Assessing performance and quality of a mobile communication service

• US 8,587,630 B1
• Filed: 01/18/2007
• Issued: 11/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Krinsky, Jeffrey A., Sarkar, Falguni
• Primary Examiner(s): Ramakrishnaiah, Melur
• Application Number:
  US11/624,567
• Time in Patent Office: 2,497 Days
• Field of Search: 348 1401- 1416, 455/67.13, 725/107, 725/105
• US Class Current: 348/14.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/00 Diagnosis, testing or measuring for television systems or their details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/14 Systems for two-way working H04N7/12, H04N7/173 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports

Abstract

A video quality monitoring system allows the operator of a user device to report on received video quality. The video quality monitoring system allows the device user to establish or accept a communication that includes video displayed on the user device via a communications network. The video quality monitoring system may provide a manual or automated user-feedback process for the user to specify information about the received video quality as perceived by the user. User feedback may be correlated with time, location, video server performance, call data records, network performance, road traffic and weather data to produce an association of network events and conditions that correspond to user quality ratings.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

establishing a communication to a wireless user device, the communication comprising a video transmission over a wireless network to the wireless user device;

accepting subjective received video quality information from the wireless user device, the subjective information generated by a user of the wireless user device;

correlating the subjective received video quality information with wireless network performance information affecting the wireless network;

reporting a quality of the received video in association with a relevant subset of the wireless network performance information, wherein the quality of the received video is reported without knowledge of a video source quality.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing a communication to a wireless user device comprises transmitting a stream of video images to the wireless user device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein accepting subjective received video quality information from the wireless user device comprises:

receiving data from the wireless user device indicative of a subjective received quality rating input by a user of the wireless user device, the quality rating input provided while the user was viewing the transmitted video.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the quality rating input is time-stamped by the wireless user device.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising receiving multiple instances of subjective quality ratings by a user, each rating time-stamped by the wireless user device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein accepting subjective received video quality information from the wireless user device comprises:

receiving data from the wireless user device indicative of a subjective received quality rating input by a user of the wireless user device, the quality rating input provided after completion of the transmitted video.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising correlating the subjective received video quality information and the wireless network performance information with user call data records, road traffic records, weather records, location data, or video server performance data.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the location data is determined by one of the group consisting of global positioning system data, time differential of arrival data, angle of arrival data, and user input data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein reporting the quality of the received video in association with a relevant subset of the wireless network performance information comprises reporting the quality of the received video in association with data specifically related to network performance data during time of the received subjective video quality information and location information of the wireless user device.

10. A system for assessing quality of received video without knowledge of a video source quality, the system comprising:

a wireless user device, the device receiving a video signal from a wireless network, the device accepting a subjective user input rating related to the received video signal;

a data correlator receiving the subjective user input rating and associating the input rating with a call data record of the user and wireless network performance information, the association producing a video quality assessment record;

a report generator, the report generator providing a plurality of video quality assessment records for examination, the records indicating the subjective user input rating providing an assessment of the quality of the received video without knowledge of the video source quality.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising a network database connected to the data correlator, the network database providing network link routing and switching element performance data for association with the input rating.

12. The system of claim 10, further comprising a video server connected to the data correlator, the video server providing performance and capacity data for association with the input rating.

13. The system of claim 10, further comprising a road traffic and weather data source for association with the input rating.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the data correlator also associates a time of the input rating and a location of the wireless user device with a time of the network event.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the time of the input rating is determined from a time stamp provided by the wireless user device.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the location of the wireless user device is determined by one of the group consisting of global positioning system data, time difference of arrival data, angle of arrival data, and a user input indicative of user location.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the subjective user input rating comprises a user input provided while the user is viewing an image from the video signal.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the subjective user input rating comprises a user input provided after the user is finished viewing an image from the video signal.

19. A computer readable medium that is not a transitory, propagating signal, the computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising:

accepting subjective received video quality information from a wireless user device, the subjective information generated by a user of the wireless user device viewing a stream of video into the wireless user device;

correlating the subjective received video quality information with wireless network performance information affecting a wireless network;

reporting a quality of the received video in association with a relevant subset of the wireless network performance information, wherein the quality of the received video is reported without knowledge of a video source.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein correlating the subjective received video quality information with wireless network performance information affecting the wireless network comprises correlating the subjective received video quality information with a time of input of the subjective received video quality information, a location of the wireless user device, and network switching performance data.