JP2014192710A - Voice communication quality measuring system, voice communication quality measuring method, voice communication quality measuring device, voice communication quality measuring program, voice communication quality requesting device, and voice communication quality requesting program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable accurate speech quality prediction performing quality measurement by the same communication scheme as an actual telephone call before the telephone call.SOLUTION: The invention comprises: voice communication quality requesting means that transmits voice packets at a prescribed interval via a network and requests measurement of voice communication quality; and voice communication quality measuring means that receives the voice packets from the voice communication quality requesting means and measures voice communication quality. The voice communication quality measuring means analyzes at least fluctuation in the voice packets and the presence or absence of packet loss, monitors the amount of storage, depletion and overflow situation of a jitter buffer, refers to preset quality criterion information, measures voice communication quality by use of each piece of measurement data of the reception state of the voice packets and the storage situation of the jitter buffer and/or combination of multiple pieces of the measurement data, and outputs the quality measurement result.

Description

  The present invention relates to a voice communication quality measurement system, a voice communication quality measurement method, a voice communication quality measurement device, a voice communication quality measurement program, a voice communication quality request device, and a voice communication quality request program. It can be applied to a system for notifying the user of the call quality of voice communication via the Internet.

  IP phone using the Internet is a call through a network without QoS guarantee. Depending on the network traffic situation, packets may be lost or delayed, and voice skipping or voice delay may occur, resulting in trouble in the call. It may be quality.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-151561 describes a technique for measuring call communication before a call and notifying the user of the call quality.

JP 2005-79664 A JP 2004-48680 A

  In recent years, with the spread of high-performance mobile phones, so-called smartphones, so-called Over The Top (OTT) IP phone services that allow voice calls over the mobile Internet have appeared and are becoming widespread.

  However, the IP phone service of OTT is a call through a network that is not subjected to QoS control, and in addition to mobile-specific factors such as radio wave conditions and the number of terminals in the base station, ensuring a certain call quality difficult.

  In particular, the quality level of the mobile Internet differs between the upstream direction (the direction in which the terminal transmits) and the downstream direction (the direction in which the terminal receives). In particular, the upstream direction has a structure in which quality is likely to deteriorate. For this reason, when the voice quality heard by the other party making a call deteriorates, the other party feels uncomfortable, which hinders the use in business scenes and the like.

  Therefore, it is desirable to notify the user of the expected call quality before starting the call. However, since the technology described in Patent Document 1 has a measurement function only on the terminal side, it can only measure quality in a round trip from the terminal to the server (upward direction) and from the server to the terminal (downward direction). In the case of measuring the fluctuation of the image, there is a problem that when the fluctuation occurs alternately in the upward direction and the downward direction, the fluctuation is not visible.

  Further, for fluctuations, measures are taken using, for example, the technique described in Patent Document 2, and fluctuations do not lead to immediate deterioration in call quality, and the accuracy of the notified call quality is too high. It was not a thing.

  Therefore, a voice communication quality measurement system, a voice communication quality measurement method, a voice communication quality measurement device, which can perform a call quality prediction with high accuracy by performing quality measurement by the same communication method as an actual call prior to the call, There is a need for a voice communication quality measurement program, a voice communication quality requesting device, and a voice communication quality request program.

  In order to solve this problem, the first aspect of the present invention is: (1) voice communication quality requesting means for requesting measurement of voice communication quality by transmitting voice packets at predetermined intervals via a network; Voice communication quality measuring means for receiving voice packets from the voice communication quality requesting means and measuring voice communication quality, and the voice communication quality requesting means saves one or a plurality of voice files; An audio packet transmission unit that transmits audio packets including an audio file acquired from the audio file storage unit at a predetermined interval, and the audio communication quality measurement means includes at least fluctuations in audio packets from the audio packet transmission unit and packet loss. Received packet analyzer for analyzing presence / absence, jitter buffer for storing voice packets from voice packet transmitter, and storing of jitter buffer Jitter buffer monitoring section that monitors the amount, depletion / overflow status, and preset quality criteria information, and voice packet fluctuation, packet loss, jitter buffer accumulation, underflow count, overflow count A quality measurement unit that measures voice communication quality using each measurement data and / or a combination of a plurality of measurement data, and a quality measurement result notification unit that notifies a quality measurement result by the quality measurement unit to the voice communication quality request means, The voice communication quality measurement system is characterized in that the voice communication quality request means includes a quality measurement result output unit that outputs the quality measurement result from the quality measurement result notification unit.

