Quality of experience (QoE) method and apparatus for wireless communication networks

• US 7,599,307 B2
• Filed: 08/23/2004
• Issued: 10/06/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Vidiator Enterprises Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Vidiator Enterprises Incorporated
• Inventors: Nagaraj, Raghavendra C., Sarna, Lalit, Tseng, Alan, Bhalod, Jayank M., Ma, Yanda, Seckin, Gamze
• Primary Examiner(s): Moe, Aung S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pasia, Redentor M
• Application Number:
  US10/924,740
• Publication Number:
  US 20050089043A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,870 Days
• Field of Search: 370229-235, 370/238, 370/252, 370/253, 370/346, 370/389, 370/400, 370/395.1, 370/395.21, 370/395.2, 370/395.4, 370/401, 370/437, 370/465, 370/468, 370/477, 709/203, 709220-222, 709/224, 709/226, 709230-234
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5006 Creating or negotiating SLA contracts, guarantees or penalties
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/04 Large scale networks; Deep hierarchical networks

Abstract

A Quality of Experience (QoE) framework provides a technique to assess the end user experience in a mobile wireless communication environment, such as 2.5G or 3G networks, or in any other wireless or hardwired communication environment. The framework is usable in conjunction with media streaming applications and enables a combination of network layer, transport layer, codec layer, and application layer measurements in extracting results. The extracted results can be used to monitor and improve, if necessary, the end user experience over severely variable network conditions.

Claims

1. A method usable in a communication environment, the method comprising:

defining a plurality of quality of experience (QoE) metrics indicative of a characteristic that affects quality in the communication environment;

performing a negotiation between a client and a server to determine at least one of the plurality of QoE metrics to be used during a session between the client and the server, wherein said negotiation is performed prior to play of media to start said session;

designating said determined at least one QoE metric as at least one accepted QoE metric, said performing the negotiation performed prior to play of said media to start said session including;

identifying which of the plurality of QoE metrics is supported by either the server or the client, or both;

determining a manner to deactivate said determined at least one QoE metric during the session;

modifying a particular QoE metric and re-negotiating the modified particular QoE metric to determine if said modified particular QoE metric is supported for the session; and

rejecting a proposed QoE metric, including said modified particular QoE metric, if said proposed QoE is not supported by either or both the server or client;

collecting metric data for said at least one accepted QoE metric during the session; and

communicating the collected metric data between the client and the server.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said communication environment includes a wireless communication environment.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said communication environment includes a hardwired communication environment.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said collecting metric data for said at least one accepted QoE metric during the session includes dynamically collecting the metric data at the client during the session as the client decodes or processes said media, which is received from the server.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said defining the plurality of QoE metrics includes defining one or more QoE metrics involving:

corruption duration, rebuffering duration, initial buffering duration, successive packet loss, frame rate deviation, and jitter duration.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said communicating the collected metric data between the client and the server includes receiving the collected metric data in one or more packets sent from the client to the server.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing the negotiation between the client and the server prior to play of media to start said session further includes:

acknowledging receipt of said proposed QoE metric during the negotiation;

determining a manner to communicate said determined at least one QoE metric during the session;

determining a frequency of communication of said determined at least one QoE metric during the session;

determining a configuration of said determined at least one QoE metric; and

determining parameters of metric values.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising evaluating the collected metric data and applying the evaluated collected metric data.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said evaluating the collected metric data includes organizing the collected metric data according to statistics and subjective modes.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein said defining the plurality of QoE metrics includes defining an individual QoE metric associated with the client.

29. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing the negotiation between the client and the server prior to play of said media to start said session further includes:

initiating the negotiation;

accepting or rejecting an initial QoE metric;

determining a range of said session over which said determined at least one QoE metric is to be measured;

determining a level of said determined at least one QoE metric; and

terminating the negotiation if certain conditions are met, including mutual agreement on final said at least one accepted QoE metric.

