Monitoring network conditions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11595461-B2
Application number	US-201615749369-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 29, 2016
Priority date	Jul 31, 2015
Publication date	Feb 28, 2023
Grant date	Feb 28, 2023

Abstract

A method of identifying a network condition between a pair of network devices, wherein one of the devices comprises a jitter buffer for storing packets received via a network, the method comprising: monitoring a measure of delay in receiving media packets over the network; monitoring a size of the jitter buffer; and identifying a network condition in dependence on a change in the measure of delay and a variation in the size of the jitter buffer.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of identifying a network condition between a receiving device and a transmitting device, wherein the receiving device comprises a jitter buffer for storing packets received from the transmitting device via a network, the method comprising:
monitoring a measure of delay in receiving media packets over the network;
monitoring a size of the jitter buffer; and
identifying a network condition in dependence on a change in the measure of delay and a variation in the size of the jitter buffer, comprising identifying an increase in network delay in response to determining that:
(i) the change in the measure of delay indicates an increase in network delay and subsequently remains substantially constant; and
(ii) the size of the jitter buffer decreases below a threshold size and subsequently increases above the threshold size while the measure of delay remains substantially constant.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the identifying step comprises identifying congestion in the network if the change in the measure of delay indicates an increase in network delay and the size of the jitter buffer decreases below a threshold size.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the identifying step comprises identifying a change in a network route between the pair of network devices in dependence on a variation in the size of the jitter buffer about a threshold size.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the step of monitoring a measure of delay comprises:
determining a first time period between receiving a first-received packet for an initial media frame and receiving a first-received packet for a subsequent media frame, wherein each received packet comprises a timestamp;
determining a second time period between the timestamp of the packet for the initial media frame and the timestamp of the packet for the subsequent media frame; and
forming the measure of delay in dependence on the difference between the first and second time periods.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the step of monitoring a measure of delay comprises:
determining a first time period between receiving an initial media frame and receiving a subsequent media frame, wherein each received frame comprises a timestamp;
determining a second time period between the timestamp of the initial media frame and the timestamp of the subsequent media frame; and
forming the measure of delay in dependence on the difference between the first and second time periods.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
adjusting the measure of delay in dependence on the size of the jitter buffer;
at a first one of the network devices, sending an indication of said adjusted measure to the other network device; and
at said other network device, receiving said indication and adjusting a bandwidth for transmission of media to said first network device in dependence on said indication.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
at a first one of the network devices, sending an indication of said identified network condition to the other network device; and
at said other network device, receiving said indication and adjusting a bandwidth for transmission of media to said first network device in dependence on said indication.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
at a first one of the network devices, sending an indication of the measure of network delay and the size of the jitter buffer to the other network device; and
at said other network device, receiving said indication and adjusting a bandwidth for transmission of media to said first network device in dependence on said indication.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the packets are Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) packets.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the measure of delay is determined in dependence on RTP timestamps.

11. A data processing device for receiving a stream of media packets via a network, the device comprising:
a transceiver configured to receive media packets from another device via the network;
a jitter buffer configured to store the received packets; and
a controller configured to:
monitor a measure of delay in receiving the media packets over the network;
monitor a size of the jitter buffer; and
identify a network condition in dependence on a change in the measure of delay and a variation in the size of the jitter buffer;

wherein the controller is configured to identify an increase in network delay when:
(i) the change in the measure of delay indicates an increase in network delay and subsequently remains substantially constant; and
(ii) the size of the jitter buffer decreases below a threshold size and subsequently increases above the threshold size whilst the measure of delay remains substantially constant.

12. The device as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the controller is further configured to identify congestion in the network if the change in the measure of delay indicates an increase in network delay and the size of the jitter buffer decreases below a threshold size.

13. The device as claimed in claim 11 , wherein controller is further configured to identify a change in a network route between the data processing device and said another device in dependence on a variation in the size of the jitter buffer about a threshold size.

14. The device as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
determine a first time period between receiving a first-received packet for an initial media frame and receiving a first-received packet for a subsequent media frame, wherein each received packet comprises a timestamp;
determine a second time period between the timestamp of the packet for the initial media frame and the timestamp of the packet for the subsequent media frame; and
form the measure of delay in dependence on the difference between the first and second time periods.

15. The device as claimed in claim 11 , wherein:
the controller is further configured to adjust the measure of delay in dependence on the size of the jitter buffer; and
the transceiver is further configured to send an indication of said adjusted measure to said another device.

16. The device as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the transceiver is configured to send an indication of said identified network condition to said another device.

17. The device as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the transceiver is configured to send an indication of the measure of network delay and the size of the jitter buffer to said another device.

18. A machine readable non-transitory storage medium having encoded thereon machine readable code for implementing a method of identifying a network condition between a receiving device and a transmitting device, wherein the receiving device comprises a jitter buffer for storing packets received from the transmitting device via a network, the method comprising:
monitoring a measure of delay in receiving media packets over the network;
monitoring a size of the jitter buffer; and
identifying a network condition in dependence on a change in the measure of delay and a variation in the size of the jitter buffer, comprising identifying an increase in network delay in response to determining that:
(i) the change in the measure of delay indicates an increase in network delay and subsequently remains substantially constant; and
(ii) the size of the jitter buffer decreases below a threshold size and subsequently increases above the threshold size while the measure of dela

Assignees

• Imagination Tech Ltd

Inventors

• Annamraju Venu
• Ravuri Kiran Kumar
• Kamarthi Mallikarjuna

Classifications

• H04L47/283

  in response to processing delays, e.g. caused by jitter or round trip time [RTT] · CPC title

• H04L41/5025

  by proactively reacting to service quality change, e.g. by reconfiguration after service quality degradation or upgrade · CPC title

• H04L41/509

  wherein the managed service relates to media content delivery, e.g. audio, video or TV · CPC title

• H04L43/087

  Jitter · CPC title

• H04L47/11 Primary

  Identifying congestion · CPC title