System and Method for Analyzing the Performance of Multiple Transportation Streams of Streaming Media in Packet-Based Networks

摘要

A packetized streaming media delivery network carries many "streams" of differing media content. They often are from multiple sources and of different media types. The invention consists of a scalable hardware and/or software computing element resolving the network traffic into its individual streams for focused, simultaneous, and continuous real-time monitoring and analysis. The monitoring and analysis consists of delay factor and media loss rate which measure the cumulative jitter of the streaming media within the delivery network and the condition of the media payload. These measurements form a powerful picture of network problem awareness and resolution. The delay factor objectively indicates the contribution of the network devices in the streams' path, allowing for both problem prediction and indication. In one example, tapping a packetized network at various locations allows for correlation of the same-stream performance at various network points to pinpoint the source(s) of the impairment(s).