JPH08223610A - Image transfer evaluating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To economically and efficiently evaluate objective communication quality in the case of transferring image data to a communication network. CONSTITUTION: An image signal before transfer to a transmission line 3 such as LAN or public line is temporarily recorded in an image signal storage part A8 and based on the operation for transmitting that image signal to the transmission line 3, an image signal transferred through or not through receiving stations more than one is received. Then, the received image signal is compared with the correspondent image signal in the image signal storage part A8 so that the communication quality at various signal levels or the communication quality concerning image information containing various kinds of image parameters can be measured.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image transfer evaluation device for measuring and evaluating communication quality between transmission line terminals when transferring image data to a transmission line such as a local area network or a general public line. By comparing the original image data with the image data after transfer, it is possible to understand the image transfer response characteristics of the transmission path based on the image quality represented by signals such as codes and packet levels and image parameters. It was done.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the background of high speed / wide area of communication networks and diversification of communication services, attention has been focused on a communication infrastructure for the multimedia age. On the other hand,
The demand for multimedia communication that integrates voice, video, and data communication is uncertain, and the reliability of communication networks has become a major issue from an economic perspective. When designing a communication network or providing a new communication service, it is necessary to monitor whether or not the communication quality meets a target value between the transmission line terminals, and feed back the required condition in terms of quality.

Regarding quality evaluation of various communication networks, conventionally, studies on protocol processing and network performance (for example, Ishibashi, Maruyama, Sakamoto: “Throughput analysis of transport protocol in FDDI network”), IEICE Transactions BI, Vol.J77B-
I, No.2, pp.84-93 (1993)) and voice at transmission line terminals.
Examination of video evaluation methods (eg, Iai, Kitawaki:
"Influence of cell discard on ATM network on video quality", IEICE Transactions on BI, Vol.J74B-I, No.12, p.
p.1086-l094 (1991)) has been reported.

However, the reports so far are mainly based on the analysis simulation, and it is considered that the examination of the communication quality evaluation method in the actual line has not been sufficiently advanced.

Since the actual processing of the communication system is affected by various conditions, it cannot be said that the end-to-end communication quality is really measured only by theoretical evaluation. In other words, in order to accurately evaluate communication quality under complicated environmental conditions including protocol conditions, it is important to realize an evaluation tool applicable to actual networks. Regarding quality control tools for real networks, a method of monitoring maintenance and operation information that flows through the transmission line in the service state and a method of monitoring parity errors that have occurred on the transmission line at the end-end subscriber terminal (Murakami, Sato, Okamoto: “ Cell Transfer Quality Monitoring Method for ATM Networks ", NTT R & D, Vol.41, No.
1, pp.45-54 (1992)) has been reported.

However, these measuring methods and methods using a commercially available LAN analyzer, ATM analyzer or the like are for measuring transmission line characteristics such as code error and packet loss occurring on the transmission line. However, for video data, there was a problem that the deterioration that occurred in the transmission line could not be objectively evaluated at the image level.
That is, in order to accurately measure and evaluate the end-to-end communication quality on the transmission line, not only the code information such as code error and packet loss is monitored but also the terminal information is objectively monitored and evaluated at the man-machine level. It seems that tools for the same were desired as well.

Moreover, for the multimedia age, information is transmitted from a certain communication terminal such as video-on-demand,
It is expected that new communication information services that have not existed so far will be developed, such as the receiving station retransmitting other information based on the command from that communication terminal, and the evaluation method of the response characteristics of the communication terminal in the transmission line, etc. Future challenges are emerging.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the above conventional technique,
When transferring video through a communication network or receiving response information returned from another communication terminal, it is efficient to evaluate the code information such as code error and packet loss of the transferred image data and evaluate the image quality. There was a problem that it could not be realized easily and simply. Therefore, there has been a demand for a measuring instrument that can objectively and efficiently evaluate the deterioration characteristics of transferred image data.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention compares the image data before and after the transfer in the communication network to determine the code error rate, the packet loss rate, the packet signal round trip (response) time, and the packet signal connection. 1 of signal level communication quality including one or more of time, packet signal fluctuation, transmission efficiency, connection delay, and brightness level, absolute value, power, correlation, S / N ratio in image unit / pixel unit It is an object of the present invention to provide a means capable of evaluating communication quality regarding image information including one or more image parameters.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an image transfer evaluation apparatus according to the present invention uses an image signal converted into a digital signal format on a transmission line such as a local area network to transmit encoding processing time information or transmission. An image signal storage unit A for storing together with time information, a transmission data list unit for creating and storing a reproduction list of image signals having the order of presentation of each image signal in the image signal storage unit A and transmission time information, Based on the operation of transmitting the image signal to the transmission path, via a plurality of receiving stations,
Alternatively, it includes a reception data list unit that stores the reception image signal transferred without passing through together with the collection time or the decoding processing time information.

