(12) United States Patent
`Knauerhase et al.
`
`USOO6215774B1
`(10) Patent No.:
`US 6,215,774 B1
`(45) Date of Patent:
`Apr. 10, 2001
`
`(54) SYSTEM FOR DYNAMICALLY
`DETERMINING EFFECTIVE SPEED OF A
`COMMUNICATION LINK
`
`(75) Inventors: Robert Conrad Knauerhase, Portland;
`Michael Man-Hak Tso, Hillsboro, both
`of OR (US)
`(73) Assignee: Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA
`(US)
`Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this
`patent is extended or adjusted under 35
`U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.
`
`(*) Notice:
`
`9/1997 Pepe et al. ............................. 380/49
`5,673,322
`11/1997 Ishida ..........
`... 395/342
`5,684.969
`12/1997 Rogers et al. ....................... 395/600
`5,701,451
`1/1998 Kremen et al. ...
`... 395/200.09
`5,706,434
`3/1998 Souder et al. ....................... 395/500
`5,724.556
`3/1998 Kikinis ........
`395/200.76
`5,727,159
`4
`5.742.905
`/1998 Pepe et al. ........................... 455/461
`2
`: 12
`6/1998 Gish .....
`... 395/200.33
`5,768,510
`9/1998 Chen et al. .......................... 382/239
`5,805,735
`5,867,494 * 2/1999 Krishnaswamy et al. ........... 370/352
`5.996,022 * 11/1999 Krueger et al. ...................... 709/247
`6,073,168 * 6/2000 Mighdoll et al. .................... 709/217
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`Armando Fox and Eric A. Brewer, “Reducing WWW
`Latency and Bandwidth Requirements by Real-Time Dis
`tillation,” Fifth International World Wide Web Conference,
`(21) Appl. No.: 08/957,468
`May 6–10, 1996.
`Armando Fox et al., Adapting to Network and Client Vari
`(22) Filed:
`Oct. 24, 1997
`ability via On-Demand Dynamic Distillation, University of
`Related U.S. Application Data
`Cal. at Berkeley, Sep. 1996.
`(60) Provisional application No. 60/042,073, filed on Mar. 25,
`* cited by examiner
`1997.
`51) Int. Cl." ................................................... H04J 1/16
`Primary Examiner Ajit Patel
`3. U.S. C.
`370/252, 709/:O3
`(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Kenyon & Kenyon
`(58) Field of Search
`370/250, 252
`(57)
`ABSTRACT
`370/253,389, 235, 236, 468; 709/232,
`233, 247, 202, 203, 217, 56.56, a A method for determining effective link Speed for commu
`nications from a first device to a Second device coupled by
`a communications link includes the Steps of transmitting a
`packet from the first device to the Second device, receiving
`a responsive packet at the first device; and determining an
`effective link speed for communications between the first
`device and the Second device using a period of time between
`the transmission and receipt.
`22 Claims, 3 Drawing Sheets
`
`(56)
`
`References Cited
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`8/1993 Omura .................................
`5,235,615
`12/1994 Weldy ...........
`... 358/523
`5,373.375
`5,477,531 * 12/1995 McKee et al.
`370,249
`5,517,612
`5/1996 Dwin et al. .......................... 395/166
`5,544,320
`8/1996 Konrad ............................ 395/200.09
`
`
`
`TRANSMI
`PING
`
`RECEIVE
`RESPONSE
`
`120
`
`CACULATE TIME
`FROM PNG
`TO RESPONSE
`
`DETERMINE
`EFFECTIVE
`LINK SPEED
`
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`U.S. Patent
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`Apr. 10, 2001
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`Sheet 1 of 3
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`US 6,215,774 B1
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`U.S. Patent
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`Apr. 10, 2001
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`Sheet 2 of 3
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`US 6,215,774 B1
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`
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`
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`TRANSMIT
`PING
`
`RECEME
`RESPONSE
`
`CAICULATE TIME
`FROM PING
`TO RESPONSE
`
`DETERMINE
`EFFECTIVE
`LINK SPEED
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`U.S. Patent
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`Apr. 10, 2001
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`Sheet 3 of 3
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`US 6,215,774 B1
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`|NB|| 10 XHOMIEN
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`US 6,215,774 B1
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`1
`SYSTEM FOR DYNAMICALLY
`DETERMINING EFFECTIVE SPEED OFA
`COMMUNICATION LINK
`
`This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional
`Application Ser. No. 60/042,073, filed Mar. 25, 1997.
