Patent ID: 8971356
Filing Date: 2015-03-03
Classification: H04J,H04L

Abstract:
1. Apparatus for monitoring a packet switched network, the apparatus comprising: at least one port for receiving and transmitting packets; a local clock; a packet inspector that uses time from the local clock to timestamp packets received at a port of the at least one port, copies timing information from the received packets if the packets are timing distribution packets, which are transmitted between a master clock and a slave clock in order to synchronize the slave clock to the master clock, and forwards the received packets for transmission from a port of the at least one port towards a packet destination that is not a packet source from where the packets originate; and an analysis engine that receives from the packet inspector the copied timing information and timestamps of a plurality of the forwarded packets, and processes the received timing information and timestamps to generate statistics and/or metrics sensitive to packet delay (PD) and/or packet delay variation (PDV) wherein the apparatus uses the timestamps of the received timing distribution packets and the copied timing information to monitor timing distribution performance of the network.