Patent ID: 7681131

Claim:
A computer-based method for presenting information regarding network performance and topology, comprising: displaying a first plurality of nodes in said network; displaying at least one first edge associated with said first plurality of nodes, wherein the at least one first edge is associated with first and second nodes from among the first plurality of nodes; measuring a first time for a first probe to travel from a camera node to the first node and for the camera to receive a response from the first node; measuring a second time for a second probe to travel from the camera node to the second node and for the camera to receive a response from the second node; determining the difference between the first and second times; and, displaying latency associated with the at least one first edge, the latency substantially equal to the difference, where said steps of displaying nodes, edges, and latency, measuring first and second times, and determining are performed by at least one general-purpose computer specially programmed to perform said steps of steps of displaying nodes, edges, and latency, measuring first and second times, and determining and the method further comprising: accepting data regarding a second plurality of nodes, the second plurality of nodes including a first node that has been reached and is included in the data and a second node not included in the data, wherein an attempt has been made to reach the second node and no data was received responsive to the data or wherein no attempt was made to reach the second node; generating a composite topology including the first and second pluralities of nodes and the first plurality of edges, wherein generating the composite topology includes selecting and fixing respective two dimensional locations for each node from the first and second plurality of nodes; and, displaying an animation of said composite topology, wherein the animation includes a plurality of frames corresponding to respective segments of a duration of time and wherein for at least one frame from the plurality of frames, less than all of respective nodes in the first and second pluralities of nodes are displayed, wherein said displaying, measuring, determining, displaying, accepting, and generating are performed by a specially programmed general-purpose computer.