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`
`2
`effective link Speed between a client device and another
`device, Such as a network proxy or a transcoding Server,
`through which the client device accesses content on the
`Internet.
`According to one particular embodiment of the present
`invention, a method for determining effective link Speed for
`communications from a first device to a Second device
`coupled by a communications link includes the Steps of
`transmitting a packet from the first device to the Second
`device; receiving a responsive packet at the first device, and
`determining an effective link Speed for communications
`between the first device and the Second device using a period
`of time between the transmission and the receipt.
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`FIG. 1 is a Schematic diagram illustrating an environment
`in which an embodiment of the present invention may be
`implemented.
`FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for deter
`mining effective link Speed according to an embodiment of
`the present invention.
`FIG. 3 is a Schematic diagram illustrating a network
`device in which a method for determining effective link
`Speed according to an embodiment of the present invention
`may be implemented.
`
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION
`Embodiments of the present invention provide the ability
`to determine a measure of effective link Speed for commu
`nications between network devices. Such embodiments may
`be used, for example, to Support transcoding Services pro
`vided by a network device through which one or more client
`devices acceSS content resident on a network Such as the
`Internet.
`Referring now to FIG. 1, which illustrates an environment
`in which embodiments of the present invention may be
`advantageously applied, a first device 2 is configured to
`transmit data to a Second device 4. First device 2 commu
`nicates with second device 4 through a network 6. Network
`6 may comprise, for example, the Internet. In one common
`arrangement, first device 2 may comprise a network client
`device and Second device 4 may comprise a network Server
`device. In Such an arrangement, the connection between the
`respective devices would typically comprise a Series of
`communications links. In another common arrangement,
`first device 2 may be configured to always communicate
`with external network devices, Such as Second device 4,
`through a network proxy (not shown). Proxy arrangements
`of this type are well known in the art. It should be noted,
`however, that the present invention is not dependent upon
`any particular type of network device, nor upon any par
`ticular communications medium or combination of media
`between the subject network devices.
`According to a first embodiment of the present invention,
`illustrated in the flow chart of FIG. 2, a method for dynami
`cally determining effective link Speed for communications
`between first device 2 and second device 4 (see FIG. 1)
`involves first device 2 transmitting one or more "pings to
`Second device 4. Such pings may comprise, for example,
`ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) echo requests.
`The ICMP echo technique is described in Douglas E. Comer,
`Internetworking with TCP/IP 127 (3d ed., Prentice-Hall
`1995). As is known in the art, when second device 4 receives
`one of these pings, it will immediately transmit a responsive
`ping back to first device 2. First device 2, having knowledge
`
`1. Field of the Invention
`The present invention relates generally to the field of
`computer networking, and in particular to a System for
`dynamically determining the effective Speed of a commu
`nications link between two network devices.
`2. Related Art
`Existing devices used to communicate information over a
`computer network, Such as the Internet, typically have
`limited capability for determining the effective speed of the
`communications links they use, and therefore little capabil
`ity to adapt their behavior to Such link Speed. For example,
`a device that is Sending a packet to another device over a
`communications link comprising multiple “legs, the Send
`ing device may have access to data relating to the raw
`bandwidth of the first leg of the communications link to that
`other device, but no data relating to the effective or usable
`bandwidth of the other legs. Existing devices typically rely
`on the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) to deliver their
`packets regardless of the condition of the transmission
`medium being used. Thus, users desiring to download
`information from a Web site, for example, are often required
`to specifically Select whether to download content that is
`either formatted for a relatively fast connection (usually
`higher quality or higher resolution) or a relatively slow
`connection (usually lower quality or lower resolution), and
`must make this Selection without having up-to-date infor
`mation about the effective speed of the link that will be used
`for the download.
