Patent ID: 7525952

Claim:
A method for determining the source of audio signal degradation in an Internet Protocol (IP) telephony environment, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of: for each switching device of a plurality of switching devices that are configured on a network along a path between a first endpoint and a second endpoint, storing a reference version of an audio signal waveform at an originating device; transmitting, from the originating device to the switching device, the reference version of the audio signal waveform; receiving at the originating device from the switching device a second version of the audio signal waveform that represents the waveform after transmission at least to the switching device; computing at the originating device audio signal degradation that occurred between the originating device and the switching device by comparing the reference version of the audio signal waveform with the second version of the reference version of the audio signal waveform; determining which switching device along the path between the first endpoint and the second endpoint is the source of audio signal degradation based on the audio signal degradations associated with each of the switching devices of the switching devices; and storing an identifier of the source of audio signal degradation.