Bandwidth measurement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9325598-B2
Application number	US-201414564656-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 9, 2014
Priority date	Oct 10, 2008
Publication date	Apr 26, 2016
Grant date	Apr 26, 2016

Abstract

Methods for testing network bandwidth availability in a non-intrusive manner. By implementing occasional, base-line bandwidth testing, a more accurate indication of actual transfer rate results. When an application dependent upon network bandwidth is first executed, a series of file transfers takes place utilizing a series of different sized pieces of content.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for measuring bandwidth available to a mobile device, the method comprising:
in response to user browsing of content stored on a content server via the mobile device, transferring the content to the mobile device over a network to satisfy the user browsing of the content;
while the user continues to browse the content:
determining any other transfers taking place over the network;
transparently measuring a plurality of transfer times of the transferred content based in part on actual packet loss and stoppages in the transfer;
wherein based on the determining any other transfers taking place over the network, the measuring of each of the plurality of transfer times is performed at least one of continuously, according to a schedule, or randomly to ensure up-to-date measurements while preventing intrusive measuring;

determining a plurality of measured bandwidths based on the measured plurality of transfer times;
determining a network bandwidth to the mobile device based on performing statistical analysis of the determined plurality of measured bandwidths to reduce or remove any impact of anomalous bandwidth measurements;
based on the statistical analysis, storing the determined network bandwidth in a log of other determined bandwidth measurements, the log including times that each stored bandwidth measurements was determined;
identifying trends based on the stored bandwidth measurements;
based on the identified trends and the determined network bandwidth, determining an effective transfer rate for transferring content to the mobile device; and
providing the effective transfer rate to the content server;
wherein the content server, based on the effective transfer rate and based on a selection of a selected content by the mobile device, optimizes the selected content such that during transfer of the selected content to the mobile device, the effective transfer rate is not exceeded.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein optimizes the selected content comprises re-encoding the selected content.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein optimizes the selected content comprises selecting different formats of the same content.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein, the user browsing includes browsing through thumbnails.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein, the user browsing includes browsing through description of the content.

6. A system for measuring bandwidth available to a mobile device, the system comprising:
a processor;
a memory having instructions stored thereon that when executed by the processor cause the system to:
in response to user browsing of content stored on a content server via the mobile device, transferring metadata to the mobile device over a network to satisfy the user browsing of the content;

while the user continues to browse the content:
determining any other transfers taking place over the network;
transparently measuring a plurality of transfer times of the transferred content based in part on actual packet loss and stoppages in the transfer;
wherein based on the determining any other transfers taking place over the network, the measuring of each of the plurality of transfer times is performed at least one of continuously, according to a schedule, or randomly to ensure up-to-date measurements while preventing intrusive measuring;

determining a plurality of measured bandwidths based on the measured plurality of transfer times;
determining a network bandwidth to the mobile device based on performing statistical analysis of the determined plurality of measured bandwidths to reduce or remove any impact of anomalous bandwidth measurements;
based on the statistical analysis, storing the determined network bandwidth in a log of other determined bandwidth measurements, the log including times that each stored bandwidth measurements was determined;
identifying trends based on the stored bandwidth measurements;
based on the identified trends and the determined network bandwidth, determining an effective transfer rate for transferring content to the mobile device;
providing the effective transfer rate to the content server;
wherein the content server, based on the effective transfer rate and based on a selection of a selected content by the mobile device, optimizes the selected content such that during transfer of the selected content to the mobile device, the effective transfer rate is not exceeded; and
storing the network bandwidth availability information in a library.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein optimizes the selected content comprises re-encoding the selected content.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein optimizes the selected content comprises selecting different formats of the same content.

9. The system of claim 6 , wherein, the user browsing includes browsing through thumbnails.

10. The system of claim 6 , wherein, the user browsing includes browsing through description of the content.

Assignees

• Seven Networks Llc

Inventors

• Fiatal Trevor

Classifications

• H04L67/06

  specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP] · CPC title

• H04L43/0882 Primary

  Utilisation of link capacity · CPC title

• H04L69/28

  Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols · CPC title