`Knowing the effective Speed of an entire communications
`link between two devices, or even a reasonable approxima
`tion of the effective speed, can be highly useful. For
`instance, a device with Such knowledge may dynamically
`alter its behavior to make better use of the communications
`link, Such as by Scaling or compressing content prior to
`transmitting the content to a peer device on the other end of
`an unusually slow communications link. Effective link Speed
`information may also be used, for example, to adapt the
`quality of H.263 video transmissions, or to dynamically
`Select among Several communications linkS coupled to a
`multi-homed device, Such as a notebook computer having
`access to both cellular data dial-up and narrow-band Socket
`connections.
`Accordingly, there is a need for a method of dynamically
`determining the effective Speed of a communications link
`between two network devices. Moreover, there is a need for
`a method of determining the effective Speed of communi
`cations links between network devices without requiring
`changes to existing network infrastructure. In other words,
`to the maximum extent possible, the method should be
`transparent to, or at least compatible with, the existing
`communications capabilities of Standard network devices.
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`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`The present invention relates to Systems, methods and
`apparatus for determining effective link Speed for commu
`nications between network devices. Embodiments of the
`invention may be used, for example, to determine the
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`3
`of the number and size of the packets transmitted to Second
`device 4, can then track the times between transmission of
`a ping(s) and receipt of a responsive ping(s), and then use
`this information to derive an approximation of the effective
`link Speed. Increasing the number of pings Sent will gener
`ally result in a more accurate determination of effective link
`Speed.
`Looking more closely at the embodiment illustrated in
`FIG. 2, processing begins with the Source device transmit
`ting a ping, Such as an ICMP echo request, to the destination
`device (Step 110). The source device may record the system
`time at which the ping is sent. AS noted above, the ping is
`of Such a nature that the destination device receiving the
`ping will transmit a responsive ping back to the Source
`device. Upon receipt of the responsive ping (Step 120), the
`Source device may compare the current System time to the
`previously-recorded System time to determine the period of
`time which passed between transmission of the original ping
`and receipt of the responsive ping (Step 130). The source
`device may then use this time period to derive a measure of
`effective link Speed for communications between the Source
`device and the destination device (Step 140).
`For Some purposes, the use of a data object larger than an
`ICMP echo request as the original ping may permit a more
`accurate determination of effective link Speed. Referring
`again to FIG. 1, this may be especially true where first
`device 2 and Second device 4 communicate over a reliable
`communications link. Accordingly, in addition to echo
`requests, first device 2 may optionally transmit a predeter
`mined quantity of data, Such as a data object of known size,
`to Second device 4. By marking the beginning time and
`ending time for the transmission, for example, first device 2
`may derive a measure of effective link Speed in terms of a
`quantity of data transmitted per unit of time. First device 2
`may also maintain running totals and/or rolling averages for
`the information derived in this manner. Such historical
`information may be used, for example, to reject Subse
`quently obtained measurements that fall outside of an estab
`lished “normal' range.
`To ensure an accurate measurement of effective link Speed
`is obtained, it may sometimes be desirable for first device 2
`to ping Second device 4 only when the communications link
`between them is idle. Of course, since first device 2 and
`second device 4 will rarely be coupled by a dedicated
`communications link, first device 2 may be limited to
`measuring effective link Speed when its own communica
`tions port is not busy. This may be accomplished, for
`example, by implementing the measurement functionality as
`a "sleeping thread” configured to be invoked automatically
`when the communications port of first device 2 is idle. The
`use of threads in this manner is well known in the art.