  The second aspect of the present invention is: (1) a voice communication quality requesting step in which voice communication quality requesting means transmits voice packets at predetermined intervals via a network to request measurement of voice communication quality; and (2) voice. A communication quality measuring means having a voice communication quality measuring step of receiving a voice packet from the voice communication quality requesting means and measuring the voice communication quality, wherein the voice communication quality requesting means stores one or a plurality of voice files. The voice packet including the voice file acquired from the voice file storage unit is transmitted at a predetermined interval, and the voice communication quality measuring means analyzes at least the fluctuation of the voice packet from the voice packet transmission unit and the presence or absence of the packet loss, and the voice Monitor the amount of jitter buffer accumulation that accumulates voice packets from the packet transmission unit, the depletion / overflow status, and refer to preset quality criteria information, Voice communication quality is measured using voice packet fluctuation, packet loss, jitter buffer accumulation, underflow count, overflow count measurement data and / or a combination of multiple measurement data, and the measured quality measurement results Is sent to the voice communication quality requesting means, and the voice communication quality requesting means outputs the quality measurement result notified from the voice communication quality measuring means.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a voice communication quality measuring device for measuring voice communication quality by receiving voice packets transmitted at predetermined intervals from the voice communication quality requesting means via a network. Received packet analysis means for analyzing the presence and absence of voice packet fluctuations and packet loss from the packet, jitter buffer for storing voice packets from the voice communication quality request means, jitter buffer storage amount, and jitter for monitoring depletion / overflow status Refers to buffer monitoring means and preset quality judgment standard information, and each measurement data and / or a plurality of measurement data of voice packet fluctuation, packet loss, jitter buffer accumulation amount, underflow number, overflow number Quality measurement means that measures voice communication quality using a combination of That is a voice communication quality measuring apparatus comprising: a quality measurement result notifying means for notifying the voice communication quality request unit quality measurement results.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a voice communication quality measurement program for measuring voice communication quality by receiving voice packets transmitted at predetermined intervals from a voice communication quality request means via a network. Receive packet analysis means for analyzing the presence or absence of voice packet fluctuations and packet loss from quality request means, jitter buffer for storing voice packets from voice communication quality request means, jitter buffer accumulation amount, depletion / overflow status Jitter buffer monitoring means to be monitored and reference to preset quality judgment standard information, measurement data of fluctuation of voice packet, presence / absence of packet loss, accumulated amount of jitter buffer, number of underflows, number of overflows and / or plural Quality measurement to measure voice communication quality using a combination of measurement data And the step, a voice communication quality measurement program for causing to function quality measurement result by the quality measuring means as the quality measurement result notifying means for notifying the voice communication quality request unit.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a voice communication quality requesting apparatus that requests voice communication quality measurement apparatus to transmit voice packets at predetermined intervals to a voice communication quality measurement apparatus over a network, and requests one or more voices A voice file storing means for storing the file, a voice packet transmitting means for transmitting voice packets including the voice file acquired from the voice file storing means at predetermined intervals, and a notification of the quality measurement result measured by the voice communication quality requesting device. And a quality measurement result output means for outputting the notified quality measurement result.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a voice communication quality request program for transmitting a voice packet at a predetermined interval to a voice communication quality measuring apparatus via a network and requesting measurement of the voice communication quality. Audio file storage means for storing a plurality of audio files, audio packet transmission means for transmitting audio packets including audio files acquired from the audio file storage means at predetermined intervals, and quality measurement results measured by the audio communication quality requesting device The voice communication quality request program is made to function as quality measurement result output means for outputting the notified quality measurement result.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to perform call quality prediction with high accuracy by performing quality measurement by the same communication method as that of an actual call prior to the call.

It is a block diagram which shows the whole structure of the audio | voice communication quality measurement system of embodiment, and the structure of the terminal side and the audio | voice communication quality measurement apparatus side. It is a sequence diagram which shows the operation | movement of the audio | voice communication quality measurement process which concerns on embodiment (the 1). It is a sequence diagram which shows the operation | movement of the audio | voice communication quality measurement process which concerns on embodiment (the 2). It is a sequence diagram which shows the operation | movement of the audio | voice communication quality measurement process which concerns on embodiment (the 3). It is a flowchart which shows the detailed operation | movement of the packet analysis process in the received packet analysis part which concerns on embodiment (the 1). It is a flowchart which shows the detailed operation | movement of the packet analysis process in the received packet analysis part which concerns on embodiment. It is explanatory drawing explaining the judgment result of the packet analysis process by the received packet analysis part which concerns on embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the quality judgment process by the quality measurement reception part of embodiment.

(A) Main Embodiments Next, embodiments of the voice communication quality measuring system, voice communication quality measuring method, voice communication quality measuring apparatus, voice communication quality measuring program, voice communication quality requesting apparatus, and voice communication quality request program according to the present invention. Will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(A-1) Configuration of Embodiment FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing the overall configuration of the voice communication quality measurement system of the embodiment and the configurations of the terminal side and the voice communication quality measurement device side.

  In FIG. 1, a voice communication quality measurement system 10 according to the embodiment includes a mobile network 1, the Internet 2, a service provider network 3, a voice public network 4, a mobile terminal 5, a voice gateway 7, and a base station 8.

  The mobile network 1 is a mobile communication network and is connected to the service provider network 3 via the Internet 2. The mobile network 1 has a base station 8 that performs wireless communication with the mobile terminal 5.

  The service provider network 3 is connected to the mobile network 1 via the Internet 2 and is connected to the voice public network 4.

  The portable terminal 5 communicates with the base station 8 in the mobile network 1 by wireless communication, and has a call function through the Internet 2. The mobile terminal 5 can be widely applied as long as it has a call function through the Internet. For example, a smartphone, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a portable computer, a personal computer (notebook personal computer, desktop personal computer). Etc.), game terminals, television devices and the like can be widely applied. In this embodiment, in order to explain easily, the case where the portable terminal 5 is a smart phone is illustrated.

  The portable terminal 5 includes a voice communication unit 50 and a voice communication quality requesting device 60. Here, the portable terminal 5 includes, for example, a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an EEPROM, an input / output interface unit, a communication unit, and the like.

  The functions realized by the portable terminal 5 are realized by the CPU reading a processing program stored in the ROM and executing it using necessary data. The processing program can be downloaded to a storage unit (not shown) of the mobile terminal 5 through a network, and the installed processing program may be executed by the CPU. Even in such a case, the processing program can be shown as causing the CPU to function as the functional block shown in FIG.

