Patent ID: 8593985

Claim:
A transmitting apparatus that estimates an available bandwidth that is a bandwidth that can be used for data communication with a receiving apparatus, the transmitting apparatus comprising: a timer unit that generates a signal having a signal cycle corresponding to a predetermined unit time; a packet train generating unit that generates probe packets each of which is transmitted at the signal cycle corresponding to the unit time indicated by the signal, and generates at least one adjustment packet that is different from any of the probe packets and inserted between two of the probe packets, a number of the at least one adjustment packet generated corresponding to a measurement bandwidth that is a target bandwidth to be measured; a transmitting unit that transmits, at the signal cycle corresponding to the unit time, each of the probe packets having transmission time information that is information identifying a transmission time, and transmits the at least one adjustment packet between when one of the two probe packets is transmitted and when another of the two probe packets is transmitted; a receiving unit that receives return information from the receiving apparatus, the return information being obtainable based on a reception time of each of the probe packets received by the receiving apparatus and without being based on a reception time of the at least one adjustment packet; and a determining unit that determines the available bandwidth, using the received return information.