Network experience rating system and method

• US 20060230134A1
• Filed: 04/11/2005
• Published: 10/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Qian, Tin, Gavrilescu, Alexandru, Tan, Alvin
• Granted Patent: US 7,506,052 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display

Abstract

A network experience rating system and method determines a network connection quality for a computer by monitoring characteristics of data traffic through a connection with another computer on the network. The network experience rating system statistically analyzes the characteristic data and compares the statistically analyzed data to historical data gathered for the computer. The network experience rating system thus provides a rating that is individualized for a particular computer based on the computer'"'"'s network usage.

Claims

1. A computer readable medium having computer executable instructions for rating computer network connectivity on a computer, the computer executable instructions performing steps comprising:

analyzing an internet protocol connection at the computer to obtain latency information;

performing a statistical analysis on the latency information to derive a value;

comparing the derived value to reference statistical data; and

determining a performance rating based on the comparison.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the reference statistical data is derived from a network experience profile comprising historical latency information obtained by the computer.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 2 further comprising adding the latency information to the network experience profile.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 2 wherein the network experience profile is a data structure.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 1 further comprising presenting the performance rating on a user interface.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 1 further comprising obtaining a time to live value and calculating a hop count using the time to live value.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the reference statistical data is chosen based upon a hop count.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the reference statistical data is chosen based upon a network connection type.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the derived value is a mean round trip time and the reference statistical data comprises a mean reference round trip time.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein the comparing the derived value to reference statistical data is by determining a proximity of the mean round trip time to the mean reference round trip time.

11. A method for rating computer network connectivity on a computer, the method comprising:

retrieving a network performance measurement associated with a packet;

calculating a hop count for the packet;

selecting a set of data based upon the hop count; and

comparing the network performance measurement to the set of data to measure the computer'"'"'s network experience rating.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising presenting the computer'"'"'s network experience on a user interface.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising adding the network performance measurement to the set of data.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the network performance measurement is at least one of a round trip time, a time to live value, and a data transfer rate.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the comparing the network performance measurement to the set of data to measure a computer'"'"'s network experience is by determining a proximity of the network performance measurement to a mean for the set of data.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the mean is a moving average.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein the set of data is stored in a data structure.

18. The method of claim 11 wherein the set of data is also selected based on a network connection type.

19. A software module for use in a computing system adapted to monitor network connectivity of the system, the software module comprising:

a reference calibration component for providing an initial network experience profile; and

a performance monitoring and measurement component for retrieving a packet'"'"'s round trip time associated with a data packet, comparing the round trip time to the network experience profile, and updating the network experience profile with the round trip time

20. The software method of claim 19 further comprising a visualization component for retrieving the comparison from the performance monitoring and measurement component and providing the comparison to a user interface.