  The voice communication unit 50 performs voice communication through the Internet 2. For example, the voice communication unit 50 can be an application that performs a call function on the mobile terminal 5.

  The voice communication quality requesting device 60 requests the voice communication quality measuring device 70 described later to measure the voice communication quality in the upstream direction when voice communication is performed by the voice communication unit 50. For example, the voice communication quality requesting device 60 can be a voice communication quality measurement application on the portable terminal 5.

  The voice communication quality requesting device 60 includes a quality measuring unit 61, a test packet transmitting unit 62, a quality state display unit 63, and a voice file storage unit 64.

  The quality measuring unit 61 requests the voice communication quality measuring apparatus 70 described later to start voice communication quality measurement. For example, the quality measurement unit 61 makes a quality measurement start request to the voice communication quality measurement device 70 when the voice communication unit 50 is activated in the mobile terminal 5. That is, after the voice communication unit 50 is activated, the quality measurement unit 61 measures the quality of the uplink voice communication before the voice communication by the voice communication unit 50 is started.

  Upon receiving notification of test packet transmission destination information (such as an IP address) from the voice communication quality measurement device 70, the quality measurement unit 62 provides the transmission destination information to the test packet transmission unit 62 to transmit the test packet. Make a request.

  Further, the quality measurement unit 61 performs voice communication quality measurement using the test packet for a predetermined time, and when the predetermined time has elapsed, issues a quality measurement end request to the voice communication quality measurement device 70. As described above, the quality measurement using the test packet is executed for a predetermined time in order to display the quality measurement result of the uplink voice communication before the voice communication unit 50 starts the voice communication. . Here, the quality measurement time using the test packet is not particularly limited as long as the quality measurement result can be displayed before the start of voice communication. For example, it may be about 5 seconds to 10 seconds. it can.

  When the quality measurement unit 61 receives the notification of the quality measurement result from the voice communication quality measurement device 70, the quality measurement unit 61 gives the notified quality measurement result to the quality state display unit 63 and displays it before the start of voice communication.

  When the test packet transmission unit 62 receives the transmission destination information that is the transmission destination of the test packet from the quality measurement unit 61, the test packet transmission unit 62 acquires the audio file from the audio file storage unit 64 and transmits the test packet including the audio file to the transmission destination. To do.

  When the quality state display unit 63 acquires the quality measurement result from the quality measurement unit 61, the quality state display unit 63 displays the quality measurement result on a display unit (not shown) of the mobile terminal 5. For example, the quality measurement result indicates the quality of voice communication in several stages (for example, 3 stages, 4 stages, and 5 stages), and the quality status display unit 63 displays blue (call quality is good), yellow It may be displayed in a color such as (there is a concern about the call quality), red (the call quality is poor), or the communication quality may be displayed in a pattern or the like.

  The audio file storage unit 64 stores one or a plurality of audio files used for call quality measurement. The audio file stored in the audio file storage unit 64 includes information that allows the audio communication quality measuring device 70 to determine whether sound is present or not. The audio file has an arbitrary sound period and an arbitrary silence period. In addition, the sound file may include a sound part and a soundless part alternately or arbitrarily repeatedly.

  For example, the audio file may be an audio signal including a sound pattern and a silence pattern based on actual sound. Further, for example, the audio file may not be an actual audio, but may be an audio signal such as music, or a synthesized signal of an audio frequency band such as DTMF (Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency). Also good. Here, the audio file means a concept including an audio signal, an acoustic signal, a DTMF signal, or the like.

  The voice gateway 7 is arranged on the service provider network 3 and mediates voice packets between the voice communication unit 50 that is a call application of the portable terminal 5 and the voice communication unit 50 facing the voice communication unit 50, or the portable terminal 5 is used to mediate voice packets between the voice communication unit 50, which is a call application 5, and a telephone terminal (not shown) in the voice public network 4.

  The voice gateway 7 includes a voice communication quality measuring device 70 that measures voice communication quality. Here, the voice gateway 7 has, for example, a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an EEPROM, an input / output interface unit, a communication unit, and the like. For example, it is realized by the CPU reading a processing program (speech communication quality measurement program) stored in the ROM and executing it using necessary data. The processing program (voice communication quality measurement program) can be downloaded to a storage unit (not shown) of the voice gateway 7 through a network, and the installed processing program may be executed by the CPU. Even in such a case, the processing program can be shown as causing the CPU to function as the functional block shown in FIG.

  The voice communication quality measuring device 70 measures the voice communication quality using the test packet transmitted from the voice communication quality requesting device 60. The voice communication quality measuring device 70 includes a quality measurement receiving unit 71, a test packet receiving unit 72, a received packet analyzing unit 73, a jitter buffer 74, a jitter buffer monitoring unit 75, and a data storage unit 76.

  When receiving a voice communication quality measurement start request from the voice communication quality measurement requesting device 60, the quality measurement accepting unit 71 notifies the voice communication quality measurement requesting device 60 of the transmission destination information of the test packet. That is, the quality measurement accepting unit 71 notifies the test packet transmission destination information including the address information of the test packet receiving unit 72.

  When the quality measurement accepting unit 71 obtains a voice communication quality measurement end request from the voice communication quality measurement requesting device 60, the quality measurement accepting unit 71 stores measurement data relating to the reception status of the test packet stored in the data storage unit 76, Based on the accumulation status and the quality judgment reference data, the quality related to voice communication is judged. Furthermore, the quality measurement receiving unit 71 notifies the voice communication quality measurement requesting device 60 of the determined quality measurement result.

