Multi-path time synchronization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10355800-B2
Application number	US-201415523879-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 3, 2014
Priority date	Nov 3, 2014
Publication date	Jul 16, 2019
Grant date	Jul 16, 2019

Abstract

The method comprises analyzing ( 203 ) probing packets sent on a plurality of end-to-end paths over links of the network. At least one analyzed probing packet is a timing packet comprising timing information for synchronization. The analyzing comprising analyzing probing packets sent on all of a set of probing paths. The set is selected ( 201 ) such that the analyzing provides a determination of a performance of each individual link. The method further comprises determining ( 204 ) the performance of individual links.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of monitoring performance of a network, the method comprising:
analyzing probing packets sent on a plurality of end-to-end paths over links of the network,
wherein at least one analyzed probing packet is a timing packet comprising timing information for synchronization, wherein the analyzing comprises analyzing path-level measurements for the probing packets sent on all of a set of probing paths, and wherein the set of probing paths is selected such that the analyzing of the path-level measurements provides a determination of a performance of each and every individual link in the set of probing paths;
determining the performance of individual links from the path-level measurements;
identifying an alternate path for a next timing packet, to avoid a link in the set of probing paths where the determined performance of the link is below a threshold; and
transmitting the next timing packet over the identified alternate path.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the analyzing is by network tomography.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network comprises a radio access network and/or an aggregation network.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting the set of probing paths for transmitting the probing packets in addition to timing packets.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determined performance of the individual links corresponds to the handling of timing packets by the individual links.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determined performance of the individual links corresponds to packet delay variation.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of probing paths comprises probing paths which are linearly independent, and a number of the linearly independent probing paths is equal to or greater than a number of links in the network.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of probing paths on which the probing packets are transmitted are between a reference clock and one or more radio base stations.

9. An apparatus configured to monitor performance of a network, the apparatus comprising:
a processing circuit configured to:
analyze probing packets sent on a plurality of end-to-end paths over links of the network, wherein at least one analyzed probing packet is a timing packet comprising timing information for synchronization,
analyze path-level measurements for probing packets sent on all of a set of probing paths, wherein the set of probing paths is selected such that the analysis of the path-level measurements provides a determination of a performance of each and every individual link in the set of probing paths,
determine the performance of individual links from the path-level measurements,
identify an alternate path for a next timing packet, to avoid a link in the set of probing paths where the determined performance of the link is below a threshold, and
transmit the next timing packet over the identified alternate path.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the apparatus is configured to analyze probing packets in a radio access network and/or an aggregation network.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the determined performance of the individual links corresponds to the handling of timing packets by the individual links.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the determined performance of the individual links corresponds to packet delay variation.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising, stored thereupon, a computer program product comprising computer program instructions configured for execution on a processing circuit and to cause the processing circuit to monitor performance of a network by:
analyzing probing packets sent on a plurality of end-to-end paths over links of the network, wherein at least one analyzed probing packet is a timing packet comprising timing information for synchronization, wherein the analyzing comprises analyzing path-level measurements for the probing packets sent on all of a set of probing paths, and wherein the set of probing paths is selected such that the analyzing of the path-level measurements provides a determination of a performance of each and every individual link in the set of probing paths;
determining the performance of individual links from the path-level measurements;
identifying an alternate path for a next timing packet, to avoid a link in the set of probing paths where the determined performance of the link is below a threshold; and
transmitting the next timing packet over the identified alternate path.

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Ruffini Stefano
• Pepe Teresa
• Puleri Marzio

Classifications

• H04L43/10

  Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route · CPC title

• H04L41/12

  Discovery or management of network topologies · CPC title

• H04L43/16

  Threshold monitoring · CPC title

• H04L43/00

  Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks · CPC title

• H04L29/08135

  Electricity · mapped topic