Method and apparatus measuring bandwidth

• US 7,366,199 B1
• Filed: 12/10/2002
• Issued: 04/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Devineni, Mythili, Vaughan, Gregory
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham; Chi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Boakye; Alexander O.
• Application Number:
  US10/315,621
• Time in Patent Office: 1,967 Days
• Field of Search: 370/468, 370/465, 370/473, 370/474, 370/412, 370/477, 370/471, 370/437, 370/400, 370/908, 370/252, 370/395.52, 370/395.4, 370/230.1, 370/229, 370/235, 370/395.21, 709/226, 709/229, 709/317, 709/316, 709/223, 709/238
• US Class Current: 370/468
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways

Abstract

For a network that connects several computers, a method of determining the network bandwidth between two computers. The method measures a first time interval between when one of the computers (1) sends a first data set to the other computer and (2) receives a first response. It also measures a second time interval between when one of the computers (1) sends a second data set to the other computer and (2) receives a second response. The method then identifies the network bandwidth from the two measured time intervals.

Claims

1. For a network that connects a plurality of computers, a method of determining the network bandwidth between a first computer and a second computer, said method comprising:

a) measuring a first time interval between when one of the computers sends a first amount of data to the other computer and receives a first response;

b) measuring a second time interval between when one of the computers sends a second amount of data to the other computer and receives a second response;

c) identifying the network bandwidth from the two measured time intervals; and

d) based on the identified network bandwidth, specifying an initial streaming rate for streaming content from one of the computers to the other.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein for both time intervals, the first computer transmits the first and second amounts of data and receives the first and second responses from the second computer.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first computer is a server and the second computer is a client.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the server is for transmitting streaming content to the client, the method further comprising streaming content from the server to the client based on the initial streaming rate.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the first computer is for transmitting streaming content to the second computer, the method further comprising selecting content to stream from the first computer to the second computer based on the identified bandwidth.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the first amount of data is larger than the second amount of data.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the second amount of data is larger than the first amount of data.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

a) measuring N time intervals between when one of the computers sends N separate data sets to the other computer and receives N separate responses, wherein N is a number greater than 2;

b) identifying the network bandwidth from the N measured time intervals.

9. A computer readable medium comprising a computer program for determining network bandwidth between a first computer and a second computer in a network that connects a plurality of computers, the computer program comprising:

a) a first set of instructions for measuring a first time interval between when one of the computers sends a first amount of data to the other computer and receives a first response;

b) a second set of instructions for measuring a second time interval between when one of the computers sends a second amount of data to the other computer and receives a second response;

c) a third set of instructions for identifying the network bandwidth from the two measured time intervals; and

d) a fourth set of instructions for specifying an initial streaming rate for streaming content from one of the computers to the other, based on the identified network bandwidth.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein for both time intervals, the first computer transmits the first and second amounts of data and receives the first and second responses from the second computer.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the first computer is a server and the second computer is a client.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the server is for transmitting streaming content to the client, the computer program further comprising a fifth set of instructions for streaming content from the server to the client based on the streaming rate.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the first computer is for transmitting streaming content to the second computer, the computer program further comprising a fifth set of instructions for selecting content to stream from the first computer to the second computer based on the identified bandwidth.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the first amount of data is larger than the second amount of data.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the second amount of data is larger than the first amount of data.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the computer program further comprises:

a) a fifth set of instructions for measuring N time intervals between when one of the computers sends N separate data sets to the other computer and receives N separate responses, wherein N is a number greater than 2;

b) a sixth set of instructions for identifying the network bandwidth from the N measured time intervals.

17. A method of sending data, said method comprising:

a) sending a first Realtime Streaming Protocol (RTSP) communication;

b) sending a second RTSP communication, wherein the second RTSP communication has a different length than the first RTSP communication;

c) for each RTSP communication, receiving a response;

d) based on a time difference between each sent RTSP communication and that communication'"'"'s corresponding response, determining a network bandwidth;

e) based on the identified network bandwidth, selecting, from a plurality of versions of a content, an initial version of the content to stream from one computer to another.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising streaming Realtime Transport Protocol packets from a computer to another computer.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the first RTSP communication comprises an options message and the response to the first RTSP communication comprises an error message.

20. The method of claim 17 further comprising selecting an initial streaming rate based on said network bandwidth.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein each of said responses comprises an error message.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein a rate of said streaming is specified according to said identified bandwidth.

23. A method of determining a bandwidth between a first computer and a second computer, said method comprising:

a) measuring a first time interval between a sending of a first set of data from the first computer to the second computer and a receiving of a first error message from said second computer;

b) measuring a second time interval between a sending of a second set of data from the first computer to the second computer and a receiving of a second error message from said second computer, wherein said second set of data is of a different amount of data than said first set of data;

c) identifying said bandwidth based on said first and second time intervals.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the first error message has the same content as the second error message.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein said first set of data comprises an options request.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein said error message comprises a “

method not supported”

error message.

27. A method of streaming data between a first computer and a second computer, the method comprising:

a) measuring a first time interval between when one of the computers sends a first amount of data to the other computer and receives a first response;

b) measuring a second time interval between when one of the computers sends a second amount of data to the other computer and receives a second response;

c) identifying the network bandwidth from the two measured time intervals;

d) based on the identified network bandwidth, selecting, from a plurality of versions of a content, an initial version of the content to stream from one computer to another.