The image signal recorded in the image signal accumulating section A and the received image signal recorded in the image signal accumulating section B are based on the information of the transmission data list section and the reception data list section. By comparison, the bit error rate, packet loss rate, etc. of the image signal generated when passing through the transmission path,
A communication quality measuring unit A for measuring communication quality associated with transfer of one or more of packet signal fluctuation, packet signal connection time, packet signal round-trip (response) time, packet-unit connection delay, and transmission efficiency. An image A having an arbitrary frame number obtained by decoding the image signal in the image signal storage unit A, and an image B obtained by decoding the received image signal in the image signal storage unit B, A comparison is made based on the information of the transmission data list part and the reception data list part, and the relative value of one or more image parameters among the brightness level, the absolute value, the power, the correlation, and the S / N ratio is image-wise or pixel-wise. A communication quality measuring unit B that measures the difference in units of one frame between the video A and the video B, and an arbitrary frame number range of the video A ′ obtained by decoding the image signal in the image signal storage unit A. And the time variation in the arbitrary frame number range of the image B'obtained by decoding the received image signal in the image signal accumulating section B in the transmission data list section and the reception data list section. Based on the information, the relative difference of one or more image parameters among the brightness level, the absolute value, the power, the correlation, and the S / N ratio of the image A'and the image B'is compared in image units or pixel units. The communication quality measuring unit includes at least one of the communication quality measuring units C that measures the time variation amount.

Further, the image quality control section is provided with a special image processing section for subjecting the original image signal to the same image processing operation as an arbitrary image processing operation in the receiving station of the image signal, and the communication quality measuring section is provided with the received image signal and the like. The communication quality is measured by comparing with the processed image signal processed by the image processing unit.

[0013]

According to the present invention, the image data after transfer is temporarily recorded in a communication network such as a local area network or a public line, and compared with the original image data before transfer, whereby the code error rate, the packet loss rate, Signal level communication quality including one or more of packet signal fluctuation, packet signal response time, packet signal connection time, packet unit connection delay, and transmission efficiency, and brightness level and absolute value in image units and pixel units , Power, correlation, S / N ratio 1
Communication quality for image information including one or more image parameters can be evaluated. As a result, it becomes possible to economically and efficiently realize the objective guarantee of communication quality when transferring video to a communication network.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a basic configuration example of an image transfer evaluation device of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is an AV
System, 2 is an image transfer evaluation device, 3 is a transmission line, 4-i
(I = 1, 2, ..., N) is a communication terminal, 5 is an image processing unit A, 6 is an image processing unit B, 7 is a transmission path coding unit, 8 is an image signal storage unit A, and 9 is a transmission data list. Section, 10 is a network interface section, 11 is a transmission path decoding section, 1
2 is an image decoding unit B, 13 is an image decoding unit A, 14 is an image signal storage unit B, 15 is a received data list unit, 16 is a communication quality measuring unit (161: communication quality measuring unit A, 162: communication quality Measuring units B, 163: Communication quality measuring units C), 17 are video monitors.

First, an image from the AV system 1 such as a video camera or a laser disk is separated into luminance information and color difference information in the image processing section A5 and converted into an image signal in digital signal format.

The image signal from the image processing unit A5 is compressed and encoded by the image processing unit B6 to reduce spatial redundancy, and synchronized with voice information and text information other than the image information. Related multiplex separation processing is performed. Here, one frame information of the video is divided into a plurality of types of frame information by the compression encoding processing in the image processing unit B6, but on the other hand, a processing method in which this image signal is not compression encoded can be selected. is there. Image processing unit B
The image signal from 6 is transferred to the transmission line encoding unit 7 and the image signal storage unit A8 in a unit of one frame information unit or in a unit of a plurality of frames obtained by dividing one frame regardless of the presence or absence of the compression encoding process. .

