Network Tap Point Delay Measurement via Traffic Segmentation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional network monitoring techniques are inefficient in detecting network delay on a granular scale, especially in complex LTE networks, as they require end-to-end data correlation and fail to provide meaningful insights into specific delay locations, leading to high hardware and resource usage costs.
Innovation Solution
A network monitoring system that captures and analyzes network traffic at separate tap points to determine delay specific to each point, eliminating the need for end-to-end correlation and providing granular delay statistics by correlating request and response data based on sequence numbers or transaction identifiers, and classifying transactions as ingress or egress to identify issues at specific nodes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional end-to-end data correlation techniques are used to monitor network traffic, then network delay can be measured, but the measurement precision is insufficient to identify specific delay locations and the device complexity and resource usage increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the network monitoring function into distributed network tap points at specific network nodes. Each tap point independently captures and processes local network traffic, segmenting the centralized monitoring approach. This segmentation enables granular delay measurement at each node without requiring complex end-to-end correlation, thus improving measurement precision for specific delay locations while reducing overall device complexity and resource usage.
2Loss of information
If conventional monitoring techniques are used, then network delay is measured at a high level, but the loss of information occurs as specific target locations where delay occurs are not provided
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces network tap points as intermediary devices deployed at specific network nodes. These tap points act as mediators that capture local network traffic and generate delay measurements at each specific location. This intermediary approach preserves information about specific delay locations that would otherwise be lost in high-level aggregate measurements, enabling efficient network troubleshooting by providing granular delay data without requiring complex end-to-end correlation.
3Measurement precision
If end-to-end data correlation is performed for network monitoring, then delay measurement is achieved, but the processing time and resource usage become unwieldy and expensive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by having network tap points capture and process local traffic data at each network node independently, rather than collecting all data first and then performing correlation. Each tap point pre-processes its local data to generate delay measurements immediately, eliminating the need for time-consuming end-to-end data correlation. This preliminary processing approach maintains measurement precision while dramatically reducing processing time and resource usage.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A network monitoring device monitors at least one tap point corresponding to a network interface between User Equipment (UE) and one or more additional nodes in the communication network, detects one or more transactions at the at least one tap point corresponding to the network interface with each transaction including request data and response data. The network monitoring device further determines a time associated with the request data and a time associated with the response data for each transaction, determines a delay time for each transaction for the at least one tap point by a difference between the time associated with the request data and the time associated with the response data, assigns the delay time for each transaction to one or more a predefined time ranges, and increments a count corresponding to the one or more predefined time ranges when the delay time is assigned.