Patent ID: 7804777
Filing Date: 2010-09-28
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A device, comprising: a transceiver operable to transmit packets to and receive packets from a modem; and a logic engine configured to transmit first ICMP ping packets at a rate through an upstream path for a modem to an Internet node such that no throttling is triggered in the modem, the logic engine being further configured to transmit second ICMP ping packets through the upstream path for the modem to the Internet node at a rate sufficient to trigger throttling in the modem if the modem implements throttling, the logic engine being further configured to compare an average transmission time for the first ping packets to an average transmission time for the second ping packets to test for whether the modem implements throttling and, responsive to the test indicating that the modem implements throttling, to determine an upstream bandwidth for the modem by averaging a total packet size for the second ping packets by a total transmission time for the second ping packets, and wherein the logic engine is further configured to determine an upstream bandwidth for the modem if the modem is determined to not implement throttling by transmitting third ICMP ping packets of various sizes with a time-to-live variable equaling one to a nearest host on the Internet through the upstream path for the modem.