`For most purposes, it will generally be Sufficient to derive
`a fairly broad approximation of effective link Speed, in effect
`Simply making a high-level distinction between a “fast' link
`and a “slow” link. For example, a “fast” link may be broadly
`defined as one with an effective link speed on the order of
`5x or 10x the effective link speed of a designated “slow”
`link. For other purposes, however, it may be desirable to
`arrive at a more detailed measure of effective link Speed.
`This may be done, for example, by increasing not only the
`number of pings used to measure link Speed, but also
`increasing the frequency at which the link Speed is periodi
`cally rechecked. In this way, devices using the derived link
`Speed measurement are able to be responsive to ever
`changing conditions of the communications links they use.
`Similarly, it may Sometimes be useful to distinguish
`between a measurement of latency and a measurement of
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`effective usable bandwidth for communications between
`first device 2 and second device 4. Effective usable band
`width may generally be viewed as a measure of the rate at
`which data may be put onto the communications link
`between first device 2 and Second device 4; whereas latency
`may generally be viewed as an inherent delay between the
`transmission of data from first device 2 and receipt of that
`data at Second device 4. Latency is generally governed by
`link speed (although intermediate link congestion is also a
`factor), and may be Sufficiently determined using as few as
`one ICMP echo request. Effective usable bandwidth, on the
`other hand, is governed by both link Speed and the quantity
`of data being Sent. Where the purpose of measuring effective
`link Speed is to control a transmission of non-realtime data,
`Such as purely textual or Static graphical information, a
`measure of effective usable bandwidth is generally suffi
`cient. Where, however, the purpose is to control a transmis
`Sion of realtime data, Such as live-action video, it is gener
`ally desirable to analyze both latency and effective usable
`bandwidth.
`For embodiments using echo requests and/or Some pre
`determined quantity of data, it is generally desirable to reject
`measurements which fall outside of Some predetermined
`"normal range. Such an approach avoids unduly skewing
`measurements as a result of one-time or otherwise anoma
`lous conditions.
`In one possible variation on the above-described
`embodiment, an assumption is made that the communica
`tions leg closest to first device 2 will always be the slowest
`leg in the link to Second device 4, and therefore only the
`effective speed of that first leg need be evaluated to derive
`a useful approximation of the overall effective link Speed.
`This assumption is generally a reasonable one, since the
`latter legs of the communications link between first device
`2 and Second device 4 would typically reside on the Internet
`backbone, which exhibits transmission Speeds far in exceSS
`of those possible with most common methods of providing
`a client device, for example, with Internet connectivity. In
`one embodiment of this variation, the method used by a
`UNIX utility known as “TRACEROUTE" may be used to
`identify a TCP/IP address for the closest host device in the
`communications link between first device 2 and Second
`device 4. First device 2 may then ping that closest host
`device as described above.
`Since the ICMP echo requests used in the above-described
`embodiments are understood by virtually all devices which
`communicate over the Internet, the foregoing embodiments
`can be used in a manner that is essentially transparent to both
`the destination device being pinged and any intermediate
`devices arranged between the Source device and the desti
`nation address.
`A measurement of effective link Speed according to the
`embodiments described above can be used for any number
`of useful purposes, including enabling a dynamic determi
`nation of whether data should be scaled or otherwise
`transcoded prior to transmitting it from one device, Such as
`a network proxy, to another device, Such as a client com
`puter. By way of further illustration, in accordance with
`another embodiment of the present invention illustrated
`schematically in FIG. 3, a method for determining effective
`link Speed Such as that described above may be implemented
`in a network Server 10 configured to manage the transfer of
`data from the Internet 18 to a network client 12.
`In this embodiment, network client 12 may be any com
`puter having Suitable data communications capability. Net
`work client 12 communicates requests for information to,
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`and receives information from, network server 10 over a
`client/server communications link 14. Client/server commu
`nications link 14 may comprise, for example, a So-called
`“slow network” using, for example, POTS (Plain Old Tele
`phone System) dial-up technology or wireless connections.
