Method and apparatus for continuous access network monitoring and packet loss estimation

1. A method for estimating throughput between communication devices, the method comprising:

determining a first throughput of a first communication link that couples a first communication device to a third communication device;

determining time sequence information between the first communication device and a second communication device;

using the time sequence information and the first throughput to determine a second throughput on a second communication link that couples the first and second communication device, the first and second communication links sharing a common access network;

monitoring at least one of a network load, an access network layer error count, or a physical layer noise counter to obtain a monitoring result; and

using the monitoring result to generate a packet loss probability.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining time sequence information comprises determining a Round Trip Time (RTT).

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication link comprises one of a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) link or a Wi-Fi link.

4. The method according claim 1 , wherein probing comprises probing comprises probing at a probe rate that is exponentially distributed around a mean value.

5. The method according claim 4 , wherein the mean value is adjusted according to at least one of an impulse event rate or a delay in impulse detection.

6. The method according claim 1 , further comprising identifying a characteristic of an impulse noise event associated with a packet loss.

7. The method according claim 1 , wherein determining the first throughput comprises using a probing packet generator to apply probing to the first communication link to estimate the packet loss probability.

8. The method according claim 7 , wherein probing comprises using User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packets.

9. The method according claim 8 , wherein the first throughput is associated with one of an upstream or a downstream.

10. A method for estimating throughput between communication devices, the method comprising:

measuring a throughput of a first communication link that couples a first communication device to a third communication device, wherein the communication link shares a common access network;

determining Round Trip Time (RTT) between the first communication device and a second communication device that are coupled by a second communication link;

transmitting a packet from the third communication device to the first communication device;

measuring a packet loss rate associated with the packet by monitoring a sequence number of the packet;

monitoring at least one of a network load, an access network layer error count, or a physical layer noise counter to obtain a monitoring result;

using the monitoring result to generate a packet loss probability; and

translating the packet loss rate into a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) throughput according to the throughput and the RTT.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the packet loss rate is associated with packets in a transport layer.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising measuring a packet arrival jitter associated with the packet by monitoring arrival time stamps.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the first communication link comprises one of a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) link or a Wi-Fi link.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising attributing a low throughput event to problems in the Wi-Fi link when both a packet loss and the packet arrival jitter are detected.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprises attributing a low throughput event to a packet loss associated with the DSL link when packets are lost consecutively for more than a predetermined time.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein translating further comprises, based on the packet loss probability, outputting a TCP throughput range.

17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising, in response to the packet loss probability falling below a threshold, generating a measurement failure message.

18. The method of claim 10 , wherein measuring the packet loss rate further comprises comparing upstream and downstream packet loss rates to determine the packet loss rate associated with packets in the common access network.

19. The method of claim 10 , wherein determining the RTT comprises measuring the RTT for servers frequented by a user of the first communication device.