Methods and apparatus for detecting internet connection problems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10904129-B2
Application number	US-202016747270-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 20, 2020
Priority date	Sep 24, 2015
Publication date	Jan 26, 2021
Grant date	Jan 26, 2021

Abstract

A method of determining a problem with data packet transmission speed over a first communication medium coupled between a plurality of content servers and an ISP communication device. The method comprises repeatedly measuring the data packet transmission speed over the first communication medium coupled between each of the plurality of content servers and the ISP communication device, and determining there is a problem with the data packet transmission speed over the first communication medium coupled between one of the plurality of content servers and the ISP communication device when the repeatedly measured data packet transmission speeds over the first communication medium coupled between the one of the plurality of content servers and the ISP communication device is substantially different from the repeatedly measured data packet transmission speeds over the first communication medium coupled between other of the plurality of content servers and the ISP communication device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of determining a problem with a data packet transmission speed over a first communication medium coupled between an internet access device (IAD) and an ISP communication device, the method comprising:
measuring the data packet transmission speed over a first combination of medium comprising the first communication medium and a second communication medium coupled between the ISP communication device and each of a plurality of content servers;
measuring the data packet transmission speed over a second combination of medium comprising the first communication medium and a third communication medium coupled between ISP communication device and a test server;
comparing the measured data packet transmission speeds over the first combination of medium to the measured data packet transmission speeds over the second combination of medium; and
determining a problem with the data packet transmission speed over the first communication medium when the measured data packet transmission speeds over the first combination of medium is slower than data packet transmission speeds over the second combination of medium.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein,
the measuring the data packet transmission speed over the first combination of medium occur repeatedly over a period of time, and
the measuring the data packet transmission speed over the second combination of medium occur repeatedly over the same period of time.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising identifying and selecting a flow of data packets exchanged with a fourth medium for an end user device, or application executing thereon, coupled in communication with the ISP communication device, from among the data packets transmitted over the second communication medium between each of the plurality of content servers and the ISP communication device,
wherein repeatedly measuring the data packet transmission speed over the first combination of medium, and repeatedly measuring the data packet transmission speed over the second combination of medium, and
wherein determining the ISP communication device is throttling the data packet transmission speed over the first communication medium when the repeatedly measured data packet transmission speed of a third combination of medium comprising a fifth communication medium coupled between the IAD and the end user device, the first communication medium and the second communication medium is lower than the measured data packet transmission speeds over a fourth combination medium comprising the fifth communication medium, the first communication medium and the third communication medium and is lower than the measured data packet transmission speeds over the selected flow of data packets exchanged between the end user device and the IAD, which represents a data transmission speed over the fifth communication medium.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein,
the measuring the data packet transmission speed over the first combination of medium occur over a period of time, and
the measuring the data packet transmission speed over the second combination of medium occur over the same period of time.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising one or both noise cancellation and automatically re-profiling the first communication medium responsive to determining a problem with the data packet transmission speed over the first communication medium.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
measuring the data packet transmission speed over a fifth combination of medium comprising a sixth communication medium coupled between another internet access device (IAD) and another ISP communication device and a seventh communication medium coupled between each of the plurality of content servers and the another ISP communication device;
measuring the data packet transmission speed over a sixth combination of medium comprising the sixth communication medium and an eighth communication medium coupled between the another ISP communication device and the test server;
comparing the measured data packet transmission speeds over the first combination of medium to the measured data packet transmission speeds over the second combination of medium to the measured data packet transmission speeds over the fifth combination to the measured data packet transmission speeds over the sixth combination of medium; and
determining a problem with the data packet transmission speed over the first communication medium when the measured data packet transmission speeds over the first combination of medium is slower than data packet transmission speeds over the second combination of medium, and slower than the measured data packet transmission speeds over the fifth combination, and the measured data packet transmission speeds over the fifth combination of medium is substantially similar to packet transmission speeds over the sixth combination of medium.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein,
the measuring the data packet transmission speed over the first combination of medium occurs repeatedly over a period of time,
the measuring the data packet transmission speed over the second combination of medium occurs repeatedly over the same period of time,
the measuring the data packet transmission speed over the fifth combination of medium occurs repeatedly over the same period of time, and
the measuring the data packet transmission speed over the sixth combination of medium occurs repeatedly over the same period of time.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein,
the measuring the data packet transmission speed over the first combination of medium occur over a period of time,
the measuring the data packet transmission speed over the second combination of medium occur over the same period of time,
the measuring the data packet transmission speed over the fifth combination of medium comprising occur over the same period of time, and
the measuring the data packet transmission speed over the sixth combination of medium occur over the same period of time.

9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising one or both noise cancellation and automatically re-profiling the first communication medium responsive to determining a problem with the data packet transmission speed over the first communication medium.

10. A method of determining a problem with a data packet transmission speed over a first communication medium coupled between a base station (BS) and an ISP communication device, the method comprising:
measuring the data packet transmission speed over a first combination of medium comprising a first communication medium and a second communication medium coupled between the ISP communication device and each of a plurality of content servers;
measuring the data packet transmission speed over a second combination of medium comprising the first communication medium and a third communication medium coupled between the ISP communication device and a test server;
comparing the measured data packet transmission speeds over the first combination to the measured data packet transmission speeds over the second combination; and
determining a problem with the data packet transmission speed over the first communication medium when the measured data packet transmission speeds over the first combination of medium is slower than data packet transmission speeds over the second combination of medium.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein,
the measuring the data packet transmission speed over the first combination of medium occurs repeatedly over a period of time, and
the measuring the data packet transmission speed over the second combination of medium occurs repeatedly over the same period of time.

12. The method of claim 10

Assignees

• Assia Spe Llc

Inventors

• Cioffi John
• Fisher Christopher
• Bednarz Philip
• Tehrani Ardavan M
• Cil Tuncay
• Ke Lan
• Hwang Chan-Soo

Classifications

• H04L43/50 Primary

  Testing arrangements · CPC title

• H04L43/0894 Primary

  Packet rate · CPC title

• H04L41/0677

  Localisation of faults · CPC title

• H04W48/20

  Selecting an access point · CPC title

• H04W88/06

  adapted for operation in multiple networks {or having at least two operational modes}, e.g. multi-mode terminals · CPC title