Troubleshooting WI-FI connectivity by measuring the round trip time of packets sent with different modulation rates

• US 9,749,883 B2
• Filed: 02/13/2012
• Issued: 08/29/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Licensing (Vantiva SA)
• Inventors: Van Doorselaer, Karel, Van Oost, Koen, Dumet, Sylvain, Van De Poel, Dirk
• Primary Examiner(s): Kassim, Khaled
• Application Number:
  US13/984,914
• Publication Number:
  US 20130322286A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,024 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0864 Round trip delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/06 Testing, supervising or monitoring using simulated traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

The application relates to a “wireless communication network including a station and an access point” which is in particular a Wi-Fi network according to the IEEE 802.11 standards. Internet service providers are searching for ways to get a better understanding of the end-user'"'"'s wireless environment including link quality and performance. The proposed method calculates a performance value based on measured round trip times which are sent at different modulation rates. Based the change of performance in dependence of the modulation rate conclusions about the possible source of performance problems can be drawn, in particular it can be distinguished between (Bluetooth) interference and distance between station and access point being too large.

Claims

1. A method for testing a wireless communications network including a station and an access point, the method comprising:

sending, by the station, packets with different modulation rates from the station to the access point within a frequency band, by varying the modulation rate between a minimum modulation rate and a maximum modulation rate;

sending, by the station, packets with different packet sizes from the station to the access point, by varying the packet size between a minimum packet size and a maximum packet size;

measuring, by the station, a round trip time for each packet; and

calculating, by the station, a performance value by determining a ratio of a reference round trip time and the measured round trip time of each packet.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless communications network is in accordance with an IEEE 802.11 standard.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising using, by the station, a ping administration utility for sending of the packets.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the frequency band is a 2.4 GHz ISM band or a 5 GHz U-NII band.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the minimum modulation rate is 1 Mb/s and the maximum modulation rate is 54 Mb/s.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the minimum packet size is 1 byte and the maximum packet size is a maximum size of a payload of a single Wi-Fi frame.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the station, an acknowledgement packet back from the access point; and

measuring, by the station, a respective round trip time.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising using, by the station, a numerical evaluation of the performance values.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

using, by the station, threshold values for defining a multitude of performance classes for performance values; and

classifying, by the station, the obtained performance values of a particular location of a home network with one of the performance classes.

10. A mobile device comprising:

a memory;

at least one processor configured to;

send , over a wireless communication network, packets with different modulation rates to an access point within a frequency band, by varying the modulation rate between a minimum modulation rate and a maximum modulation rate;

send packets with different packet sizes to the access point, by varying the packet size between a minimum packet size and a maximum packet size;

measure a round trip time for each packet; and

calculate a performance value by determining a ratio of a reference round trip time and the measured round trip time of each packet and a reference round trip time of the packets.

11. The mobile device of claim 10, wherein the wireless communications network is in accordance with an IEEE 802.11 standard.

12. The mobile device of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to use a ping administration utility for sending of the packets.

13. The mobile device of claim 10, wherein the frequency band is a 2.4 GHz ISM band or a 5 GHz U-NII band.

14. The mobile device of claim 10, wherein the minimum modulation rate is 1 Mb/s and the maximum modulation rate is 54 Mb/s.

15. The mobile device of claim 10, wherein the minimum packet size is 1 byte and the maximum packet size is a maximum size of a payload of a single Wi-Fi frame.

16. The mobile device of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

receive an acknowledgement packet back from the access point; and

measure a respective round trip time.

17. The mobile device of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to use a numerical evaluation of the performance values.

18. The mobile device of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

use threshold values for defining a multitude of performance classes for performance values; and

classify the obtained performance values of a particular location of a home network with one of the performance classes.