Patent ID: 7751449

Claim:
A method for simulating impaired packet conditions in a packet flow having a flow rate, the method comprising: receiving a first packet of the packet flow into a queue; receiving a second packet of the packet flow into the queue, the first packet directly preceding the second packet, wherein timing of reception of the first packet and the second packet is related to the flow rate; calculating a delay amount (DEL INST ) to retain the second packet in the queue based on an impairment condition command and based on a current delay variable (DEL CUR ), wherein the current delay variable (DEL CUR ) is determined based at least upon values of DEL CUR and DEL INST for the first packet; and releasing the second packet from the queue after the calculated delay amount (DEL INST ) has elapsed in reference to the releasing of the first packet from the queue; wherein the current delay variable is set equal to the delay amount if the current delay variable is less than a time related to the flow rate of the packet flow.