Patent ID: 8391167
Filing Date: 2013-03-05
Classification: H04J

Abstract:
1. A method of measuring a propagation delay between nodes in a packet network, the method comprising: transmitting a ping packet from a first node to a second node through one or more intermediate nodes and recording a departure time of the ping packet in a departure time field of the ping packet, the departure time comprising a time at which the ping packet is transmitted; determining an intermediate node delay of the ping packet at the one or more intermediate nodes through which the ping packet is transmitted; recording, at the one or more intermediate nodes, the intermediate node delay of each intermediate node in the departure time field to generate an accumulated departure time and intermediate node delay; and determining a propagation delay by determining an arrival time at which the ping packet arrives at the second node, extracting the accumulated departure time and intermediate node delay recorded in the departure time field of the ping packet, and subtracting the extracted accumulated departure time and intermediate node delay from the arrival time, wherein an amount of time for each intermediate node delay and the departure time are accumulated into a single amount of time, the single amount of time is recorded in the departure time field as the accumulated departure time and intermediate node delay, and the propagation delay is determined by subtracting only the single amount of time from the arrival time.