Patent ID: 8773993

Claim:
A method of combining a plurality of streams of data packets into a single combined stream of data packets and transmitting the combined stream from a first device, the method comprising: identifying a first set of packets from a first set of streams; identifying a second set of packets from a different second set of streams; associating the first set of packets with the second set of packets in the combined stream such that the associated packets have a combined size that is at least a threshold size, wherein the threshold size is at least a size needed for a second device receiving the combined stream to use the associated packets to estimate the bandwidth between the first and the second devices, wherein the associating comprises inserting into a packet in the second set of packets information that identifies at least one packet of the first set of packets; transmitting the combined stream to the second device via a network connection between the first device and the second device; receiving from the second device feedback comprising an estimation of bandwidth of the network connection, wherein the estimation is based on the associated packets; determining, based on the feedback, that a set of packets having a size larger than the combined size of the associated packets would allow the second device to provide a more accurate estimation of the bandwidth; and increasing the threshold size in response to the determining.