The test packet receiving unit 72 receives a test packet from the voice communication quality measurement requesting device 60 and gives the received test packet to the received packet analyzing unit 73. Further, the test packet receiving unit 72 accumulates the received test packet in the jitter buffer 74. Further, the test packet receiving unit 72 determines whether or not an overflow (cannot be stored) occurs when the jitter buffer 74 is accumulated, and determines the number of overflows. The received packet analysis unit 73 acquires the test packet received by the test packet receiving unit 72, The reception status of the received test packet is analyzed. Specifically, the received packet analysis unit 73 determines whether or not there is a loss of the received packet, calculates the reception interval of the received packet, and if there is a packet loss, the lost packet is a voice packet or silence. It is determined whether it is a packet.

  The jitter buffer 74 temporarily holds the test packet received by the test packet receiving unit 72.

  The jitter buffer monitoring unit 75 manages the accumulated amount of the jitter buffer 74. Specifically, the jitter buffer monitoring unit 75 monitors the accumulation amount of the jitter buffer 74, whether the jitter buffer 74 is underflowing, and determines the number of underflows.

  The data storage unit 76 stores the analysis result by the received packet analysis unit 73 and the monitoring result by the jitter buffer monitoring unit 75 as statistical information. The data storage unit 76 stores quality determination reference data for determining communication quality. Specifically, the statistical information stored in the data storage unit 76 includes the number of received packets, the number of voice packet losses, the number of silent packet losses, the reception packet interval, the amount of jitter buffer accumulation, the number of jitter buffer underflows, and the jitter buffer overflow. Number is stored.

(A-2) Operation of Embodiment Next, the operation of the voice communication quality measurement process in the voice communication quality measurement system 10 according to this embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(A-2-1) Overall Processing of Voice Communication Quality Measurement Process FIGS. 2 to 4 are sequence diagrams showing the operation of the voice communication quality measurement process according to the embodiment.

  In FIG. 2, when the voice communication unit 50, which is a call application, is activated or is in the foreground on the mobile terminal 5 (displayed in the foreground of the display screen of the mobile terminal 5), the user is about to make a call Judgment is made and the quality measurement unit 61 is called. The called quality measurement unit 61 makes a quality measurement start request to the quality measurement reception unit 71 of the voice gateway 7 (S11).

  Here, the address information (for example, IP address) of the quality measurement accepting unit 71 can be realized by setting in advance in the voice communication quality requesting device 60 that is an application. In this embodiment, the voice communication quality measuring device 70 will be described as having the quality measurement receiving unit 71. However, the quality measurement receiving units 71 may be distributed in a management server or the like that manages one or a plurality of voice communication quality devices 70.

  The quality measurement accepting unit 71 that has received the quality measurement start request from the quality measuring unit 61 issues a test packet reception preparation instruction to the test packet receiving unit 72 (S12), and also jitters to the jitter buffer monitoring unit 75. An instruction to start monitoring the buffer 74 is given (S13).

  When the reception preparation on the voice gateway 7 side is completed, the quality measurement accepting unit 71 sends the destination IP address and port number of the test packet to the quality measuring unit 61 of the voice communication quality requesting device 60 that is a call application. (S14). At this time, the IP address and port number as the destination information are the test packet receiving unit 72 of the voice gateway 7.

  The quality measurement unit 61 that has received the transmission destination information of the test packet randomly selects from the voice file (call pattern) for call quality measurement stored in the voice file storage unit 64 and acquires the voice file (S15). ). Further, the quality measuring unit 61 requests the test packet transmitting unit 63 to transmit a voice packet based on the acquired voice file (S16).

  The test packet transmission unit 63 that has received the test packet transmission request receives the test packet (voice packet) for a predetermined time at a predetermined packet interval, the IP address notified as the transmission destination information, and Transmission is made to the port number (S17).

  In FIG. 3, when receiving the test packet, the test packet receiving unit 72 of the voice gateway 7 gives the received test packet to the received packet analyzing unit 73 and requests analysis of the reception status of the packet (S21). Further, the test packet receiving unit 72 accumulates the received packets in the jitter buffer 74 (S22). At this time, if the jitter buffer 74 is full and data cannot be accumulated (this state is called jitter overflow), the test packet receiving unit 72 updates the counter of the number of jitter buffer overflows stored in the data storage unit 76 (not shown). )

  In step S21, the received packet analysis unit 73 requested to analyze the received packet analyzes the packet (S23). A detailed description of the packet analysis method by the received packet analysis unit 73 will be described later.

  When the packet analysis by the received packet analyzing unit 73 is completed, the received packet analyzing unit 73 stores the measurement data (received packet interval) in the data storage unit 76 according to the analysis result, and various counters (number of received packets, voice packet loss). Number, silent packet loss count).

  On the other hand, in step S13, the jitter buffer monitoring unit 75 that has received the monitoring instruction of the jitter buffer 74 from the quality measurement accepting unit 71 is periodically extracted from the jitter buffer 74 and transmitted to the other party during an actual call. Similarly, the data is extracted from the jitter buffer 74 at a predetermined cycle, the jitter buffer accumulation amount of the jitter buffer 74 is acquired (S31), and the measurement data (jitter buffer accumulation amount) is stored in the data storage unit 76 (S31). S32).