Then, the image signal accumulating section A8 records the image signal together with the time information regarding the encoding process in one frame information unit or in a plurality of frame units obtained by dividing one frame, and the transmission data list section 9 transmits the image signal. The playlist information for the order of presentation at the time of reproducing the image signal is recorded. In the present apparatus, the image signal encoded by the transmission path encoding unit 7 can be recorded together with the transmission time in the transmission data list unit 9 and the image signal storage unit A8.

The image signal from the image processing unit B6 is subjected to an encoding process such as transmission rate conversion in the transmission line encoding unit 7, and then the network interface unit 10
Is transferred to the transmission line 3 via.

The image signal transferred from the image transfer evaluation device 2 to the transmission line 3 is taken into the communication terminal 4 or is not taken in and is passed through the transmission line 3 and again in the image transfer evaluation device 2. Be received.

When the image signal transferred from the image transfer evaluation device 2 is returned without the specific image processing being performed in the communication terminal 4, the received image signal is transmitted through the network interface section 10 to the transmission line. In the decoding unit 11, the transmission line decoding process including the conversion regarding the transmission speed is performed.

Thereafter, in the image decoding unit B12, the compression decoding process corresponding to the image processing unit B6 and the multiple decoding process related to the synchronization with the voice information or text information other than the received image signal are performed. Further, in the image decoding unit A13, the image signal from the image decoding unit B12 is digital-analog converted, and the luminance information and the color difference information are combined and output as an image to the image monitor 17.

The image signal storage unit B14 records the received image signal together with the reception time in the unit of one frame information from the image decoding unit B12 or in the unit of a plurality of types obtained by dividing one frame. ，
The reproduction list information for the order of presentation at the time of reproduction of the received image signal is recorded. In the present apparatus, the information about the received image signal before being decoded by the transmission path decoding unit 11 can be recorded together with the time information in the received data list unit 15 and the image signal storage unit B14.

Here, the communication quality measuring unit A161 compares the image signal of the image signal accumulating unit A8 with the received image signal of the image signal accumulating unit B14, and determines the code error rate and packet of the image signal generated in the transmission line 3 or the like. The communication quality of a transmission line terminal, which includes one or more of a loss rate, packet signal fluctuation, packet signal round-trip time, and transmission efficiency, is measured for the entire transfer data, arbitrarily specified frame units, and pixel units.

Further, by the method of adding the transmission / reception time of the image signals in the plurality of communication terminals 4 to the image transfer evaluation apparatus 2 as information at the time of returning, it is possible to communicate with the communication terminal 4 when the image data is transferred to the transmission path 3. It also becomes possible to measure response time and connection time in packet units.

The communication quality measuring unit Bl62, based on the information of the transmission data list unit 9 and the reception data list unit 15,
The image A obtained by decoding the original image signal of the arbitrarily designated frame number in the image signal storage unit A8 and the image A of the arbitrarily designated frame number in the image signal storage unit B14 are obtained by decoding The image B is compared, and the relative difference regarding one or more image parameters of the brightness level, the absolute value, the power, the correlation, and the S / N ratio is measured on an image-by-image or pixel-by-pixel basis.

In the communication quality measuring unit Cl63, the time variation amount of the image A'obtained by decoding the original image signal in the arbitrarily designated frame number range in the image signal accumulating unit A8,
The luminance level, the absolute value, the power, in image units or in pixel units are compared with the time variation amount of the image B ′ obtained by decoding the image signal in the arbitrarily designated frame number range in the image signal storage unit B14. One or more of the correlation and the S / N ratio is measured as a relative difference regarding the time variation amount of the image A ′ and the image B ′. A method in which the control systems of the communication quality measuring unit Bl62 and the communication quality measuring unit Cl63 are integrated is also conceivable.