11. A system usable in a communication environment, the system comprising:

means for defining a plurality of quality of experience (QoE) metrics indicative of a characteristic that affects quality in the communication environment, including a client characteristic;

means for performing a negotiation between a client and a network device to determine at least one of the plurality of QoE metrics to be used during a session between the client and the network device, and for designating said determined at least one QoE metric as at least one accepted QoE metric, wherein said negotiation is performed prior to play of media to start said session, said negotiation performed prior to play of said media to start said session including;

identification of which of the plurality of QoE metrics is supported by either the network device or the client, or both;

determination of a manner to deactivate said determined at least one QoE metric during the session;

modification of a particular QoE metric and re-negotiation of the modified particular QoE metric to determine if said modified particular QoE metric is supported for the session; and

rejection of a proposed QoE metric, including said modified particular QoE metric, if said proposed QoE is not supported by either or both the server or client; and

means for communicating metric data of the at least one accepted QoE metric between the client and the network device during the session.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the communication environment includes a wireless communication environment.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the network device includes a server.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein the means for defining the plurality of QoE metrics defines one or more QoE metrics involving:

corruption duration, rebuffering duration, initial buffering duration, successive packet loss, frame rate deviation, and jitter duration.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein the means for performing the negotiation includes a QoE module means for analyzing the collected metric data, the system further comprising:

a dynamic bandwidth adaptation (DBA) module means for interacting with the QoE module means to make decisions related to quality based on the analyzed collected metric data;

a quality of service (QoS) module means for performing reporting alternatively or additionally to the QoE module means; and

monitoring and billing module means for evaluating the collected metric data.

16. The system of claim 11, further comprising client-side QoE module means for:

determining whether to switch the at least one accepted QoE metric ON/OFF for the session based on at least one consideration;

turning OFF the at least one accepted QoE metric during the session after having turned ON the at least one accepted QoE at a beginning of the session;

selecting a frequency of reporting the metric data;

selecting a range of the session over which the at least one accepted QoE metric is to be measured;

selecting a level of the at least one accepted QoE metric, including media and session levels;

dynamically obtaining the metric data while decoding or processing said media, which is received from the network device;

obtaining the metric data at various levels, including application, network, and codec levels;

distinguishing between voluntary and involuntary action of the client that has an affect on QoE;

maintaining an integrity of the QoE metrics that have been obtained;

selecting a means for transporting the metric data; and

changing a configuration of the QoE metrics while still collecting their respective metric data.

30. The system of claim 11 wherein said negotiation performed prior to play of said media to start said session further includes:

initiation of the negotiation;

acceptance or rejection of an initial QoE metric;

determination of a range of said session over which said determined at least one QoE metric is to be measured;

determination of a level of said determined at least one QoE metric; and

termination of the negotiation if certain conditions are met, including mutual agreement on final said at least one accepted QoE metric.

31. The system of claim 11 wherein said negotiation performed prior to play of said media to start said session further includes:

acknowledgement of receipt of said proposed QoE metric during the negotiation;

determination of a manner to communicate said determined at least one QoE metric during the session;

determination of a frequency of communication of said determined at least one QoE metric during the session;

determination of a configuration of said determined at least one QoE metric; and

determination of parameters of metric values.

17. An article of manufacture usable in a wireless communication environment, the article of manufacture comprising:

a storage medium having instructions stored thereon that are executable by a processor to;

define a plurality of quality of experience (QoE) metrics indicative of a characteristic associated with the wireless communication environment, including a client characteristic;

perform a negotiation between a client and a server to determine at least one of the plurality of QoE metrics to be used during a session between the client and the server, wherein said negotiation is performed prior to play of media to start said session;

designate said determined at least one QoE metric as at least one accepted QoE metric, said negotiation performed prior to play of said media to start said session including;

identification of which of the plurality of QoE metrics is supported by either the server or the client, or both;

determination of a manner to deactivate said determined at least one QoE metric during the session;

modification of a particular QoE metric and re-negotiating the modified particular QoE metric to determine if said modified particular QoE metric is supported for the session; and

rejection of a proposed QoE metric, including said modified particular QoE metric, if said proposed QoE is not supported by either or both the server or client; and