  At this time, if the jitter buffer 74 is depleted and data cannot be taken out, the jitter buffer underflow counter stored in the data storage unit 76 is updated (not shown).

  In FIG. 4, a test packet transmitter 62 of the voice communication quality requesting device 60 transmits a test packet for a predetermined time. When the test packet transmitter 62 transmits a test packet for a predetermined time, the test packet transmitter 62 notifies the quality measuring unit 61 that the test packet transmission has been completed (S41). Then, the quality measurement unit 61 that has received the notification of the end of transmission of the test packet makes a quality measurement end request to the quality measurement reception unit 71 of the voice gateway 7 (S42).

  The quality measurement accepting unit 71 that has received the quality measurement end request from the quality measuring unit 61 notifies the test packet receiving unit 72 of the completion of reception (S43) and also stops the jitter buffer monitoring to the jitter buffer monitoring unit 73. An instruction is given (S44).

  Furthermore, the quality measurement receiving unit 71 acquires the measurement data stored in the data storage unit 76 (S45), acquires the quality determination reference data (S46), and compares the quality determination reference data with the measurement data. Thus, the call quality is judged (S47).

  Here, the quality determination of the voice communication by the quality measurement receiving unit 71 is performed by applying various determination methods using measurement data using a test packet including a voice file having a voiced part and a silent part. .

  For example, the quality measurement reception unit 71 can apply a method of independently determining each of the reception packet interval, the number of voice packet losses, the number of silent packet losses, the amount of jitter buffer accumulation, the number of jitter buffer underflows, and the number of jitter buffer overflows. . Further, the quality measurement receiving unit 71 determines the packet loss rate (in addition to the total packet loss rate, the voice packet loss rate and the silent packet loss rate may be included) in addition to the individual determination of the measurement data. You may make it do. Furthermore, the quality measurement receiving unit 71 applies a method of comprehensively determining based on a combination of a plurality of measurement data such as a ratio of each measurement data, a packet loss rate, and the like, and a jitter buffer accumulation amount.

  The quality measurement accepting unit 71 notifies the quality measurement result of the voice communication to the quality measuring unit 61 of the voice communication quality requesting device 60 (S48).

  Then, the quality measurement unit 61 gives a quality measurement result to the quality state display unit 63 and makes a display request for the quality state (S49). At this time, the quality state display unit 63 outputs, for example, a three-stage display of blue (call quality is good), yellow (call quality is a concern), and red (call quality is bad) to the display screen of the mobile terminal 5 for use. The call quality.

(A-2-2) Processing in Received Packet Analysis Unit Next, detailed operation of the packet analysis processing in the received packet analysis unit 73 will be described with reference to the drawings.

  5 and 6 are flowcharts showing the detailed operation of the packet analysis process in the received packet analysis unit 73.

  FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the determination result of the packet analysis processing by the received packet analysis unit 73. As shown in FIG. 7, for each received packet, the received packet analysis unit 73 “received packet interval”, “presence / absence of packet loss”, whether the packet lost when there is a packet loss is sound or “Packet loss type”, “sound / silent packet type”, “final sequence number”, and “final reception time” indicating the type of silence are analyzed. Note that “analysis target packet” in FIG. 7 indicates the order of packets to be analyzed by the received packet analysis unit 73.

  First, the received packet analysis unit 73 determines whether or not the received packet is the first packet of the test packet (S23-1).

  When the received packet is the first packet, this packet becomes reference data for quality measurement. In this case, the reception packet analysis unit 73 sets “−1” indicating invalid data in the reception packet interval (S23-2), and sets “none” in the packet loss (S23-2).

  Further, the received packet analysis unit 73 sets the sequence number set in the analysis target packet as the final sequence number (S24-3), and sets the reception time of the analysis target packet as the final reception time. Thereafter, the received packet analysis unit 73 determines whether the target packet is voiced or silent (S23-6), and sets whether the target packet is voiced or silent according to the result (S23-7).

  Here, as the sound / silence determination method by the received packet analysis unit 73, existing determination methods can be widely applied. For example, as a sound / silence determination method, for example, a technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-70084 (reference document 1) can be applied. For example, the received packet analysis unit 73 compares the frame power for each frame (predetermined processing unit period) of the audio signal with a threshold value, and determines that the frame is sound when the frame power exceeds the threshold value. A method of determining that the frame is silent when the power is equal to or lower than a threshold value can be applied.

  By the analysis processing described above, for example, the received packet analysis unit 73 obtains an analysis result corresponding to “analysis target packet; 1” in FIG. For example, for “analysis target packet; 1”, “reception packet interval; −1 (invalid)”, “packet loss; none”, “sound / silence packet type; silence”, “final sequence number: 00001”, “ Last reception time: 00 (hour) 00 (minute): 00 (second) 0.025 (millisecond) "is obtained.

  The reception packet analysis unit 73 updates the reception packet interval, the presence / absence of packet loss, and the number of packet losses (number of voice packet loss and number of silent packet loss) stored in the data storage unit 76 based on the analysis result described above. .

  In step S23-1, if the current received packet is not the first packet of the test packet, the received packet analysis unit 73 performs the operation flow shown in FIG.

  The received packet analysis unit 73 determines whether there is a packet loss in the currently received packet (S23-11). That is, the received packet analysis unit 73 determines whether the sequence number of the current analysis target packet is continuous with the sequence number of the previously received packet. More specifically, the received packet analysis unit 73 adds “1” to the last sequence number of the previous received packet held and determines whether or not it matches the sequence number of the current received packet. If they match, the received packet analyzer 73 determines that there is no packet loss. If they do not match, the received packet analyzer 73 determines that there is a packet loss.