The video monitor 17 is also configured to be able to display the processing data of the communication quality measuring units A161, B162, C163. With the above configuration, it becomes possible to sequentially store the video data transferred via the communication network according to the image signal format. As a result, it is possible to accurately and efficiently measure and evaluate the communication quality such as a code error of the image signal generated when the data is transferred via the transmission line and the communication quality as the image quality of each image and each pixel. , It is expected to be applied to various purposes such as video transfer evaluation of communication networks and video data monitoring.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing another basic configuration example of the image transfer evaluation apparatus of the present invention. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 18 denotes a special image processing unit, and the other units are the same as those in FIG. This example can be applied to the measurement / evaluation of the processed image signal when the communication terminal 4 performs arbitrary image processing on the image signal from the image transfer evaluation device 2 and then retransfers it to the image transfer evaluation device 2. In the image transfer evaluation device 2, the original image signal is transferred via the network interface unit 10, and at the same time, the special image processing unit 18 performs the same image processing as that of the communication terminal 4 on the original image signal. here,
The processed image signal image-processed by the special image processing unit 18 does not include the deterioration of the transmission line 3 and is compared with the image signal received from the communication terminal 4 to obtain the image data regarding the transmission line 3. The transfer evaluation of can be realized.

When performing special image processing on the original image signal, a method of directly transferring the image signal from the image processing unit B6 to the special image processing unit 18 and an image signal storage unit A
There is a method through 8 and either of them will be selected. Here, as the image processing of the special image processing unit 18, various processing such as computer graphics processing such as texture mapping and spatial domain conversion processing for filtering a specific frequency component can be arbitrarily applied.

As described above, by adopting the configuration as shown in FIG. 2, it is possible to efficiently realize the objective evaluation of the image data processed and returned by the communication terminal connected to the communication network. Further, by comparing the transmission time of the processed image signal at the communication terminal 4 and the reception time at the image transfer evaluation device 2, the response time including the image processing time at the communication terminal 4 and the image transfer evaluation device 2 are compared. Of the connection time between the communication terminal 4 and the communication terminal 4, and also the congestion characteristics when image processing is performed on image signals by a plurality of communication terminals 4 at the same time. Is very large.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a basic configuration example of the image processing unit B6. In FIG. 3, 19 is an input unit A, 20 is an encoder A, 21 is a buffer A, 22 is a multiplexing encoder, and 23.
Is a buffer B, 24 is an encoder B, 25 is an output unit A, 26
Is a signal output port A, 27 is a signal output port B, and 26 is a signal output port C.

With respect to the original image signal input from the input unit A19, the encoder A20 performs quantization for converting the image signal from the image processing unit A5 into an image signal in a compressed format, D
By processing such as CT conversion, one frame of video information is divided into a plurality of frame information. The multiplexing encoder 22 performs processing relating to separation and synchronization of audio information and text information from the image signal from the buffer A21, and the result is sent from the buffer B23 to the encoder B24. Encoder B24
In, encoding is performed as a pre-processing of the transmission line encoding unit 7 such as conversion from an image processing signal rate to a transmission rate.

Here, the transfer of the image information to the transmission data list section 9 and the image signal storage section A8 is performed by the signal extraction port A2.
6, the signal extraction port B27, the signal extraction port C28, and the output unit A25 are performed at one or more locations, and the image signal there is stored as image signal information together with the transmission time to that location. Then, the communication quality measuring unit 16 compares the arbitrarily selected place (the signal take-out port A26, the signal take-out port B27, the signal take-out port C28, the output unit A25) with the received image signal corresponding to the place. Not only is it possible to grasp the bit error rate and connection time in packet units, but it is also possible to objectively measure the deterioration in image quality before and after transfer. Moreover,
It also leads to understanding the deterioration resistance of the image signal on the transmission line 3 due to the difference in the compression coding method.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a basic configuration example of the image decoding unit B12. In FIG. 4, 29 is an input section B, 30
Is a decoder A, 31 is a buffer C, 32 is a multiplexing decoder,
33 is a buffer D, 34 is a decoder B, 35 is an output unit B,
36 is a signal outlet D, 37 is a signal outlet E, 3
Reference numeral 8 is a signal outlet F.

The received image signal from the input section B29 is decoded in the decoder A30 as preprocessing such as conversion from the transmission line speed to the image processing signal speed. The image signal from the decoder A30 is sent through the buffer C31 to the decoder B34 from the buffer D33 after synchronizing processing of the image information with the voice information or text information in the multiplexing decoder 32. The decoder B34 performs inverse quantization, inverse DCT, etc. for returning the compressed image signal to a non-compressed digital signal, reproduces the data for each frame, and then outputs the data to the output unit B35.

