Patent ID: 8031602
Filing Date: 2011-10-04
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for determining an estimated level of occupancy for a buffer of a processing device in a communication system that comprises: a first data source that sends packets of information; the processing device that receives the packets of information from the first data source, stores information for at least some of the packets in the buffer, and transmits packets of information along a communication channel for reception by one or more receivers; a receiver that receives packets of information from the communication channel that were transmitted by one or more devices including at least some of the packets of information that were transmitted by the processing device; and the method comprises: recording receiving times for respective packets of information when received by the receiver; identifying a selected packet from the respective packets received by the receiver that is identified as having been transmitted by the processing device; deriving a start time from data conveyed by the selected packet, the start time corresponding to when the information conveyed by the selected packet was received by the processing device; obtaining an end time from the receiving time of the selected packet; examining information conveyed by packets of information that are received by the receiver prior to the selected packet and are identified as having been transmitted by the processing device to determine which of the packets received by the receiver are unique packets transmitted by the processing device during an interval from the start time to the end time; and deriving the estimated level of occupancy for the buffer from the determination of which packets are the unique packets and generating a signal that represents the estimated level of occupancy for the buffer.