Methods and apparatus for providing a presentation quality signal

• US 9,037,743 B2
• Filed: 05/25/2012
• Issued: 05/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetScout Systems Texas, LLC (NetScout Systems Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Avvasi Inc (NetScout Systems Incorporated)
• Inventors: Kordasiewicz, Roman C., Joch, Anthony P., Gallant, Michael D.
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, THU HA T
• Application Number:
  US13/480,964
• Publication Number:
  US 20130318253A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,089 Days
• Field of Search: 709/205, 709/206, 709/231, 709/219
• US Class Current: 709/231
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/765 intermediate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/004 for digital television systems

Abstract

Apparatus, methods and systems using no-reference techniques for computing quality scores for audio and video components of a media session, where the quality scores are estimates of perceived quality by the viewer for the individual components of the media session. A presentation quality score is computed for a media stream by parsing a container of the media stream to determine media stream characteristics, estimating an visual quality factor and based on the visual quality factor, determining the presentation quality score.

Claims

1. A method of providing a presentation quality score for a media stream, the media stream transmitted in a media streaming session from a transmitting device to a receiving device, the method comprising:

prior to decoding the media stream, parsing a container of the media stream to determine at least one media stream characteristic;

determining a system resource availability;

selecting an analysis mode for the media streaming session based on the system resource availability, wherein the analysis mode is selected from a plurality of analysis modes available for selection, wherein, in at least one of the plurality of analysis modes, a video bitstream of the media stream is not parsed into a macroblock layer, and wherein, in at least one other of the plurality of analysis modes, the video bitstream is parsed into the macroblock layer; and

determining the presentation quality score using the selected analysis mode.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the presentation quality score is determined based on at least one device parameter.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising estimating a visual quality factor based on the at least one media stream characteristic, wherein the presentation quality score is determined based on the visual quality factor.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a representative quantization parameter for at least one frame of the media stream based on the at least one media stream characteristic.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising parsing the video bitstream of the media stream to identify at least one intra frame, wherein the visual quality factor is estimated based on at least one intra frame coding parameter of the at least one intra frame.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one intra frame coding parameter is selected from the group consisting of macroblock mode, coded macroblock size in bits, macroblock quantization parameter, transform coefficient size, transform coefficient distribution, frame size, frame rate and resolution.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising decoding the at least one intra frame, wherein the visual quality factor is estimated based on the at least one decoded intra frame.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising parsing the video bitstream to identify at least one inter frame of the media stream, wherein the visual quality factor is estimated based on at least one inter frame coding parameter of the at least one inter frame.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one inter frame coding parameter is selected from the group consisting of macroblock mode, coded macroblock size in bits, macroblock quantization parameter, motion compensation mode, motion vector magnitude, transform coefficient size, transform coefficient distribution and coded frame size.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising decoding the at least one inter frame, wherein the visual quality factor is estimated based on the at least one decoded inter frame.

11. An apparatus for providing a presentation quality score for a media stream, the media stream transmitted in a media streaming session from a transmitting device to a receiving device, the apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor, the at least one processor configured to execute;

a container parsing module configured to parse a container of the media stream to determine at least one media stream characteristic;

an analysis mode selection module configured to determine a system resource availability, and to select an analysis mode for the media streaming session based on the system resource availability, wherein the analysis mode is selected from a plurality of analysis modes available for selection;

a quality estimation module configured to compute an estimated quality of the media stream, wherein, in at least one of the plurality of analysis modes, a video bitstream of the media stream is not parsed into a macroblock layer, and wherein, in at least one other of the plurality of analysis modes, the video bitstream is parsed into the macroblock layer; and

a score estimation module configured to determine the presentation quality score using the selected analysis mode.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the presentation quality score is determined based on at least one device parameter.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the quality estimation module is configured to estimate a visual quality factor based on the at least one media stream characteristic, wherein the presentation quality score is determined based on the visual quality factor.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein a representative quantization parameter is determined for at least one frame of the media stream based on the at least one media stream characteristic.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the quality estimation module is further configured to parse the video bitstream of the media stream to identify at least one intra frame, wherein the visual quality factor is estimated based on at least one intra frame coding parameter of the at least one intra frame.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the at least one intra frame coding parameter is selected from the group consisting of macroblock mode, coded macroblock size in bits, macroblock quantization parameter, transform coefficient size, transform coefficient distribution, frame size, frame rate and resolution.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the quality estimation module is further configured to decode the at least one intra frame, wherein the visual quality factor is estimated based on the at least one decoded intra frame.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the quality estimation module is further configured to parse the video bitstream to identify at least one inter frame of the media stream, wherein the visual quality factor is estimated based on at least one inter frame coding parameter of the at least one inter frame.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the at least one inter frame coding parameter is selected from the group consisting of macroblock mode, coded macroblock size in bits, macroblock quantization parameter, motion compensation mode, motion vector magnitude, transform coefficient size, transform coefficient distribution and coded frame size.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the quality estimation module is further configured to decode the at least one inter frame, wherein the visual quality factor is estimated based on the at least one decoded inter frame.