System and method for communicating network performance information over a packet network
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system for communicating network performance information of a node segment of a packet network, said system comprising:
- an input/output (I/O) unit configured to communicate with at least one network communications device over a packet network; and
a processing unit in communication with said I/O unit and configured to generate network performance information indicative of transmission characteristics of a node segment on the packet network, said processing unit further configured to alter an existing data packet by including the network performance information and a node segment identifier identifying the node segment in a payload of the existing data packet, the payload of the existing data packet containing existing non-network performance information data, and communicate the existing data packet containing the altered payload that includes the network performance information, the node segment identifier identifying the node segment, and the existing non-network performance information data using in-band signaling to a network communications device.
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Abstract
A system and method for communicating network performance information of a node segment of a packet network may include generating network performance information indicative of transmission characteristics of a node segment on a packet network. The network performance information may be included in a data packet and communicated using in-band signaling to a network communications device.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A system for communicating network performance information of a node segment of a packet network, said system comprising:
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an input/output (I/O) unit configured to communicate with at least one network communications device over a packet network; and a processing unit in communication with said I/O unit and configured to generate network performance information indicative of transmission characteristics of a node segment on the packet network, said processing unit further configured to alter an existing data packet by including the network performance information and a node segment identifier identifying the node segment in a payload of the existing data packet, the payload of the existing data packet containing existing non-network performance information data, and communicate the existing data packet containing the altered payload that includes the network performance information, the node segment identifier identifying the node segment, and the existing non-network performance information data using in-band signaling to a network communications device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method for communicating network performance information of a node segment of a packet network, said method comprising:
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generating, using a processor, network performance information indicative of transmission characteristics of a node segment on a packet network; including the network performance information and a node segment identifier identifying the node segment in a payload of an existing data packet, the payload of the existing data packet containing existing non-network performance information data, the network performance information distinguishing between a network performance of real-time data and the network performance of non-real-time data; and communicating the data packet containing the network performance information, the node segment identifier identifying the node segment, and the existing non-network performance information data in the payload of the data packet using in-band signaling to a network communications device. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for identifying communication problems within one or more packet networks, said method comprising:
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generating, at a first network communications device, a first data packet including a first node segment identifier of the first network communications device and a first network performance information generated at the first network communications device; communicating the first data packet including the first network performance information from the first network communications device to a second network communications device; generating, at the second network communications device, a second data packet including a second node segment identifier of the second network communications device and a second network performance information generated at the second network communications device concatenated sequentially behind the first network performance information received from the first network communications device; communicating the second data packet including the first and second network performance information from the second network communications device to a next network communications device along a communication path from the first communication to an end network node; and repeating steps of generating network performance information at a receiving node, concatenating the network performance information generated at the receiving node sequentially behind a network performance information generated at the immediately preceding receiving node into a performance information packet and communicating the performance information packet to an immediately subsequent network communications device along the communication path until the performance information packet is received at the end network node. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification