Presentation of real-time communication network measurement information

The presentation of packet-level communication network performance data to a user in an easy to assimilate, visual form by computer screen is considered. Standard presentation mechanisms such as bar graphs and numeric (text) displays require considerable concentration on behalf of the operator if more than a very small number of measurement values are presented. However, for many network operation tasks the initial requirement is for the relative value of the measurements and any trends in these measurements to be readily identifiable. A different approach to measurement presentation has therefore been considered whereby an object´s shape is distorted in proportion to the values of a set of measurement data. A casual viewing of the object therefore immediately indicates the relative values of the measurements. This approach has been applied to the presentation of packet delay values for a commercially operational network, and its use in a performance measurement system for the commercial communication network is described.