High speed acquisition system that allows capture from a packet network and streams the data to a storage medium

• US 7,548,562 B2
• Filed: 12/14/2004
• Issued: 06/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Viavi Solutions, Inc. (Lumentum Holdings Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Agilent Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Blomquist, Scott Alan, Ward, Robert Geoffrey
• Primary Examiner(s): Qureshi; Afsar M.
• Application Number:
  US11/010,263
• Publication Number:
  US 20060126665A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,645 Days
• Field of Search: 370230-240, 370/389, 370/395.6, 370/394, 370/399, 370/411, 370/415, 370/466, 370/474, 370/475, 370/535, 370/338
• US Class Current: 370/474
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/27 Evaluation or update of window size, e.g. using information derived from acknowledged [ACK] packets

Abstract

A packet data capture apparatus, method and a computer readable medium having instructions recorded thereon, stream data packets in real time. The apparatus includes: a buffer, to store a plurality of data packets until transmission; a macro-packet transmitter, to prepare macro-packets from the stored plurality of packets and operate in a UDP mode that includes a predetermined re-transmit and flow control protocol; and a processor, to stream the macro-packets to a computer/server or storage device in real time and to retransmit respective macro-packets of the stream of macro-packets via the re-transmit and flow control protocol in accordance with a request from the computer/server.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a buffer, to store a plurality of data packets until transmission;

a filter to perform pattern matching and filtering of the plurality of data packets before the plurality of data packets are stored in the buffer;

a line interface to extract data packets before filtering, wherein at least one of;

the line interface extracts the data packets directly,

the line interface extracts the data packets via AAL reassembly, or

the line interface adds a length indicator to each data packet, classifies the data packet, and adds a timestamp to the data packet;

a macro-packet transmitter, to prepare macro-packets from the stored plurality of data packets and operate in a UDP mode that includes a predetermined re-transmit protocol; and

a processor, to stream the macro-packets to a computer/server or storage device in real time and to retransmit respective macro-packets of the stream of macro-packets via the re-transmit protocol in accordance with a request from the computer/server.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the buffer is a circular buffer and further comprises:

a write pointer to indicate a write position of the circular buffer; and

a read pointer to indicate a read position of the circular buffer.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus streams the macro-packet to the computer/server and the storage device utilizing a circular buffer.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the predetermined re-transmit protocol includes re-transmitting macro-packets that are missing or have an error.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a predetermined flow control protocol including a mechanism for flow control whereby a windowing scheme is used to ensure the transmitter does not overwhelm a receiver.

6. A method to stream data packets, the method comprising:

using a buffer to store a plurality of data packets until transmission;

before using the buffer, using a filter to perform pattern matching and filtering;

before using the filter to perform pattern matching and filtering, using a line interface to extract the data Dackets. wherein usinci the line interface to extract data packets includes adding a length indicator to each packet, classifying the data packet, and adding a timestamp to the data packet;

using a macro-packet transmitter to generate macro-packets from the stored plurality of data packets and transmit the macro-packets using a UDP mode that includes a predetermined re-transmit and flow control protocol; and

streaming the macro-packets to a computer/server and a storage device in real time and retransmitting respective macro-packets of the stream of macro-packets via the re-transmit and flow control protocol in accordance with a request from the computer/server.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the buffer is a circular buffer and using the buffer includes:

indicating a write position of the circular buffer using a write pointer; and

indicating a read position of the circular buffer using a read pointer.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein using the line interface to extract data packets includes extracting the packets directly or extracting the packets via Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) reassembly.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the predetermined re-transmit protocol includes re-transmitting macro-packets that are missing or have an error.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the predetermined flow control protocol includes pausing the macro-packet transmitter to avoid overflowing a receiver of the data.

11. A computer readable medium, excluding carrier waves, having recorded thereon computer readable instructions to stream data packets, the instructions comprising:

instructions to cause a computer system to store a plurality of data packets in a buffer until transmission;

instructions to cause the computer system to, before storing the plurality of data packets in the buffer, filter the plurality of data packets to perform pattern matching and filtering;

instructions to cause the computer system to, before filtering to perform pattern matching and filtering, use a line interface to extract data packets, wherein extracting the data packets includes at least one of;

extracting the packets directly;

extracting the packets via ML reassembly;

or

adding a length indicator to each packet, classifying the data packet, and adding a timestamp to the data packet;

instructions to cause the computer system to form macro-packets from the plurality of data packets and transmitting the macro-packets in a UDP mode that utilizes a predetermined re-transmit and flow control protocol, and has stored UDP headers of the macro-packets; and

instructions to cause the computer system to stream macro-packets to a computer/server and a storage device in real time, and retransmitting respective macro-packets of the stream of macro-packets via the re-transmit and flow control protocol in accordance with a request from the computer/server.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the predetermined re-transmit protocol includes re-transmitting macro-packets that are missing or have an error.