Method and apparatus for communicating data within measurement traffic
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for communicating data within measurement traffic, the method comprising:
- sending a plurality of one or more measurement packets over a plurality of one or more paths, each of the first plurality of one or more measurement packets having a common source and destination IP address, each of the plurality of one or more paths traversing at least a portion of an internetwork, and each of the plurality of one or more measurement packets including;
information for a receiver of the measurement packet to compute measurements of performance characteristics of at least a portion of the path of the measurement packet,and data including control data comprising instructions that direct a receiver of the measurement packet to change one or more configuration parameters of the receiver, the data further including one or more of measurement statistics, a generic communication channel, and network information; and
determining a delay average for the plurality of one or more measurement packets by analyzing at least two packets from the plurality of one or more measurement packets;
determining a jitter average for the plurality of one or more measurement packets by analyzing at least two packets from the plurality of one or more measurement packets; and
combining the jitter average and delay average for the plurality of one or more measurement packets into a single value; and
including the single value in the data measurement statistics.
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Abstract
The present invention is directed to using measurement packets to compute network performance. Embodiments that send, receive and both send and receive measurement packets are described. Some embodiments are described that compute statistics based at least partly on measurement traffic. Some embodiments are described that communicate computed statistics within measurement traffic. Some embodiments are described that rank and select paths based at least partly on computed statistics.
376 Citations
52 Claims
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1. A method for communicating data within measurement traffic, the method comprising:
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sending a plurality of one or more measurement packets over a plurality of one or more paths, each of the first plurality of one or more measurement packets having a common source and destination IP address, each of the plurality of one or more paths traversing at least a portion of an internetwork, and each of the plurality of one or more measurement packets including; information for a receiver of the measurement packet to compute measurements of performance characteristics of at least a portion of the path of the measurement packet, and data including control data comprising instructions that direct a receiver of the measurement packet to change one or more configuration parameters of the receiver, the data further including one or more of measurement statistics, a generic communication channel, and network information; and determining a delay average for the plurality of one or more measurement packets by analyzing at least two packets from the plurality of one or more measurement packets; determining a jitter average for the plurality of one or more measurement packets by analyzing at least two packets from the plurality of one or more measurement packets; and combining the jitter average and delay average for the plurality of one or more measurement packets into a single value; and including the single value in the data measurement statistics. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for communicating data within measurement traffic, the method comprising:
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receiving a plurality of one or more measurement packets over a plurality of one or more paths, each of the plurality of one or more measurement packets being assigned a sequence number from a range of sequence numbers, each of the plurality of one or more paths traversing at least a portion of an internetwork, and each of the plurality of one or more measurement packets including; information for a receiver of the measurement packet to compute measurements of performance characteristics of at least a portion of the path of the measurement packet, the information including the assigned sequence number, data including control data directing a receiver of the measurement packet to change one or more configuration parameters of the receiver, the data further including one or more of measurement statistics, a generic communication channel, network information; and determining a delay average for the plurality of one or more measurement packets by analyzing at least two packets from the plurality of one or more measurement packets; determining a jitter average for the plurality of one or more measurement packets by analyzing at least two packets from the plurality of one or more measurement packets; and combining the jitter average and delay average for the plurality of one or more measurement packets into a single value; and including the single value in the data measurement statistics. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for communicating data within measurement traffic, the method comprising:
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sending a first plurality of one or more measurement packets over a first plurality of one or more paths, each of the first plurality of one or more measurement packets having a common source and destination IP address, each of the first plurality of one or more paths traversing at least a portion of an internetwork, and each of the first plurality of one or more measurement packets including; information for a receiver of the measurement packet to compute measurements of performance characteristics of at least a portion of the path of the measurement packet, the performance characteristics including at least one of averages, deviations, and variances determined by analyzing at least two of the first plurality of one or more measurement packets, data including control data directing a receiver of the measurement packet to change one or more configuration parameters of the receiver, the data further including one or more of measurement statistics, a generic communication channel, network information, and determining a delay average for the first plurality of one or more measurement packets by analyzing at least two packets from the first plurality of one or more measurement packets; determining a utter average for the first plurality of one or more measurement packets by analyzing at least two packets from the first plurality of one or more measurement packets; and combining the utter average and delay average for the first plurality of one or more measurement packets into a single value; and including the single value in the data measurement statistics, receiving a second plurality of one or more measurement packets over a second plurality of one or more paths, each of the second plurality of one or more paths traversing at least a portion of an internetwork, and each of the second plurality of one or more measurement packets including; information for a receiver of the measurement packet to compute measurements of performance characteristics of at least a portion of the path of the measurement packet, and data including control data directing a receiver of the measurement packet to change one or more configuration parameters of the receiver, the data further including one or more of measurement statistics, a generic communication channel, network information, and determining a delay average for the second plurality of one or more measurement packets by analyzing at least two packets from the second plurality of one or more measurement packets; determining a jitter average for the second plurality of one or more measurement packets by analyzing at least two packets from the second plurality of one or more measurement packets; and combining the jitter average and delay average for the second plurality of one or more measurement packets into a single value; and including the single value in the data measurement statistics. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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28. The method of 27, wherein the selection of the subset of the plurality of one or more paths is based at least partly on the position of paths in a ranking.
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29. The method of 28, wherein the ranking is at least partly based on one or more of the measurement statistics included as data in the measurement packet.
- 30. The method of 27, wherein the selection of the subset of the plurality of one or more paths is based at least partly on a probability associated with each path of the plurality of one or more paths.
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32. The method of 27, wherein the selection of the subset of the plurality of one of more paths is based at least partly on applying one or more thresholds to at least one of the measurement statistics included as data in the measurement packet.
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42. A networking system, comprising:
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a plurality of one or more devices communicating at least a first plurality of one or more measurement packets over a first plurality of one or more paths, each of the plurality of one or more measurement packets being assigned a sequence number from a range of sequence numbers, each of the first plurality of one or more paths traversing at least a portion of an internetwork, and each of the first plurality of one or more measurement packets including; information for a receiver of the measurement packet to compute measurements of performance characteristics of at least a portion of the path of the measurement packet, the performance characteristics including at least one of averages, deviations, and variances determined by analyzing at least two of the plurality of one or more measurement packets, and data including control data directing a receiver of the measurement packet to change one or more configuration parameters of the receiver, the data further including one or more of measurement statistics, a generic communication channel, network information; and determining a delay average for the first plurality of one or more measurement packets by analyzing at least two packets from the first plurality of one or more measurement packets; determining a jitter average for the first plurality of one or more measurement packets by analyzing at least two packets from the first plurality of one or more measurement packets; and combining the jitter average and delay average for the first plurality of one or more measurement packets into a single value; and including the single value in the data measurement statistics. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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Specification