Tunneling reports for real-time Internet Protocol media streams

• US 8,867,385 B2
• Filed: 04/05/2011
• Issued: 10/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Oran, David R.
• Primary Examiner(s): MATTIS, JASON E
• Application Number:
  US13/080,585
• Publication Number:
  US 20110191469A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,295 Days
• Field of Search: 370/252, 370/250, 370/390
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/65 Network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS

Abstract

A router, switch, or other network node generates reports that contain packet level statistics and other information for a monitored media stream. The media stream reports reduce the amount of bandwidth typically required for sending monitored media stream information back to a central analysis device. However the computation of other media stream analytics, such as long term statistical averaging or quality metric computation, is performed by the central analysis device to remove some of the processing burden from the individual network nodes.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable storage media encoded with software comprising computer executable instructions and when the software is executed operable to:

receive, at an intermediate device, a first request for a media stream report at a predetermined time interval, the request identifying at least one media stream and a periodicity for the media stream report;

monitor, in response to the first request, the at least one media stream established between media stream endpoints;

generate the media stream report for the at least one media stream at the predetermined interval, wherein the media stream report includes real-time packet transportation statistics for the at least one media stream;

set-up a tunnel to a central media monitor;

send the media stream report over the tunnel to the central media monitor for further media stream analysis;

receive, from the central media monitor, a second request for initiation of a media stream packet monitoring, wherein receiving the second request comprises receiving the second request in response to the central media monitor determining a potential problem in a network connecting the at least one media stream based on the media stream report; and

send, in response to the second request, packets from a suspect media stream by the intermediary device, wherein sending the packets by the intermediary device comprises;

trapping the packets from the suspect media stream, wherein trapping comprises assigning and binding a time stamp with each of the trapped packets, wherein the time stamp is provided by a local clock associated with the intermediate device at an instance when each of the packets are trapped,

cloning the trapped packets, and

encapsulating the cloned packets into the tunnel to the central location for in-depth analysis of the suspect media stream.

2. The non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 1 wherein the media stream report identifies at least one of the following:

a number of lost packets, packet jitter, or timestamp information for the media stream.

3. The non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 1 wherein the central media monitor is out of a network path between the media stream endpoints.

4. The non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 1 wherein trapping and cloning the trapped packets during a multicast session is a substitute join operation.

5. The non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 1 encoded with software comprising computer executable instructions, the software when executed is further operable to receive an Session Description Protocol (SDP) media stream report request from the central media monitor that initiates monitoring the media stream.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein encapsulating the cloned packets into the tunnel to the central location comprises encapsulating the cloned packets using a real-time protocol (RTP) session to instantiate the tunnel.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein encapsulating the cloned packets into the tunnel to the central location comprises removing payload from the cloned packets and attaching a tunnel header to the remaining portion of each of the packets.

8. The method of claim 6, encapsulating the cloned packets into the tunnel to the central location further comprises converting the time stamp into an RTP tunnel time stamp.

9. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor comprising instructions executable by the processor, the processor operable when executing the instructions to;

initiate monitoring of at least one media stream, wherein initiating the monitoring comprises sending, to an intermediate device, a first request for a media stream report at a predetermined time interval, the request identifying the at least one media stream and a periodicity for the media stream report;

receive the media stream reports corresponding to the at least one media stream, wherein the media stream reports comprise a packet level analysis generated by the intermediary device,

analyze the received reports to determine at least one of;

media delivery index, and objective metric,

determine, based on the analysis, a potential problem in a network connecting the at least one media stream, and

send a second request to the intermediary device for all of the packets from a suspect media stream for in-depth analysis of the suspect media stream, wherein the intermediary device, in response to the second request, is configured to;

trap the packets from the suspect media stream, wherein trapping comprises assigning and binding a time stamp with each of the trapped packets, wherein the time stamp is provided by a local clock associated with the intermediate device at an instance when each of the packets are trapped,

clone the trapped packets, and

encapsulate the cloned packets into a tunnel to the apparatus for in-depth analysis of the suspect media stream.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9 wherein the processor resides in a Network Operation Center (NOC) that is located outside of a native network path for the at least one media stream.

11. The apparatus according to claim 9 wherein the processor determines when the reports were generated and in what sequence the reports were encapsulated and sent over one or more tunnels based on tunnel headers encapsulating the reports.

12. The apparatus according to claim 9 wherein the processor receive the reports via one or more tunnels.

13. The apparatus according to claim 9 wherein the processor use the packet-level statistics received in the reports to conduct additional media stream analysis including at least one of long term statistical averaging or quality metric computations.

14. The apparatus according to claim 9 wherein the processor receives the reports generated for multiple different media streams via a same tunnel.

15. The apparatus according to claim 9 wherein the reports are Real-Time Control Protocol (RTCP) reports.

16. The apparatus according to claim 9 wherein the intermediary device is local.

17. The apparatus according to claim 9 wherein the intermediary device is remote.

18. The apparatus according to claim 9 wherein the processor sends a Session Description Protocol (SDP) media stream report request for initiating monitoring the media stream by the intermediary device.

19. A method comprising:

initiating monitoring of at least one media stream and tunneling, wherein initiating the monitoring comprises sending, to an intermediate device, a first request for a media stream reports at a predetermined time interval, the request identifying the at least one media stream and a periodicity for the media stream report;

receiving the tunneled media stream reports from the intermediary device;

de-capsulating the media stream reports from other tunneling information;

analyzing statistical information contained in the media stream reports to determine at least one of;

a media delivery index, and objective metric;

using the statistical information for display, logging, alarming, or thresholding, or combinations thereof;

determining, based on the analysis, a potential problem in a network connecting the at least one media stream; and

sending a second request to the intermediary device to trap, clone, and tunnel all of the packets from a suspect media stream for in-depth analysis of the suspect media stream, wherein the intermediary device, in response to receiving the second request, is configured to;

trap the packets from the suspect media stream, wherein trapping comprises assigning and binding a time stamp with each of the trapped packets, wherein the time stamp is provided by a local clock associated with the intermediate device at an instance when each of the packets are trapped,

clone the trapped packets, and

encapsulate the cloned packets into the tunnel to a central location for in-depth analysis of the suspect media stream.

20. The method according to claim 19, further comprising computing the Media Delivery Index based on the statistical information.