Method and system for region-based monitoring of video assets

• US 9,992,488 B2
• Filed: 08/18/2014
• Issued: 06/05/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pham, Hung John
• Primary Examiner(s): Chowdhury, Sumaiya A
• Application Number:
  US14/462,091
• Publication Number:
  US 20140375825A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,387 Days
• Field of Search: 725107, 725119, 348180, 348192, 382236
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5067 Customer-centric QoS measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/00 Diagnosis, testing or measuring for television systems or their details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/004 for digital television systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2402 Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876

Abstract

A method and system for monitoring video assets provided by a multimedia content distribution network (MCDN) includes an expert test monitoring platform (ETMP) configured to emulate MCDN client systems at a facility of an MCDN service provider. The ETMP may be used to test monitor MCDN performance by acquiring a baseband video signal and performing a test operation including at least one check point condition. The check point condition may be associated with a masked region of the video signal and may also involve a test of an audio channel. A plurality of test operations and/or check point conditions may be defined and executed on the baseband video signal, while the results of the test operation may be logged.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving user inputs indicative of;

a frame rate; and

an image mask indicative of a particular portion of a frame;

selecting, as a test unit, one of a plurality of multimedia handling devices coupled to a test network;

sending, via the test network, a command to a programmable switch of the test network to power up or power down the test unit in accordance with the command;

capturing, via the test network and in accordance with the frame rate, a plurality of frame images from a video signal from the test unit; and

performing a video checkpoint operation, the video checkpoint operation comprising;

comparing the particular portion of a first frame image from the plurality of frame images to the particular portion of a second frame image from the plurality of frame images; and

determining, based on said comparing, whether the video signal is static.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the video signal is static includes:

determining a degree of match between each pair of sequentially adjacent frame images over a particular interval of the video signal; and

identifying the video signal as static responsive to one or more of the degrees of match exceeding a threshold.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the degree of match comprises:

accessing a frame mask defining a masked portion of an image frame; and

determining a degree of match between the masked portion of each pair of sequentially adjacent frame images over a particular interval of the video signal.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the video signal comprises a multiview output including a plurality of video elements and wherein the masked portion corresponds to one of the video elements.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the video signal is static includes:

determining a degree of match between a known image and the first frame image.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining the degree of match comprises:

accessing a frame mask defining a masked portion of an image; and

determining a degree of match between the masked portion of the known image and the masked portion of the first image.

8. The method of claim, 1, further comprising:

configuring a video matrix switch to route the video signal to a frame grabber.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the video signal includes an audio component and wherein the method includes performing an audio checkpoint based on the audio component, wherein performing the audio checkpoint includes:

specifying an audio cutoff threshold;

monitoring decibel levels of the audio component for a particular duration; and

determining a result of the audio checkpoint based on whether the decibel levels exceed the audio cutoff threshold.

5. The method of 4, wherein the plurality of video elements includes a first element comprising a static image and a second element comprising a dynamic image.

10. A test system, comprising:

a processor; and

a computer readable memory device including processor executable program instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving user inputs indicative of;

a frame rate; and

an image mask indicative of a particular portion of a frame;

selecting, as a test unit, one of a plurality of multimedia handling devices coupled to a test network;

sending, via the test network, a command to a programmable switch of the test network to power up or power down the test unit in accordance with the command;

capturing, via the test network and in accordance with the frame rate, a plurality of frame images from a video signal from the test unit; and

performing a video checkpoint operation, the video checkpoint operation comprising;

comparing the particular portion of a first frame image from the plurality of frame images to the particular portion of a second frame image from the plurality of frame images; and

determining, based on said comparing, whether the video signal is static.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein determining whether the video signal is dynamic includes:

determining a degree of match between each pair of sequentially adjacent frame images over a particular interval of the video signal; and

identifying the video signal as dynamic responsive to the degree of match between any of the pairs of sequentially adjacent frame images exceeding a specified threshold.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein determining the degree of match comprises:

accessing a frame mask defining a masked portion of an image frame; and

determining a degree of match between the masked portion of each pair of sequentially adjacent frame images over a particular interval of the video signal.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the video signal comprises a multiview output including a plurality of video elements and wherein the masked portion corresponds to one of the video elements.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of video elements includes a first element comprising a static image and a second element comprising a dynamic image.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein determining whether the video signal is static includes:

determining a degree of match between a known image and the first frame image.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein determining the degree of match comprises:

accessing a frame mask defining a masked portion of an image; and

determining a degree of match between the masked portion of the known image and the masked portion of the first image.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the operations include:

configuring a video matrix switch to route the video signal to a frame grabber.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the video signal includes an audio component and wherein the operations include performing an audio checkpoint based on the audio component, wherein performing the audio checkpoint includes:

specifying an audio cutoff threshold;

monitoring decibel levels of the audio component for a particular duration; and

determining a result of the audio checkpoint based on whether the decibel levels exceed the audio cutoff threshold.

19. A computer readable memory device including processor executable program instructions, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving user inputs indicative of;

a frame rate; and

an image mask indicative of a particular portion of a frame;

selecting, as a test unit, one of a plurality of multimedia handling devices coupled to a test network;

sending, via the test network, a command to a programmable switch of the test network to power up or power down the test unit in accordance with the command;

capturing, via the test network and in accordance with the frame rate, a plurality of frame images from a multimedia signal from the test unit; and

performing a video checkpoint operation, the video checkpoint operation comprising;

comparing the particular portion of a first frame image from the plurality of frame images to the particular portion of a second frame image from the plurality of frame images; and

determining, based on said comparing, whether the video signal is static.

20. The computer readable memory device of claim 19, wherein the multimedia signal includes an audio component and wherein the operations include:

performing an audio checkpoint based on the audio component, the audio checkpoint comprising;

specifying an audio cutoff threshold;

monitoring decibel levels of the audio component for a particular duration; and

determining a result of the audio checkpoint based on whether the decibel levels exceed the audio cutoff threshold.