  If there is no packet loss, the received packet analysis unit 73 calculates the received packet interval from the difference between the received time of the analysis target packet and the last received time of the previous received packet held (S23-12). Further, the received packet loss analysis unit 73 sets “None” to the packet loss (S23-13), and shifts the processing to S23-4 (FIG. 5). That is, the received packet analysis unit 73 sets the final sequence number and the final reception time of the current analysis target packet, and performs voice / silence determination.

  By the analysis processing described above, for example, the received packet analysis unit 73 obtains an analysis result corresponding to “analysis target packet: 2” in FIG. For example, for “analysis target packet; 2”, “reception packet interval; 25 (milliseconds)”, “packet loss; none”, “sound / silence packet type; sound”, “final sequence number; An analysis result of “last reception time; 00 (hour) 00 (minute): 00 (second) .050 (millisecond)” is obtained.

  The reception packet analysis unit 73 updates the reception packet interval, the presence / absence of packet loss, and the number of packet losses (number of voice packet loss and number of silent packet loss) stored in the data storage unit 76 based on the analysis result described above. .

  On the other hand, when there is a packet loss in step S23-11, the received packet analysis unit 73 sets “−1” indicating invalid data in the received packet interval (S23-21).

  Then, the received packet analysis unit 73 determines whether the packet lost from the final received packet type is estimated to be voiced or silent (S23-22), and the packet loss is voiced / silent according to the result. Is set (S23-23). For example, if the packet received immediately before the current analysis target packet is sound, the received packet loss analysis unit 73 estimates that the packet lost packet is sound, and the packet received immediately before is silent. , It is assumed that the packet lost packet is silent.

  Then, the received packet analysis unit 73 proceeds to S23-4 (FIG. 5). That is, the received packet analysis unit 73 sets the final sequence number and the final reception time of the current analysis target packet, and performs voice / silence determination.

  By the analysis processing described above, for example, the received packet analysis unit 73 obtains an analysis result corresponding to “analysis target packet; 3” in FIG. For example, for “analysis target packet; 3”, “reception packet interval; −1 (invalid)”, “packet loss; present”, “packet loss type; voice”, “sound / silent packet type; , “Final sequence number; 00004”, “final reception time; 00 (hour) 00 (minute): 00 (second) .100 (millisecond)”.

  The reception packet analysis unit 73 updates the reception packet interval, the presence / absence of packet loss, and the number of packet losses (number of voice packet loss and number of silent packet loss) stored in the data storage unit 76 based on the analysis result described above. .

  The received packet analysis unit 73 performs the above-described analysis processing on all the test packets from the voice communication quality requesting device 60 and stores them in the data storage unit 76.

(A-2-3) Quality Judgment Processing by Quality Measurement Accepting Unit Various factors affect the quality of voice communication in a complex manner. For example, the quality of voice communication is greatly affected by the performance of the mobile terminal 5 used by the user, the service technology provided by the communication carrier, and the like. For example, even if the service used by the user is the same, the quality is different if the user is different for the portable terminal 5 of different manufacturer. For example, even if the manufacturer uses the same portable terminal 5, the service is different. Different quality is different.

  The quality of voice communication is also affected by the location used by the user and the time used. For example, the quality differs between a place where the radio wave condition is good and a place where the radio wave condition is bad.

  Furthermore, the quality of voice communication is not determined to be poor immediately because, for example, there are fluctuations and packet loss in the upstream direction. For example, even when there is a packet loss in a state where data is sufficiently stored in the jitter buffer on the receiving side, the lost voice is compensated by the voice compensation function of the voice communication unit 50 and the call quality is sufficient for the user. May be judged. On the other hand, even when there is no packet loss, when the fluctuation on the receiving side is large and the jitter buffer is depleted for a long time, it may be judged that the call quality has deteriorated for the user.

  Therefore, the quality measurement accepting unit 71 independently determines each of the received packet interval, the number of packet losses (or packet loss ratio), and the amount of accumulated jitter buffer, and combines them to determine the quality, thereby actually speaking. Judge the quality close to the user's actual feeling.

  Hereinafter, an example of processing in which the quality measurement reception unit 71 performs quality determination of voice communication based on the quality determination reference data and measurement data stored in the data storage unit 76 will be described with reference to the drawings. The quality determination process by the quality measurement receiving unit 71 is not limited to the following.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the quality determination process performed by the quality measurement reception unit 71 according to the embodiment.

  Here, the case where the quality measurement reception part 71 performs quality judgment based on the combination of the packet loss ratio of the test packet and the jitter butter underflow number is illustrated. In addition, although the case where a packet loss ratio is a packet loss ratio of a sound packet and a silence packet is illustrated, it is good also as a packet loss ratio of a sound packet.

  In FIG. 8, the quality measurement acceptance unit 71 compares the packet loss rate of the test packet with a first packet loss threshold A (for example, 15%) (S101). If the packet loss rate exceeds the first packet loss threshold A, the quality measurement acceptance unit 71 determines that the communication quality is poor (S108).

  If the packet loss rate is equal to or lower than the first packet loss threshold A, the quality measurement accepting unit 71 compares the number of underflows of the jitter butter 74 with the first jitter buffer depletion threshold a (S102). If the number of underflows in the jitter buffer 74 is greater than the first jitter buffer depletion threshold value a, the quality measurement accepting unit 71 determines that the communication quality is poor (S108).