Here, the transfer of the image information to the received data list section 15 and the image signal storage section B14 is performed by the signal output port D36, the signal output port E37, and the signal output port F3.
8, output from any one or more locations of the output unit B35, the image signal there is the arrival time to that location,
It is stored as image information. Then, the communication quality measuring unit 16 compares the arbitrarily selected place (the signal take-out port D36, the signal take-out port E37, the signal take-out port F38, the output unit B35) with the original image signal corresponding to the place. Not only is it possible to grasp the bit error rate and connection time in packet units, but it is also possible to objectively measure the deterioration in image quality before and after transfer. Moreover,
It also leads to understanding the deterioration resistance of the image signal on the transmission line 3 due to the difference in the compression coding method.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a basic configuration example of the image signal storage unit A8. In FIG. 5, 39-ij (39-1-1,
39-1-2, ..., 39-mn) are memory layers (i-j). In this example, the image signals from the image processing unit B6 or the transmission path encoding unit 7 are time-sequentially 39-1-1, 39-1-2,
39-1-3, ..., 39-1-n, 39-2-1, 39-2-2, ..., 3
.. are sequentially stored in the memory layer 39-ij in frame units.

By the way, the image information visually corresponding to one frame is divided into a plurality of frames and transferred by the compression encoding in the image processing unit B6 in consideration of the difference in spatial redundancy of the image. It is common to Therefore, the types of a plurality of frames divided at the time of compression encoding are assigned to the column number j, and the frame number visually combined into the same frame or the group number that can be treated as the same screen group is assigned to the line number i. Depending on the allocation method
Image information that flows in time series is efficiently stored in each memory layer 39-i.
-j is recorded.

When an uncompressed image signal is to be stored, it can be dealt with by setting the column number of the memory layer 39-ij to 0. For image signal evaluation,
By comparing the image signals of the same column before and after transmission, the code error rate and image quality can be evaluated for each divided frame type. The basic configuration example of the image signal storage unit A8 shown here is also applicable to the image signal storage unit B14.

With the above hierarchical structure,
Efficiently evaluate the image signal in frame units corresponding to the image compression encoding method and the image signal after combining a plurality of frames, and efficiently compare the transmission deterioration resistance of the compression encoding method. become. In addition, the number of image signal extraction points (the signal extraction port A26, the signal extraction port B27, the signal extraction port C28, and the output unit A25) is not limited to one, but when a plurality of positions are simultaneously performed in parallel, A method of arranging a plurality of image processing units B6 shown in 3 may be considered.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of evaluation of an image signal in the communication quality measuring unit Al61. In this example, based on the reception time of the image signal returned via the transmission line 3, arrival in packet units based on the time of inputting to the image decoding unit B12 (input unit B29 in FIG. 4) It corresponds to a diagram that calculates the time intervals, that is, a distribution diagram of fluctuations in packet units due to connection delay.

The distribution chart of FIG. 6 is obtained from the arrival time of the packet unit corresponding to the image signal before the compression decoding processing, and the dotted line in the figure shows the same packet signal in the image processing unit B6. It is a line in which the time set based on the generated time (output unit A25 in FIG. 3) is represented as 0. According to this distribution map, it is possible to visually grasp the fluctuation distribution in packet units that changes with time.

By the method of measuring the connection delay distribution from the start of video transfer to the end of transfer, it is possible to grasp the average delay and the maximum value in packet units generated when video data is transferred. Furthermore, by setting the storage target portion of the image signal to a different processing layer, the connection time and the response time in each processing unit can be realized. Further, when special image processing is performed in the communication terminal 4, not only the influence of delay in data transfer on the transmission line 3 but also response characteristics such as processing time involved in image processing can be evaluated.

FIG. 7 is an image diagram of an image evaluation method in the communication quality measuring unit Bl62 and the communication quality measuring unit Cl63. [N-3, ..., N, ... N + 2] in FIG. 7A is an image frame before transfer, [n′-3, ..., In FIG. 7B.
n ′, ..., N ′ + 2] represents an image frame at a time-lapse position corresponding to (a) after transfer, and Δt represents a time difference between one frame.