`Alternatively, client/server communications link 14 may
`comprise a so-called “fast network,” such as a LAN or WAN
`(Wide Area Network), which is capable of operating at much
`higher speeds than are possible with slow networkS. Com
`binations of these access methods are also possible. For
`example, network client 12 may use a POTS or wireless
`dial-up connection to a modem bank maintained by an ISP
`(Internet Service Provider), which is in turn connected to
`network server 10 over a LAN. Network server 10 commu
`nicates with computers resident on Internet 18 through
`15
`Server/network communications link 16, which may com
`prise any Suitable communications medium known in the
`art.
`In this particular embodiment, network server 10 includes
`a transcoder 20 having a parser 22 and a plurality of
`transcode Service providers 24. Parser 22 is configured to act
`upon data received by transcoder 20, Such as a request for a
`network object generated by network client 12 or a reply to
`Such a request provided by a content Server device. In this
`particular embodiment, parser 22 is responsible for Selec
`tively invoking one or more of transcode Service providers
`24 based upon a predetermined Selection criterion. In this
`context, the term “transcode” contemplates virtually any
`manipulation of data, including adding, changing and delet
`ing data.
`Transcoding server 34 also includes an HTTP(HyperText
`Transfer Protocol) remote proxy 36, capable of accessing
`Internet 18 over server/network communications link 16.
`HTTP remote proxy 36 differs from known network proxies,
`which generally are little more than a conduit for requests to,
`and replies from, external Internet resources, in that it is
`capable not only of examining Such requests and replies, but
`also of acting upon commands in the requests by, for
`example, determining whether or not to transcode content.
`Moreover, using transcoder 20, HTTP remote proxy 36 is
`capable of changing content received from Internet 18 prior
`to returning it to a requesting network client 12.
`Parser 22 manages the transcoding of data to be trans
`mitted from transcoding server 34 to network client 12. To
`this end, parser 22 controls transcode Service providers 24 to
`Selectively transcode content based on a predetermined
`Selection criterion. For example, one or more transcode
`Service providers 24 may provide the ability to compress
`and/or Scale different types of data content, Such as image,
`video, or HTML (HyperText Markup Language). In such a
`case, the Selection criterion (or one of a plurality of Selection
`criteria) may be the effective link speed of client/server
`communications link 14. Thus, parser 22 may be configured
`to first determine the effective link Speed and then Selec
`tively invoke transcode Service provider 24 based upon the
`results of that determination. For example, where the deter
`mination of effective link Speed indicates client/server com
`munications link 14 is relatively slow, parser 22 may invoke
`a particular transcode Service provider 24 to compress the
`requested data prior to transmission to network client 12. In
`this way, embodiments of the present invention may be used
`to increase the responsiveness of transcoding Server 34 to
`the ever-changing conditions of client/server communica
`tions link 14.
`Although the present invention has been described with
`reference to embodiments for communications over the
`Internet, perSons skilled in the art will recognize that it is
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`equally applicable to other networking environments. For
`example, embodiments of the present invention may be used
`to enhance data communications between a network client
`computer and an “intranet.” An intranet typically is a Secure
`corporate network modeled after the Internet architecture,
`and generally includes mechanisms for communicating with
`external networkS Such as the Internet.
`The foregoing is a detailed description of particular
`embodiments of the present invention. The invention
`embraces all alternatives, modifications and variations that
`fall within the letter and spirit of the claims, as well as all
`equivalents of the claimed Subject matter. For example,
`embodiments of the present invention may employ trans
`mission of data packets other than ICMP echo requests.
`Persons skilled in the art will recognize from the foregoing
`detailed description that many other alternatives, modifica
`tions and variations are possible.
`What is claimed is:
`1. A method for enhancing data communications from a
`first device to a Second device coupled by a communications
`link, Said method comprising the Steps of:
`receiving at a first device a request to transmit a data
`object to a Second device;
`transmitting a test packet from the first device to the
`Second device in response to receiving Said request;
`receiving a responsive test packet at the first device;
`determining an effective link Speed for communications
`between the first device and the Second device using a
`period of time between Said transmission and Said
`receipt of test packets,
`transcoding the requested data object to optimize its
`transmission to the Second device based upon the
`effective link speed; and
`transmitting the transcoded data object to the Second
`device.