  Next, the quality measurement reception unit 71 compares the packet loss rate with the second packet loss threshold B (threshold B <threshold A; for example, 10%) (S103). When the packet loss rate exceeds the second packet loss threshold B, the quality measurement accepting unit 71 compares the number of underflows of the jitter butter 74 with the second jitter buffer depletion threshold b (threshold b <threshold a). (S104). If the number of underflows in the jitter buffer 74 is also larger than the second jitter buffer depletion threshold value b, the quality measurement accepting unit 71 determines that the communication quality is poor (S108). (S107).

  When the packet loss rate is equal to or lower than the first packet loss threshold value B, the quality measurement receiving unit 71 compares the number of underflows of the jitter butter 74 with the second jitter buffer depletion threshold value b (threshold value b <threshold value a). (S105). If the number of underflows in the jitter buffer 74 is larger than the second jitter buffer depletion threshold value b, the quality measurement accepting unit 71 determines that there is a concern about the communication quality (S107).

  Further, the quality measurement acceptance unit 71 accepts the quality measurement when the packet loss rate is equal to or smaller than the second packet loss threshold B and the number of underflows of the jitter buffer 74 is equal to or smaller than the second jitter buffer depletion threshold b. The unit 71 determines that the communication quality is good (S106).

  In other words, as described above, even when packet loss occurs, even when data is sufficiently stored in the jitter buffer on the receiving side, the user may feel that the quality is subjectively good, or even if there is no packet loss. When the jitter buffer is depleted for a long time due to fluctuation and there is no data, the user may subjectively feel poor quality.

  Therefore, when a packet loss occurs at a high rate regardless of the number of underflows in the jitter buffer and the user subjectively feels a poor quality (that is, when the packet loss ratio exceeds the threshold A), Regardless of the occurrence, the jitter measurement is depleted for a long time and the user subjectively feels the quality defect (that is, when the number of jitter buffer underflows is greater than the threshold value a), the quality measurement reception unit 71 Is a poor quality.

  Also, when packet loss occurs at a moderate ratio and the user may subjectively feel poor quality (that is, when the packet loss ratio exceeds the threshold B), or the jitter buffer is moderate When the time is exhausted and the user may subjectively feel that the quality is poor (that is, when the number of jitter buffer underflows is greater than the threshold value b), the quality measurement receiving unit 71 determines that there is a concern about the quality. .

  Furthermore, when the packet loss occurs at a medium ratio and the user may subjectively feel poor quality (that is, when the packet loss ratio exceeds the threshold B), and the time when the jitter buffer is medium When there is a possibility that the user is subjectively perceived as poor quality (that is, when the number of jitter buffer underflows exceeds the threshold value b), that is, when there is a concern about the quality of any item, The quality measurement accepting unit 71 assumes a quality defect.

  In cases other than the above, ie, when the packet loss ratio is low and the user feels that the quality is subjectively good (that is, when the packet loss ratio is equal to or less than the threshold value B), and there is sufficient data in the jitter butter If the person subjectively feels that the quality is good (that is, when the number of jitter buffer underflows is less than or equal to the threshold value b), the quality measurement receiving unit 71 assumes that the quality is good.

  In this way, the quality measurement receiving unit 71 can determine three-stage quality measurement.

(A-3) Effect of Embodiment As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to perform call quality prediction with high accuracy by performing quality measurement by the same communication method as that of an actual call prior to the call. It becomes possible.

  Further, according to this embodiment, since the user can know in advance the call quality expected at the time of the call, it is possible to use different communication means depending on the call quality state and the call partner. As a result, for example, it is possible to avoid making the customer feel uncomfortable by making a call with the customer in an environment where the call quality is inferior, so that the use of the OTT mobile IP phone service in the business scene may also spread. I can expect.

(B) Other Embodiments Although various modified embodiments of the present invention have been described in the above-described embodiments, the present invention can also be applied to the following modified embodiments.

(B-1) In the above-described embodiment, in order to measure the uplink communication quality whose quality is particularly likely to deteriorate, the portable terminal includes a voice communication quality requesting device, and the voice gateway includes a voice communication quality measuring device. Was illustrated.

  However, in order to measure the downlink communication quality, the mobile terminal may be provided with a voice communication quality measuring device, and the voice gateway may be provided with a voice communication quality requesting device. Of course, in order to perform both upstream and downstream quality measurements, the mobile terminal and the voice gateway may be provided with both the voice communication quality requesting device and the voice gateway.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Voice communication quality measurement system, 1 ... Mobile network, 2 ... Internet, 3 ... Service provider network, 4 ... Voice public network, 5 ... Portable terminal, 50 ... Voice communication part, 7 ... Voice gateway,
60 ... Voice communication quality requesting device, 61 ... Quality measurement unit, 62 ... Test packet transmission unit, 63 ... Quality state display unit, 64 ... Audio file storage unit,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 70 ... Voice communication quality measuring apparatus, 71 ... Quality measurement reception part, 72 ... Test packet receiving part, 73 ... Received packet analysis part, 74 ... Jitter buffer, 75 ... Jitter buffer monitoring part, 76 ... Data storage part.

