Patent ID: 7596096

Claim:
A method for obtaining route and timing information for media packets through a network, comprising the steps of: inserting a number of hops designation equal to a predefined number into one of the media packets; distinguishing the one of the media packets from other media packets by inserting unique information in a header extension field; transmitting by a first network endpoint the one of the media packets to a second network endpoint via the network comprising network nodes; recording an identification of an n th network node upon a non-media packet being returned by the n th network node in a network path between the first and second network endpoints where n equals the number of hops designation in the one of the media packets causing the n th network node to return the non-media packet; incrementing by the first network endpoint the number of hops designation of the one of the media packets and repeating the steps of transmitting, recording, and incrementing upon the non-media packet being returned by the n th network node; receiving from the second network endpoint by the first network endpoint another one of the media packets transmitted by the second network endpoint in response to the one of the media packets; and calculating by the first network endpoint an amount of time for a round trip of the one and other one of the media packets between the first and second network endpoints and determining a route from the recorded network node identifications.