Patent ID: 7817568

Claim:
A method for measuring characteristics of a path between nodes by using an active testing packet based on priority, comprising the steps of: a) synchronizing system time of the nodes with a global standard time by requesting a management system to periodically send the global standard time directly in response to a global time synchronization request signal issued by a transmitting node, the transmitting node to issue the global time synchronization request signal directly in response to an inter-node delay test request message, issued by an operator, for a label switched path (LSP) between a test start node and a test destination node, wherein a snapshot of the global standard time is captured by the management system directly in response to receiving a global time synchronization request signal; b) forming, by the test start node, a priority-based testing packet according to an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the test start node and the test destination node of the LSP, a priority of the LSP, a size of the priority-based testing packet, a test starting time, a number of tests, and a test period˜subsequent to synchronizing a system time of the test start node and the test destination node with the snapshot of the global standard time; c) registering a frame sequence and the global standard time during transmission of the priority-based testing packet based on a predetermined test period and transmitting the frame sequence and the global standard time during transmission of the priority-based testing packet to the test destination node; and d) calculating a transmission delay time, jitter and packet loss by using a time stamp and a packet sequence information of a frame of the priority-based testing packet received by the test destination node and transmitting a result to the management system.