obtain metric data for said at least one accepted QoE metric during the session.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 17 wherein the instructions to obtain the metric data include instructions executable by said processor to receive the metric data as part of packets communicated from the client.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 17 wherein the storage medium is located at the server.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 17 wherein the instructions to perform the negotiation prior to play of media to start said session further include instructions executable by said processor to:

acknowledge receipt of said proposed QoE metric during the negotiation;

determine a manner to communicate said determined at least one metric during the session;

determine a frequency of communication of said determined at least one QoE metric during the session;

determine a configuration of said determined at least one QoE metric; and

determine parameters of metric values.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 17 wherein the instructions to obtain the metric data for said at least one accepted QoE metric during the session include instructions to obtain metric data related to any one or more QoE metrics involving:

corruption duration, rebuffering duration, initial buffering duration, successive packet loss, frame rate deviation, and jitter duration.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 17 wherein the storage medium further includes instructions stored thereon that are executable by said processor to evaluate the obtained metric data and to apply the evaluated obtained metric data.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 22 wherein the instructions to apply the evaluated obtained metric data include instructions executable by said processor to change any one or more of:

bitrate, frame rate, refresh interval and behavior, error resiliency, buffer behavior, maximum frame size, peak bitrate, fragmentation, retransmission, and other QoE characteristic.

24. The article of manufacture of claim 22 wherein the instructions to apply the evaluated obtained metric data include instructions executable by said processor to:

change either or both a characteristic of the server or the client characteristic;

use the evaluated obtained metric data for billing;

use the evaluated obtained metric data for reporting and monitoring;

or

use the evaluated obtained metric data in accordance with a subjective mode.

32. The article of manufacture of claim 17 wherein the instructions to perform the negotiation prior to play of said media to start said session further include instructions executable by said processor to:

initiate the negotiation;

accept or reject an initial QoE metric;

determine a range of said session over which said determined at least one QoE metric is to be measured;

determine a level of said determined at least one QoE metric; and

terminate the negotiation if certain conditions are met, including mutual agreement on final said at least one accepted QoE metric.

25. An apparatus usable in a communication environment, the apparatus comprising:

a quality of experience (QoE) module adapted to perform a negotiation between a client and a server to determine which at least one QoE metric from among a plurality of QoE metrics is to be used during a session between the client and the server, wherein said negotiation is performed prior to play of media to start said session, said determined at least one QoE metric being designated as at least one accepted QoE metric, the QoE module further being adapted to communicate collected metric data, corresponding to the at least one accepted QoE metric, between the client and the server during the session,

wherein said negotiation performed by said QoE module prior to play of said media to start said session includes;

identification of which of the plurality of QoE metrics is supported by either the server or the client, or both;

determination of a manner to deactivate said determined at least one QoE metric during the session;

modification of a particular QoE metric and re-negotiating the modified particular QoE metric to determine if said modified particular QoE metric is supported for the session; and

rejection of a proposed QoE metric, including said modified particular QoE metric, if said proposed QoE is not supported by either or both the server or client.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the QoE module is located at the client and is further adapted to collect the metric data while said media, which is received from the server, is being decoded or processed.

27. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the QoE module is located at the server, the apparatus further comprising at least another module adapted to cooperate with the QoE module to apply the collected metric data for at least one purpose.

28. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein said negotiation by the QoE module prior to play of said media to start said session further includes:

acknowledgement of receipt of said proposed QoE metric during the negotiation;

determination of a manner to communicate said determined at least one QoE metric during the session;

determination of a frequency of communication of said determined at least one QoE metric during the session;

determination of a configuration of said determined at least one QoE metric; and

determination of parameters of metric values.

33. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein said negotiation by the QoE module performed prior to play of said media to start said session further includes:

initiation of the negotiation;

acceptance or rejection of an initial QoE metric;

determination of a range of said session over which said determined at least one QoE metric is to be measured;

determination of a level of said determined at least one QoE metric; and

termination of the negotiation if certain conditions are met, including mutual agreement on final said at least one accepted QoE metric.