Patent ID: 7123589

Claim:
A method of determining a total processing overhead delay between a first node and a second node in a network connected to both the first node and the second node, the method comprising: a) determining interim transit delays processing overhead delays between adjacent nodes in a communications path between the start node and the end node including the following steps: a1) sending a first signal from a common node to the first node; a2) receiving a first response signal at the common node from the first node in response to the first signal; a3) determining a first round trip time, the first round trip time being a time elapsed between steps a) and b); a4) sending a second signal from the common node to the second node; a5) receiving a second response signal at the common node from the second node in response to the second signal; a6) determining a second round trip time, the second round trip time being a time elapsed between steps d) and e); and a7) calculating the transit delay between the first node and the second node according to the formula D ( X,Y )=| R ( NMC,X )− R ( NMC,Y )|/2 where D(X,Y) is the transit delay between first node X and second node Y; R(NMC,X) is the first round trip time; R(NMC,Y) is the second round trip time; and NMC is the common node; a8) subtracting a previously determined minimum transit delay between the first node and the second node with the transit delay between the first node and the second node; and b) calculating the total transit overhead processing delay between the start node and the end node by adding up the interim transit processing overhead delays.