Claims (8)

Voice communication quality requesting means for requesting measurement of voice communication quality by transmitting voice packets at predetermined intervals via the network;
Voice communication quality measuring means for receiving the voice packet from the voice communication quality requesting means and measuring voice communication quality;
The voice communication quality request means is
An audio file storage unit for storing one or more audio files;
An audio packet transmitter that transmits audio packets including the audio file acquired from the audio file storage unit at predetermined intervals;
The voice communication quality measuring means is
At least a received packet analysis unit that analyzes the presence or absence of fluctuation and packet loss of the voice packet from the voice packet transmission unit;
A jitter buffer for storing voice packets from the voice packet transmitter;
Jitter buffer monitoring unit that monitors the amount of accumulated jitter buffer, depletion / overflow situation,
Refer to the quality criterion information set in advance and use the measurement data of the voice packet fluctuation, the presence or absence of packet loss, the accumulated amount of the jitter buffer, the number of underflows, the number of overflows and / or a combination of a plurality of measurement data. A quality measurement unit that measures voice communication quality,
A quality measurement result notification unit for notifying the voice communication quality request means of the quality measurement result by the quality measurement unit,
The voice communication quality measurement system, wherein the voice communication quality request means includes a quality measurement result output unit that outputs a quality measurement result from the quality measurement result notification unit.   The received packet analysis unit performs a voice / silence determination of a voice file included in each received voice packet, and when a packet loss occurs, the voice / voice silence of the voice file of the voice packet received immediately before 2. The voice communication quality measurement system according to claim 1, wherein it is estimated that the lost voice packet is voiced or silent based on a determination result.   3. The voice communication quality measuring system according to claim 1, wherein the voice packet transmitting unit of the voice communication quality requesting unit transmits the voice packet for a predetermined time before a call. A voice communication quality requesting means for sending a voice packet at a predetermined interval via the network to request measurement of voice communication quality;
A voice communication quality measuring unit comprising: a voice communication quality measuring step of receiving the voice packet from the voice communication quality request unit and measuring the voice communication quality;
The voice communication quality request means is
Transmitting an audio packet including an audio file acquired from an audio file storage unit for storing one or more audio files at a predetermined interval;
The voice communication quality measuring means is
At least analyze the presence or absence of packet loss and voice packet fluctuations from the voice packet transmitter,
Monitor the amount of jitter buffer that accumulates voice packets from the voice packet transmitter above, the depletion / overflow status,
Refer to the quality criterion information set in advance and use the measurement data of the voice packet fluctuation, the presence or absence of packet loss, the accumulated amount of the jitter buffer, the number of underflows, the number of overflows and / or a combination of a plurality of measurement data. To measure voice communication quality
Notifying the voice communication quality request means of the measured quality measurement result,
The voice communication quality measurement method, wherein the voice communication quality request means outputs the quality measurement result notified from the voice communication quality measurement means. In a voice communication quality measuring apparatus for measuring voice communication quality by receiving voice packets transmitted at predetermined intervals from a voice communication quality requesting unit via a network,
At least received packet analysis means for analyzing the presence or absence of fluctuation and packet loss of the voice packet from the voice communication quality request means;
A jitter buffer for storing voice packets from the voice communication quality request means;
Jitter buffer monitoring means for monitoring the amount of accumulated jitter buffer, depletion / overflow conditions,
Refer to the quality criterion information set in advance and use the measurement data of the voice packet fluctuation, the presence or absence of packet loss, the accumulated amount of the jitter buffer, the number of underflows, the number of overflows and / or a combination of a plurality of measurement data. A quality measuring means for measuring voice communication quality,
A voice communication quality measuring apparatus comprising: a quality measurement result notifying unit for notifying the voice communication quality requesting unit of a quality measurement result by the quality measuring unit. In a voice communication quality measurement program for measuring voice communication quality by receiving voice packets transmitted at predetermined intervals from a voice communication quality requesting unit via a network,
Computer
At least received packet analysis means for analyzing the presence or absence of fluctuation and packet loss of the voice packet from the voice communication quality request means;
A jitter buffer for storing voice packets from the voice communication quality request means;
Jitter buffer monitoring means for monitoring the amount of accumulated jitter buffer, depletion / overflow conditions,
Refer to the quality criterion information set in advance and use the measurement data of the voice packet fluctuation, the presence or absence of packet loss, the accumulated amount of the jitter buffer, the number of underflows, the number of overflows and / or a combination of a plurality of measurement data. A quality measuring means for measuring voice communication quality,
A voice communication quality measurement program that functions as a quality measurement result notifying unit that notifies the voice communication quality requesting unit of a quality measurement result by the quality measuring unit. In a voice communication quality requesting device for requesting voice communication quality measurement by transmitting voice packets at predetermined intervals to a voice communication quality measuring device via a network,
Audio file storage means for storing one or more audio files;
Voice packet transmission means for transmitting voice packets including the voice file acquired from the voice file storage means at predetermined intervals;
A voice communication quality requesting device comprising: a quality measurement result output means for receiving a notification of a quality measurement result measured by the voice communication quality requesting device and outputting the notified quality measurement result. In the voice communication quality request program for requesting voice communication quality measurement by transmitting voice packets at predetermined intervals to the voice communication quality measuring device via the network,
Computer
Audio file storage means for storing one or more audio files;
Voice packet transmission means for transmitting voice packets including the voice file acquired from the voice file storage means at predetermined intervals;
A voice communication quality request program which functions as a quality measurement result output means for receiving a notification of a quality measurement result measured by the voice communication quality requesting device and outputting the notified quality measurement result.

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