Method and arrangement for estimating the quality degradation of a 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:

• a receiver configured to receive the processed signal from a communications network and the reference signal from a signal source;
• an estimating unit connected to the receiver and 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 tangible storage unit connected to the estimating unit and configured to store the calculated per-flame quality estimates;
• and
• an aggregation unit connected to the estimating unit and to the storage unit, and 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-flame-pair quality estimates.

A perceptual quality degradation estimation system, comprising:

• a receiver configured to receive a processed signal from a communications network and a reference signal from a signal source;
• an estimating unit connected to the receiver and 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 tangible storage unit connected to the estimating unit and configured to store the calculated per-flame quality estimates;
• an aggregation unit connected to the estimating unit and to the storage unit, and 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-flame-pair quality estimates, wherein the estimating unit, storage unit and aggregation unit correspond to a network node;
• and
• a network optimizing unit connected to the aggregation unit and 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:

• a receiver configured to receive a processed signal from a communications network and a reference signal from a signal source;
• an estimating unit connected to the receiver and 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 tangible storage unit connected to the estimating unit and configured to store the calculated per-flame quality estimates;
• an aggregation unit connected to the estimating unit and to the storage unit, and 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-flame-pair quality estimates, wherein the estimating unit, storage unit and aggregation unit correspond to a network node;
• and
• a network optimizing unit connected to the aggregation unit and 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.