US Patent 7643431 Distributed packet group identification for network testing

There is disclosed methods, a computing device, a storage medium, and an apparatus for testing a network. Received packets may have two or more packet group identification fields. The packet group identification fields may be combined to generate a packet group number. The packet group number may be generated by first masking unused bits of the packet group identification fields and then concatenating the unmasked bits. Test statistics may be measured, accumulated, and stored for one or more packet groups comprising packets having the same packet group number.