Monitoring quality of service in packet-based communications
First Claim
1. A method of monitoring quality of service in telephony communications over a packet-based network between two points, at least one of which is an endpoint,wherein said endpoint is a telephony device having an interface which is accessible to a user to enable said user to participate in a telephony session over the network;
- said telephony device further having an output for presenting information to said user;
the method comprising the steps of;
transmitting test packets across the network while a telephony session including said telephony device is in progress and monitoring transmission characteristics of said test packets, said test packets including a first series of test packets which issue from a source location to a destination location and a second series of test packets which issue from said destination location to said source location in response to said first series of test packets;
dynamically calculating from said transmission characteristics a measure of network performance comprising a measure of packet loss by comparing the packets issued from the source location and the packets received back at the source location,using the measure of packet loss and the identity of the communications codec being employed by the endpoint to calculate an equipment impairment factor (Ie); and
providing at said output of said telephony device a dynamic indication of said equipment impairment factor (Ie) during said telephony session.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method of monitoring quality of service in communications over a packet-based network, involves transmitting test packets across the network and monitoring transmission characteristics such as packet loss and transmission delay for the test packets. A measure of network performance is then dynamically calculated from the transmission characteristics, and is displayed at the endpoint as a dynamic indication of the network performance.
51 Citations
48 Claims
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1. A method of monitoring quality of service in telephony communications over a packet-based network between two points, at least one of which is an endpoint,
wherein said endpoint is a telephony device having an interface which is accessible to a user to enable said user to participate in a telephony session over the network; -
said telephony device further having an output for presenting information to said user; the method comprising the steps of; transmitting test packets across the network while a telephony session including said telephony device is in progress and monitoring transmission characteristics of said test packets, said test packets including a first series of test packets which issue from a source location to a destination location and a second series of test packets which issue from said destination location to said source location in response to said first series of test packets; dynamically calculating from said transmission characteristics a measure of network performance comprising a measure of packet loss by comparing the packets issued from the source location and the packets received back at the source location, using the measure of packet loss and the identity of the communications codec being employed by the endpoint to calculate an equipment impairment factor (Ie); and providing at said output of said telephony device a dynamic indication of said equipment impairment factor (Ie) during said telephony session. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29)
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28. A method of monitoring quality of service in telephony communications over a packet-based network between two points, at least one of which is an endpoint,
wherein said endpoint is a telephony device having an interface which is accessible to a user to enable said user to participate in a telephony session over the network; -
said telephony device further having an output for presenting information to said user; the method comprising the steps of; transmitting test packets across the network while a telephony session including said telephony device is in progress and monitoring transmission characteristics of said test packets; dynamically calculating from said transmission characteristics a measure of network performance; providing at said output of said telephony device a dynamic indication of the network performance based on said calculation during said telephony session; and logging the results of said calculation including logging the fact that a communications connection over the network has been lost.
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30. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with a data structure or computer program to perform a method which, when executed on a processor associated with an endpoint connected to a packet-based network, said endpoint being a telephony device having an interface which is accessible to a user to enable said user to participate in a telephony session over said network, said telephony device further having an output for presenting information to said user, cause said processor to:
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monitor transmission characteristics of test packets transmitted across the network while a telephony session including said telecommunications device is in progress; dynamically calculate from said transmission characteristics a measure of network performance; provide to said user at said output of said endpoint a dynamic indication of the network performance based on said calculation during said telephony session; and logging the results of said calculation including logging the fact that a communications connection over the network has been lost. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A system for monitoring quality of service in communications over a packet-based network, comprising:
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a source endpoint connected to the network via which a user may transmit communication signals as part of a telephony session over the network wherein said source endpoint is a telephony device having an interface which is accessible to a user to enable said user to participate in a telephony session over the network; a test packet generator for transmitting a first series of test packets across the network during said telephony session a test packet receiver for receiving a second series of test packets from the network during said telephony session in response to said first series of test packets; a processor for measuring transmission characteristics of said test packets and for calculating from said transmission characteristics a measure of network performance comprising a measure of packet loss by comparing the packets issued from the source location and the packets received back at the source location, and for using the measure of packet loss and the identity of the communications codec being employed by the endpoint to calculate an equipment impairment factor (Ie); and an output associated with said telecommunications device for providing a dynamic indication of said equipment impairment factor (Ie) to said user during said telephony session. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47)
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48. A method of monitoring quality of service in communications over a packet-based network between two points, at least one of which is an endpoint, comprising the steps of:
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transmitting a first series of test packets location across the network from a source location to a destination, said first series of test packets including local source timestamp information; transmitting a second series of test packets location across the network from said destination to said source location in response to the first series, said second series of test packets including local destination timestamp information; measuring the difference between said local source timestamp information and local destination timestamp information; and calculating from said measured difference the absolute delay in echo-free connections (Ta) between the source and destination locations over the network and thereby calculating a delay impairment factor; providing at said endpoint a dynamic indication of the network performance based on said delay impairment factor.
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Specification