`2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of
`Storing the determined effective link Speed.
`3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of:
`repeating Said Steps of transmitting a test packet, receiv
`ing a responsive test packet, and determining an effec
`tive link Speed to determine a current effective link
`Speed; and
`updating Said Stored effective link Speed based upon the
`current effective link Speed.
`4. The method of claim 3, wherein said stored effective
`link Speed is updated periodically.
`5. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitted test
`packet has a predetermined size, Said effective link Speed
`comprising a measurement of a quantity of data transmitted
`per unit of time.
`6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device
`comprises a network client and the Second device comprises
`an intermediate device for routing a communication from
`the network client to a predetermined network Server, Said
`method further comprising the Step of determining a net
`work address associated with the Second device.
`7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first device
`comprises a network client capable of Selectively commu
`nicating with a network Server through any of a plurality of
`intermediate routing devices, Said method further compris
`ing the Steps of:
`determining an effective link Speed between the first
`device and each of the plurality of intermediate routing
`devices, and
`Selecting one of the plurality of intermediate routing
`devices for a communication from the network client to
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`the network Server according to Said determined effec
`tive link Speeds.
`8. The method of claim 1, wherein said steps of trans
`mitting a test packet, receiving a responsive test packet, and
`determining an effective link Speed are repeated for a
`plurality of iterations, and Said effective link Speed com
`prises an average derived from Said plurality of iterations.
`9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of
`rejecting an iteration having a period of time outside of a
`predetermined range.
`10. The method of claim 1, wherein said steps of trans
`mitting a test packet, receiving a responsive test packet, and
`determining an effective link Speed are performed upon
`demand by the first device upon detection of a predeter
`mined condition of the communications link between the
`first device and the Second device.
`11. The method of claim 10, wherein said predetermined
`condition comprises an idle condition.
`12. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of deter
`mining an effective link Speed comprises measuring effec
`tive usable bandwidth between the first and second devices.
`13. The method of claim 12, wherein said step of deter
`mining an effective link Speed further comprises measuring
`latency between the first and Second devices.
`14. The method of claim 1, wherein said effective link
`Speed comprises a measure of latency between the first and
`Second devices.
`15. A set of instructions for enhancing data communica
`tions with a network device over a communications link, the
`Set of instructions being Stored on a medium for execution
`by a computer and comprising instructions for:
`receiving a request to transmit a data object to the network
`device;
`transmitting a test packet to the network device over the
`communications link,
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`receiving a responsive test packet from the network
`device over the communications link,
`determining an effective link Speed from a time period
`between Said transmission and Said receipt of test
`packets;
`transcoding the requested data object to optimize its
`transmission to the network device based upon the
`effective link Speed; and
`transmitting the transcoded data object to the network
`device.
`16. The set of instructions of claim 15, wherein said
`Storage medium comprises a magnetic Storage device.
`17. The set of instructions of claim 15, wherein the
`Storage medium comprises a memory installed in the com
`puter.
`18. The method of claim 1, wherein said transcoding
`comprises Scaling the data object.
`19. The method of claim 1, wherein said transcoding
`comprises compressing the data object.
`20. The method of claim 1, wherein said transcoding
`comprises enhancing the data object.
`21. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device and
`Second device are capable of communicating over any of a
`plurality of communications links, Said method further com
`prising determining an effective link Speed for each of Said
`plurality of communications linkS.
`22. The method of claim 21, further comprising Selecting
`a communications link having a fastest effective link Speed
`for the data communication from the first device to the
`Second device.
`
`Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. Ex. 1029, Page 8 of 8
`Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. v. Intellectual Ventures II LLC
`IPR2021-01378
`
`