Method and Arrangement for Estimating the Quality Degradation of a Processed Signal

An objective quality assessment method for estimating a perceptual quality degradation of a processed signal, the method comprising the following steps to be executed on the processed signal and a reference signal:

• a) splitting the reference signal and the processed signal into associated frame-pairs;
• b) selecting a first frame-pair;
• c) creating a reference residual signal and a processed residual signal for the selected frame-pair;
• d) calculating separate ratios of p-norms on both residual signals for the selected frame-pair;
• e) calculating and storing a per-frame quality estimate based on the ratios of p-norms for the selected frame-pair;
• f) iteratively selecting additional frame-pairs, and repeating steps c) to e) for each additional frame-pair;
• and
• g) aggregating the calculated per-frame-pair quality estimates to provide an objective per-signal quality estimate that is proportional to the perceptual quality degradation of the processed signal.

A network node for providing an estimate of a perceptual quality degradation of a processed signal, by further processing the processed signal and an associated reference signal, the network node comprising:

• an estimating unit configured to:
• split the reference signal and the processed signal into associated frame-pairs;
• iteratively select frame-pairs for successive further processing;
• and
• for each selected frame-pair, to:
• create a reference residual signal and a processed residual signal;
• calculate separate ratios of p-norms on both residual signals for the selected frame-pair;
• and
• calculate a per-frame quality estimate on the basis of the ratios of p-norms for the selected frame-pair;
• a storage unit configured to store the calculated per-frame quality estimates;
• and
• an aggregation unit configured to provide an objective per-signal quality estimate that is proportional to the perceptual quality degradation of the processed signal, by aggregating the calculated per-frame-pair quality estimates.

A perceptual quality degradation estimation system, comprising:

• an estimating unit configured to:
• split the reference signal and the processed signal into associated frame-pairs;
• iteratively select frame-pairs for successive further processing;
• and
• for each selected frame-pair to:
• create a reference residual signal and a processed residual signal;
• calculate separate ratios of p-norms on both residual signals for the selected frame-pair;
• and
• calculate a per-frame quality estimate on the basis of the ratios of p-norms for the selected frame-pair;
• a storage unit configured to store the calculated per-frame quality estimates;
• an aggregation unit configured to provide an objective per-signal quality estimate that is proportional to the perceptual quality degradation of the processed signal by aggregating the calculated per-frame-pair quality estimates, wherein the estimating unit, storage unit and aggregation unit correspond to a network node;
• and
• a network optimizing unit configured to execute configurations, re-configurations, or both of the network node on the basis of an objective per-signal quality estimate received from the aggregation unit.

A perceptual quality degradation estimation system, comprising:

• an estimating unit configured to:
• split the reference signal and the processed signal into associated frame-pairs;
• iteratively select frame-pairs for successive further processing;
• and
• for each selected frame-pair to:
• create a reference residual signal and a processed residual signal;
• calculate separate ratios of p-norms on both residual signals for the selected frame-pair;
• and
• calculate a per-frame quality estimate on the basis of the ratios of p-norms for the selected frame-pair;
• a storage unit configured to store the calculated per-frame quality estimates;
• an aggregation unit configured to provide an objective per-signal quality estimate that is proportional to the perceptual quality degradation of the processed signal by aggregating the calculated per-frame-pair quality estimates, wherein the estimating unit, storage unit and aggregation unit correspond to a network node;
• and
• a detecting unit configured to detect a failure of a network node on the basis of an objective per-signal quality estimate received from the aggregation unit.