:

identify a plurality of overall delays of the plurality of previously captured packets; and

associate the minimum delay with a shortest delay of the plurality of overall delays.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further to calibrate a time clock of a capturing device based on the minimum delay.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further to update the minimum delay based on the current overall delay of the packet.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further to associate the congestion indicator with at least one of a terminal that created the packet, a monitoring device that captured the packet, and a network over which the packet was transmitted.

15. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a memory configured to store a filter criterion; and

wherein the processor is further to select the packet from a plurality of packets based on the filter criterion.

16. One or more computer readable storage media encoded with software comprising computer executable instructions and when the software is executed. operable to:

capture a packet transmitted over a network;

determine, using a processor, a minimum delay of a plurality of previously captured packets, each previously captured packet of the plurality of previously captured packets associated with a delay;

determine a current overall delay of the packet based on features of the packet; and

calculate a congestion indicator based on the current overall delay and the minimum delay.

17. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the software is executed operable further to:

identify a plurality of overall delays of the plurality of previously captured packets; and

associate the minimum delay with a shortest delay of the plurality of overall delays.

18. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the software is executed operable further to calibrate a time clock of a capturing device based on the minimum delay.

19. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the software is executed operable further to update the minimum delay based on the current overall delay of the packet.

20. A system comprising:

a receiver module to receive a packet transmitted over a network; and

means for determining a minimum delay of a plurality of previously captured packets, each previously captured packet of the plurality of previously captured packets associated with a delay;

a processor to determine a current overall delay of the packet based on features of the packet; and

means for calculating a congestion indicator based on the current overall delay and the minimum delay.