First, in the communication quality measuring unit Bl62, by designating one frame before and after transfer, for example, frame n and frame n '(comparison A), the brightness level, the absolute value, and the power are displayed in image units or pixel units. , Correlation, S
Image parameters such as / N ratio can be measured.

On the other hand, by the method of deriving and comparing the image information variation amount D1 before the transfer and the image information variation amount D2 after the transfer, it is possible to evaluate the image parameter that varies with time (comparison B). The time fluctuation amount Dl is, for example, various parameters (luminance level, absolute value, power, correlation, S / N) over the frame (n-2) and the frame (n + 1).
A method of calculating the amount of change in (ratio) in image units or pixel units,
The correlation of accumulated image information based on the frame n can be mentioned. Then, D2 is similarly derived,
By comparing Dl and D2, the difference in the time variation amount can be obtained.

The correlation Rp (n) (p = pixel number) of the accumulated image information based on the frame n is the number of frames accumulated in the image signal accumulating section A8 or the image signal accumulating section B14, Nf, pixel The image parameter at the number p is f
It can be expressed as p by the following formula.

Rp (n) = Σ _k {fp (k) fp (k
+ N)} / (Nf-n) [k is a frame number, Σ _k is the sum of k = 1 to (Nf-1)] In addition, when evaluating an image, 1 is applied during compression encoding processing.
There is also a method of evaluating the image quality before and after the transfer by comparing the frame types divided into a plurality of pieces of information for each frame type (before combining). As described above, by comparing the image parameters before and after arbitrarily transmitting one frame or between a plurality of frames, it is possible to objectively and efficiently realize the image evaluation when transmitting the video to the communication network. .

[0049]

As described above, the feature of the image transfer evaluation apparatus according to the present invention is that by comparing the image data before and after the transfer, the code error rate, the packet loss rate, the fluctuation of the packet signal, and the round trip / response of the packet signal. Signal level communication quality including one or more of time, packet signal connection time, packet unit connection delay, and transmission efficiency, and brightness level, absolute value, power, correlation, S / N in image unit / pixel unit It is possible to evaluate the communication quality related to the image quality including one or more image parameters of the ratio.

As a result, it is possible to economically and efficiently realize objective communication quality evaluation and guarantee when transferring image data to a communication network or when transmitting and receiving image data between communication terminals. In addition, it is possible to apply it to verification of the efficiency of the compression coding system and the performance of the communication processing protocol by performing operations such as providing multiple locations for image signal storage.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a basic configuration example of an image transfer evaluation device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing another basic configuration example of the image transfer evaluation device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a basic configuration example of an image processing unit B.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a basic configuration example of an image decoding unit B.

5 is a diagram showing a basic configuration example of an image signal storage unit A. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an evaluation example of an image signal in the communication quality measuring unit A.

FIG. 7 is an image diagram of an image evaluation method in communication quality measuring units B and C.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 AV system 2 image transfer evaluation device 3 transmission line 4 communication terminal 5 image processing unit A 6 image processing unit B 7 transmission line encoding unit 8 image signal storage unit A 9 transmission data list unit 10 network interface unit ll transmission line decoding Part 12 Image decoding part B 13 Image decoding part A 14 Image signal storage part B 15 Received data list part 16 Communication quality measuring part 161 Communication quality measuring part A 162 Communication quality measuring part B 163 Communication quality measuring part C 17 Video monitor 18 Special Image Processing Section 19 Input Section A 20 Encoder A 21 Buffer A 22 Multiplex Encoder 23 Buffer B 24 Encoder B 25 Output Section A 26 Signal Extraction Port A 27 Signal Extraction Port B 28 Signal Extraction Port C 29 Human Power Unit B 30 Decoder A 31 Buffer C 32 Multiplexing Decoder 33 Buffer D 34 Decoder B 35 Output Part B 36 signal output port D 37 signal output port E 38 signal outlet F 39 memory layer (i-j)

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Office reference number FI technical display location H04Q 11/04 9566-5G H04Q 11/04 L

