Measuring instantaneous bit rate in a network connection
First Claim
1. A method for measuring instantaneous bit rate of a network connection in a network comprising:
- an initiating agent constructing at least two network packets based on network protocols before transmitting the at least two network packets onto the network;
causing the initiating agent to transmit the at least two network packets onto the network, including consecutively transmitting first and second network packets;
receiving the at least two network packets back from a responding agent at the first hop from the initiating agent on the network, wherein based on the construction of the at least two network packets, the responding agent on the network will immediately send the first and second network packets back to the initiating agent instead of forwarding them further onto the network;
determining inter-packet time of arrival between the received network packets, including determining a difference between the times of arrival of the consecutive first and second network packets; and
calculating an instantaneous bit rate of the network connection based on the inter-packet time of arrival of the received network packets,wherein an upstream bit rate between the initiating agent and the responding agent is less than or equal to a downstream bit rate between the responding agent and the initiating agent,and wherein the responding agent sends the first and second network packets to the initiating at the same bit rate on the downstream as the upstream bit rate.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatuses described herein are configured to calculate the instantaneous bit rate of a network connection. According to certain aspects, conventional solutions measure average bit rate of a network, whereas the techniques described herein are configured to measure the instantaneous bit rate. According to further aspects, structurally, conventional solutions require external devices (hosts or servers) and a plurality of data packets for measurement, whereas the present invention is self-referenced and requires, in principle, only two network packets, of any type, for measuring the instantaneous bit rate. The instantaneous bit rate can then be used to adjust the transmission bit rate of network packets to optimize the network connection such that the bandwidth of the network connection is fully utilized and packet loss is avoided.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method for measuring instantaneous bit rate of a network connection in a network comprising:
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an initiating agent constructing at least two network packets based on network protocols before transmitting the at least two network packets onto the network; causing the initiating agent to transmit the at least two network packets onto the network, including consecutively transmitting first and second network packets; receiving the at least two network packets back from a responding agent at the first hop from the initiating agent on the network, wherein based on the construction of the at least two network packets, the responding agent on the network will immediately send the first and second network packets back to the initiating agent instead of forwarding them further onto the network; determining inter-packet time of arrival between the received network packets, including determining a difference between the times of arrival of the consecutive first and second network packets; and calculating an instantaneous bit rate of the network connection based on the inter-packet time of arrival of the received network packets, wherein an upstream bit rate between the initiating agent and the responding agent is less than or equal to a downstream bit rate between the responding agent and the initiating agent, and wherein the responding agent sends the first and second network packets to the initiating at the same bit rate on the downstream as the upstream bit rate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An apparatus for measuring instantaneous bit rate of a network connection comprising:
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a system clock; a timer coupled with the system clock, wherein the timer is configured to determine inter-packet time of arrival between at least two network packets received over the network connection, including determining a difference between the times of arrival of consecutively transmitted first and second network packets; and a controller coupled with the timer, wherein the controller is configured to; construct the at least two network packets based on network protocols before transmitting the at least two network packets onto the network; cause an initiating agent to transmit the at least two network packets onto the network connection, including consecutively transmitting the first and second network packets; receive the at least two network packets back from a responding agent at the first hop from the initiating agent on the network, wherein based on the construction of the at least two network packets, the responding agent on the network will immediately send the first and second network packets back to the initiating agent instead of forwarding them further onto the network; and calculate an instantaneous bit rate of the network connection based on the inter-packet time of arrival of the received network packets, wherein an upstream bit rate between the initiating agent and the responding agent is less than or equal to a downstream bit rate between the responding agent and the initiating agent, and wherein the responding agent sends the first and second network packets to the initiating at the same bit rate on the downstream as the upstream bit rate. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification