NETWORK MONITORING AND ANALYSIS TOOL

• US 20130242752A1
• Filed: 05/03/2013
• Published: 09/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thinking Active Pty Limited
• Original Assignee: 3Rd Brand Pte. Ltd.
• Inventors: Underwood, John Anthony, Keys, Christopher Edward, Leinonen, Rainer, Kero, Markku
• Granted Patent: US 9,769,678 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/241
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/06 Generation of reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0864 Round trip delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/106 using time related information in packets, e.g. by adding timestamps
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/06 Testing, supervising or monitoring using simulated traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports

Abstract

A method for determining the performance of a communications network said method comprising the steps of transmitting a message from a mobile device to at least one server, each server within the at least one servers being configured to direct the message back to the mobile device; receiving at the mobile device the messages returned by each of the at least one server; calculating a time differential between transmission of the message by said mobile device and receipt of the messages, returned by each server of the at least one server, by said mobile device; and forwarding the calculated time differential to a primary server selected from the at least one server for storage is disclosed.

Claims

1. A method for determining the performance of a communications network comprising a mobile device installed with a monitoring tool, said method comprising the steps of:

transmitting a message from the mobile device to at least one server, the at least one server being configured to direct the message back to the mobile device;

receiving at the mobile device the messages returned by each server within the at least one server;

calculating a time differential between transmission of the message by said mobile device and receipt of the messages returned by each server within the at least one server, by said mobile device; and

forwarding the calculated time differential to a primary server selected from the at least one server for storage.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the message sent by the mobile device to each server within the at least one server includes the mobile device'"'"'s identification number (MIN).

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the mobile device'"'"'s identification number is registered with the primary server.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein each server within the at least one server is configured to apply a time stamp to the message when directing the message back to the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the step of calculating further includes the step of calculating a transit time for the message to reach each server within the at least one server.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the step of calculating further includes the step of calculating transit time for the message to reach the mobile device from each server within the at least one server.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the time differential is indicative of the total round trip time for the message.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of transmitting the message to the at least one server is performed at regular intervals.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the interval between each transmission is set to a predetermined time period.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein a secondary server selected from the at least one server is configured to dynamically vary the length of the predetermined time period based on variations in the calculated time differential.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of forwarding the calculated time differential to the primary server further includes forwarding information on the type of mobile device, the application used to send the message, the mode of connection between the mobile device and the communications network, the User ID of the mobile subscriber, the Identification Number of the mobile device, cell identification and sector number in which the mobile is located.

12. The method of claim 11 further including the step of formulating reports for one or more cells within the network based on the time differential and the information on the type of mobile device, the application used to send the message, the mode of connection between the mobile device and the communications network, the User ID of the mobile subscriber, the Identification Number of the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 1 further including the step of forwarding a set time differential to the primary server on the expiry of a preset period for receipt by the mobile device of the return messages from the at least one server.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the secondary server is further configured to vary the preset period in accordance with a variation of the predetermined period.

15. A mobile device, said device including a dedicated application for performing the method of claim 1.

16. The mobile device of claim 15 wherein the dedicated application utilises one or more auxiliary applications on the mobile device to send the message to the servers.

17. The mobile device of claim 15 wherein said dedicated application is incorporated as an embedded application in a host application installed on the mobile device.

18. The mobile device of claim 17 wherein the host application includes messaging capabilities and the dedicated application is configured to use the messaging capabilities of the host application to provide feedback to the user regarding calculated time differential.

19. The mobile device of claim 15, said dedicated application can be deactivated by each server within the at least one server.