Method and system for peer-to-peer network latency measurement
First Claim
1. In a computer network having at least two clients connected thereto, a method of determining network latency between a first and a second client, comprising the steps of, placing first time information into a data packet at the first client, and initially sending the packet to the second client, receiving the packet at the second client, placing second time information into the packet, and sending the packet to the first client, receiving the packet at the first client, determining a first network latency based on current time information at the first client and the first time information in the packet, and secondarily sending the packet to the second client, receiving the packet at the second client, and determining a second network latency based on current time information at the second client and the second time information in the packet.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for determining network latency between clients in a computer network, such as in a gaming zone environment. Each client determines the network latency between each other client via a ping, response, and response-response protocol. To this end, a first client places first time information such as a timestamp into a (ping) data packet and sends the packet to the second client, who places second time information into the packet, and sends the packet as a response packet back to the first client. The first client determines a first network latency based on its current time and the first time information returned in the response packet. The first client then sends the packet back to the second client as a response to the response packet. The second client determines a second latency based on the current time information at the second client and the second time information received in the response-response packet. For multiple clients such as in a gaming zone environment, each local client sorts the IP addresses of the other remote clients into sets of clients, and pings the remote client or clients in each set once per predetermined period, thereby distributing the pinging operation to balance incoming and outgoing network traffic.
379 Citations
21 Claims
- 1. In a computer network having at least two clients connected thereto, a method of determining network latency between a first and a second client, comprising the steps of, placing first time information into a data packet at the first client, and initially sending the packet to the second client, receiving the packet at the second client, placing second time information into the packet, and sending the packet to the first client, receiving the packet at the first client, determining a first network latency based on current time information at the first client and the first time information in the packet, and secondarily sending the packet to the second client, receiving the packet at the second client, and determining a second network latency based on current time information at the second client and the second time information in the packet.
- 9. In a computer network having a local client and a set of remote clients connected thereto, a method of determining network latency at the local client to each of the remote clients, comprising the steps of, sorting the set of remote clients into subsets thereof, selecting a subset of remote clients, and for each remote client in the subset, placing first time information into a data packet and sending the packet to the remote client, receiving the packet as a response from the remote client, and determining a network latency based on current time information at the first client and the first time information in the packet.
- 17. In a computer network having a local client and a set of remote clients connected thereto, a system for determining network latency at the local client to each of the remote clients, comprising, a distribution mechanism for sorting the set of remote clients into subsets of the set, a pinger thread for selecting a subset of remote clients, and for each remote client in the subset, the pinger thread placing first time information into a data packet and sending the packet to the remote client, and a pingee thread for receiving the packet as a response from the remote client, and determining a network latency based on current time information at the first client and the first time information in the packet.
Specification