Monitoring voice quality in communication networks

• US 7,756,484 B2
• Filed: 07/14/2006
• Issued: 07/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Spirent Communications Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Metrico Wireless, Inc.
• Inventors: Topaltzas, Dimitrios, Horner, Jeffrey
• Primary Examiner(s): Edouard; Patrick N
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEE, JUSTIN YE
• Application Number:
  US11/457,655
• Publication Number:
  US 20080014883A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,460 Days
• Field of Search: 455/423, 455/187.1, 455/67.11, 455/67.14, 455/115.1, 455/115.2, 455/424, 455/425, 370/251, 379/10.01, 379/10.02, 379/12, 379/26.01, 379/27.01, 379/27.02, 379/27.03, 379/27.04
• US Class Current: 455/67.14
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2236 Quality of speech transmission monitoring

Abstract

A method for monitoring voice quality in a communication network. In a first embodiment, the method comprises the steps of: establishing a voice communication pathway (VCPW) between first and second telephone terminals; establishing speech cadence between first and second terminals, wherein the terminals alternate between opposing send and listen/receive modes such that when one of the terminals is sending a voice test message the other terminal is either listening for or receiving the voice test message and vice versa; and calculating a voice quality score for one or more received voice test messages. In a second embodiment, synchronous cadence is established between a plurality of telephone terminals and a voice recognition server (VRS).

Claims

1. A method for monitoring voice quality in a communication network, comprising:

establishing a voice communication pathway between a first mobile telephone and a second telephone-via the communication network;

wherein in a first mode of operation the first mobile telephone sends a first voice test message via the communication network and the second telephone is configured to receive the first voice test message;

wherein in a second mode of operation the second telephone sends a second voice test message and the first mobile telephone is configured to receive the second voice test message via the communication network;

establishing synchronicity between the first mobile telephone and the second telephone to repeatedly alternate between the first mode of operation and the second mode of operation;

wherein said establishing synchronicity comprises stretching a duration of an initial time period during which the second mobile telephone is configured to receive the first voice test message;

determining a first voice quality score for each of a plurality of first voice test messages received by the second telephone; and

determining a second voice quality score for each of a plurality of second voice test messages received by the first mobile telephone.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said determining the first voice quality score for each of the plurality of received first voice test messages comprises using a voice recognition application in combination with a quality measurement application, wherein at least one of the received first voice test messages is converted to a digital signal, and wherein the digital signal is compared to a corresponding reference phrase to generate an objective voice quality score.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising prior to said determining the first voice quality score for each of the plurality of received first voice test messages:

identifying a corresponding voice reference message for at least one of the plurality of received first voice test messages, and

synchronizing the at least one of the plurality of received first voice test message messages with the identified corresponding voice reference message to provide one or more pairs of aligned test-reference messages.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the voice communication pathway spans a public cellular network (PCN) linked to a public switched network (PSTN), and wherein the first mobile telephone is in communication with the PCN, and the second telephone is operably coupled to the PSTN.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the communication network comprises a public cellular network (PCN) linked to an integrated services digital network (ISDN), wherein the first mobile telephone is in communication with the PCN, and the second telephone is operably coupled to the ISDN.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising directing one or more voice quality scores to a remote computer.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising converting one or more received voice test messages into WAV format files, and directing the WAV files to a remote computer.

8. A method for monitoring voice quality in a communication network, comprising:

concurrently establishing a plurality of voice communication pathways between a plurality of mobile telephones and a voice server via the communication network;

wherein in a first mode of operation for each of the plurality of mobile telephones, one of the plurality of mobile telephones sends a first voice test message via the communication network and the voice server is configured to receive the first voice test message;

wherein in a second mode of operation for each of the plurality of mobile telephones, the voice server sends a second voice test message and said one of the plurality of mobile telephones is configured to receive the second voice test message via the communication network;

establishing synchronicity between each of the plurality of mobile telephones and the voice server to repeatedly alternate between the first mode of operation and the second mode of operation;

wherein said establishing synchronicity comprises stretching a duration of an initial time period during which said each of the plurality of mobile telephones is configured to receive the second voice test message;

determining a first voice quality score for each of a plurality of first voice test messages received by the voice server; and

determining a second voice quality score for each of a plurality of second voice test messages received by the plurality of mobile telephones.

9. The method for monitoring voice quality in the communication network according to claim 8, wherein at least some of the plurality of mobile telephones are communicatively coupled to a voice quality test unit configured to determine the second voice quality score for the second voice test messages received by the at least some of the plurality of mobile telephones.

10. The method for monitoring voice quality in the communication network according to claim 8, wherein one or more received first voice test messages are converted to one or more WAV format files, and wherein voice quality scores are determined by processing at least one of the WAV format files.

11. The method for monitoring voice quality in the communication network according to claim 10, wherein the WAV files are sent over the Internet to a remote computer for voice quality scoring.

12. A method for monitoring voice quality in a communication network, comprising:

communicatively coupling a voice quality test unit to a first mobile telephone;

establishing a voice communication pathway between the first mobile telephone and a telephone terminal via the communication network;

wherein in a first mode of operation the first mobile telephone sends a first voice test message via the communication network and the telephone terminal is configured to receive the first voice test message;

wherein in a second mode of operation the telephone terminal sends a second voice test message and the first mobile telephone is configured to receive the second voice test message via the communication network and to provide the received second voice test message to the voice quality test unit;

establishing synchronicity between the first mobile telephone and the telephone terminal to repeatedly alternate between the first mode of operation and the second mode of operation;

wherein said establishing synchronicity comprises stretching a duration of an initial time period during which the first mobile telephone is configured to receive the second voice test message;

determining a first voice quality score for each of a plurality of first voice test messages received by the telephone terminal; and

with the voice quality test unit, determining a second voice quality score for each of a plurality of second voice test messages received by the first mobile telephone.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the telephone terminal comprises a second mobile telephone.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

communicatively coupling a second voice quality test unit to the second mobile telephone, and

wherein said determining a voice quality score for each of a plurality of first voice test messages is performed by the second voice quality test unit.

15. The method according to claim 12, wherein the telephone terminal comprises a voice server.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising:

concurrently with said establishing synchronicity between the first mobile telephone and the voice server, establishing synchronicity between the voice server and a second mobile telephone to repeatedly alternate between the first mode of operation and the second mode of operation to communicate voice test messages via the communication network; and

determining a voice quality score for each of a plurality voice test messages received by the voice server from the second mobile telephone.

17. The method according to claim 15, further comprising:

transmitting the plurality of received first voice test messages to a remote computer system from the voice server; and

wherein said determining a voice quality score for each of a plurality of first voice test messages received is performed by the remote computer system.

18. The method according to claim 12, further comprising transmitting one or more voice quality scores determined by the voice quality test unit messages to a remote computer system

19. The method according to claim 12, further comprising:

identifying a voice reference message corresponding to one received voice test message, and

synchronizing the one received voice test message with the identified voice reference message to provide a pair of aligned test-reference messages.

20. The method according to claim 12, wherein said first mobile telephone is configured to establish synchronicity with the telephone terminal based upon receipt of an initial voice test message from the telephone terminal.