Granted Patent B2

US 7,647,418 · App. 10/174,481 · Granted Jan 12, 2010

Abstract

Claims (44)

1. A streaming media measuring system, comprising:

a web server; and

a plurality of user-selectable agents;

wherein the web server is connected directly through a network to each agent, wherein each agent is configured to measure data from a media stream responsive to a user selecting the agent for the media stream, and to transmit the data to the web server, and

wherein the agent and web server cooperate to provide a user, prior to storing the performance characteristics in a storage database, with real-time performance characteristics associated with the media stream web in response to specific requests from the user.

2. A computer network for transmitting a streaming media, comprising:

a web server; and

a plurality of user-selectable agents in communication with the web server;

wherein each agent is configured to measure data from a media stream selected by a user for the respective agent, and to transmit the data to the web server, and

wherein the respective agent and the web server cooperate to provide a user with real-time performance characteristics associated with the media stream in response to specific requests from the user, and prior to storing the performance characteristics in a storage database.

3. A method of measuring performance data of a media stream, comprising:

responsive to a user request to measure performance characteristics of the media stream, obtaining the media stream from a streaming server;

measuring at least some of the performance parameters characterizing the media stream using a data collection agent selected by the user from a plurality of data collection agents;

receiving the media stream by the data collection agent coupled to the streaming server;

transferring at least some of the performance parameters from the data collection agent to a web server; and

transferring the at least some of the performance parameters from the web server to a requesting user terminal,

wherein the data collection agent and web server operate in combination to provide the user terminal with the performance parameters in real-time, prior to storing the performance characteristics in a storage database.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising formulating a report of the user terminal, wherein the report comprises information regarding at least one performance parameter.

5. A method as in claim 3 wherein the performance parameters comprise one or more measurements selected from the group comprising:

Domain Name System (“DNS”) time, first stat time, buffering time, quantity of data received, jitter, percent packet loss, packet loss, packets received, packets late, packets resend requested, packets resend received, packets recovered, packets resent, packets received normally, access/network errors, content errors, service errors, current bandwidth, clip bandwidth, and bandwidth ratio.

6. A method as in claim 5 wherein the performance parameters measured are selected based at least in part on the user request.

7. A system for measuring parameters of a media stream, comprising:

a plurality of data collection agents, each configured to selectively couple with at least one user-designated media stream and to collect data associated with the user-designated media stream, wherein the user designation is stored in a preference set;

a web server configured to communicate with the data collection agents and to obtain a request from a user for measurement of a user-designated media stream by a user-designated data collection agent, the user request including an identification of the media stream and a list of one or more performance parameters of the stream to be measured;

wherein the user-designated data collection agent is further configured to receive from the web server a parameter set defining a measurement of the user-designated media stream, and wherein the data collection agent is further configured to collect and measure media stream data according to the parameter set, and wherein the data collection agent is further configured to provide the user real-time performance characteristics associated with the user-designated media stream prior to storing the performance characteristics in a storage database.

8. The system of claim 7 , further comprising a user terminal coupled to the web server and configured to formulate the parameter set defining the measurement of the user-designated media stream.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the user-designated data collection agent is configured to transmit collected media stream data to the web server.

10. A system as in claim 7 wherein data measured by the user-designated data collection agent comprise one or more measurements selected from the group comprising:

Domain Name System (“DNS”) time, first stat time, buffering time, quantity of data received, jitter, percent packet loss, packet loss per time period, packet loss, packets received, packets late, packets resend requested, packets resend received, packets recovered, packets resent, packets received normally, access/network errors, content errors, service errors, current bandwidth, clip bandwidth, and bandwidth ratio.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein data measured by the data collection agent comprises at least one measurement of each of Domain Name System (“DNS”) time, first stat time, buffering time, quantity of data received, jitter, percent packet loss, packet loss per time period, packet loss, packets received, packets late, packets resend requested, packets resend received, packets recovered, packets resent, packets received normally, access/network errors, content errors, service errors, current bandwidth, clip bandwidth, and bandwidth ratio.

12. The system of claim 7 , wherein the user-designated data collection agent is further constructed and adapted to provide the user with real-time performance characteristics associated with the media stream by sending the performance characteristics to the web server prior to any storing of the performance characteristics in a database.

13. The system of claim 7 , wherein the user-designated data collection agent is further constructed and adapted to provide the user with real-time performance characteristics associated with the media stream by transmitting the characteristics directly over a socket connection to the web server.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the direct transmission does not pass through an agent interface server, ingestor, or database.

15. The system of claim 7 , wherein a parameter of the parameter set is a measurement time period, and wherein the selected measurement time period is less than the length of the user-designated streaming media.

16. The system of claim 7 , wherein the agent is further constructed and adapted to collect and measure media stream data a plurality of times during the transmission of the media stream, and wherein the agent is further constructed and adapted to provide the user with real-time performance characteristics a plurality of times during the transmission of the media stream.

17. A computer network comprising a system for measuring parameters of a media stream, the streaming media measuring system comprising:

a web server to receive user input for measurement of user-designated media streams, the user requests identifying the media stream and a list of one or more performance parameters of the stream to be measured;

a plurality of data collection agents, each provided in communication with the web server, the web server to receive user input identifying a particular data collection agent for measuring the user-designated media stream, each data collection agent responsive to communication from the web server identifying a parameter set including the performance parameters of the user input, the data collection agents to collect and measure media stream data according to the respective parameter set and to provide to a requesting user real-time performance characteristics associated with the respective media stream, prior to storing the performance characteristics in a storage database.

18. A system for measuring parameters of a media stream, comprising:

a web server to receive user requests for measurement of user-designated media streams, the user requests identifying the media stream and a list of one or more performance parameters of the stream to be measured;

a plurality of data collection agents, each provided in communication with the web server and based on user input, each provided in association with at least one media stream and, each data collection agent responsive to communication from the web server identifying a parameter set including the performance parameters of the user request, the data collection agents to collect and measure media stream data according to the respective parameter set and to provide to a requesting user real-time performance characteristics associated with the respective media stream, prior to storing the performance characteristics in a storage database.

19. The system as in claim 18 , wherein the performance parameters include one or more of:

Domain Name System (“DNS”) time, first stat time, buffering time, quantity of data received, jitter, percent packet loss, packet loss per time period, packet loss, packets received, packets late, packets resend requested, packets resend received, packets recovered, packets resent, packets received normally, access/network errors, content errors, service errors, current bandwidth, clip bandwidth, and bandwidth ratio.

20. The system as in claim 18 , wherein the providing of real-time performance characteristics is done prior to the real-time performance characteristics passing through any of: an agent interface server, an ingestor, or a database.

Assignments (11)