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image transfer evaluation device for evaluating image information transmitted and received as an image signal in a digital signal format through a transmission line, wherein the image is processed together with processing time information or transmission time information in the process of digitally encoding the image information. An image signal storage unit A for recording signals, a transmission data list unit for creating and storing a reproduction list of image signals having the order of presentation of each image signal in the image signal storage unit A and transmission time information, and Based on the operation of transmitting the image signal to the transmission path, the received image signal transmitted through one or more receiving stations or without passing through is collected time information or processing time information in the digital decoding process. Image signal storage unit B to be recorded with
And a received data list section for creating and storing a reproduction list of image signals having the order of presentation of each of the received image signals and reception time information in the image signal storage section B, and recorded in the image signal storage section A. The generated image signal and the received image signal recorded in the image signal storage unit B are compared based on the information in the transmission data list unit and the information in the reception data list unit, and are generated when passing through a transmission path. Communication associated with transfer of one or more of image signal bit error rate, packet loss rate, packet signal fluctuation, packet signal round-trip / response time, packet signal connection time, packet-unit connection delay, and transmission efficiency A communication quality measuring unit A for measuring quality, an image A of an arbitrary frame number obtained by decoding an image signal in the image signal storage unit A, and the image signal storage The video B obtained by decoding the received image signal in the section B is compared based on the information in the transmission data list section and the information in the reception data list section, and the brightness level and absolute value are displayed in image units or pixel units. , A communication quality measuring unit B for measuring a relative difference of one or more image parameters among power, correlation, and S / N ratio in units of one frame of the image A and the image B, and the image signal accumulating unit A. Of the video signal A'obtained by decoding the image signal in FIG. 2 and the video image B'obtained by decoding the received image signal in the image signal storage unit B.
And an amount of time variation in an arbitrary frame number range are compared on the basis of information in the transmission data list section and the reception data list section, and a luminance level in image units or pixel units,
The relative difference of one or more image parameters among the absolute value, the power, the correlation, and the S / N ratio is calculated as the image A ′ and the image B ′.
And a communication quality measuring unit including at least one of the communication quality measuring units C for measuring the time fluctuation amount. 2. An image transfer evaluation apparatus for evaluating image information transmitted and received as an image signal in a digital signal format through a transmission line, wherein the image is processed together with processing time information or transmission time information in the process of digitally encoding the image information. An image signal storage unit A for recording signals, a transmission data list unit for creating and storing a reproduction list of image signals having an order of presentation of each image signal and transmission time in the image signal storage unit A, and the image Based on a special image processing unit for performing an image processing operation similar to an arbitrary image processing operation in a signal receiving station on the image signal, and an operation for transmitting the image signal to a transmission line, one or more receiving stations are provided. Image signal storage that records the received image signal transferred via the device together with collection time information or processing time information in the digital decoding process. A stacking unit B, a received data list unit that creates and stores a reproduction list of image signals having the order of presentation of each of the received image signals and reception time information in the image signal storage unit B, and the special image processing unit. A processed image signal arbitrarily processed in, and a received image signal transferred after being subjected to arbitrary image processing in the receiving station, based on the information of the transmission data list section and the reception data list section, Of the image signal bit error rate, packet loss rate, packet signal fluctuation, packet signal round-trip / response time, packet signal connection time, packet-unit connection delay, and transmission efficiency that occurred when passing through a transmission path, etc. A communication quality measuring unit A for measuring communication quality associated with one or more transmission path transfers, and a processed image signal arbitrarily processed by the special image processing unit are restored. Video A in any frame number obtained by processing and image B of an arbitrary frame number obtained by decoding the received image signal to be transferred after being arbitrary image processing in the receiving station,
A comparison is made based on the information of the transmission data list section and the reception data list section, and one or more image parameters of brightness level, absolute value, power, correlation, and S / N ratio are displayed in image units or pixel units. A communication quality measuring unit B that measures the relative difference in one frame unit between the video A and the video B, and a video A ′ obtained by decoding a processed image signal that is arbitrarily processed in the special image processing unit. A time variation amount in an arbitrary frame number range and a time variation amount in an arbitrary frame number range of an image B ′ obtained by decoding a received image signal transferred after being subjected to arbitrary image processing in the receiving station are described. , The transmission data list section and the reception data list section are compared based on the information, and the brightness level, absolute value, power, correlation, S /
A communication quality measuring unit including at least one of the communication quality measuring units C for measuring the relative difference of one or more image parameters of the N ratio with respect to the time variation amount of the video A ′ and the video B ′. An image transfer evaluation device comprising.