System and method for evaluating the quality of a communication session

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9769682-B2
Application number	US-201615149585-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 9, 2016
Priority date	Apr 27, 2015
Publication date	Sep 19, 2017
Grant date	Sep 19, 2017

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for evaluating the quality of a communication session or of a communication path used for the communication session. One of the methods includes initiating a communication session between a first communications device and a second communications device, wherein initiating the communication session comprises routing session data for the communication session along a first communication path between the first communications device and the second communications device; generating, at the first communications device, a plurality of reference content samples; generating a recording of the communication session as received at a first destination along the first communication path; and evaluating a quality of the communication session or of the first communication path by comparing the plurality of reference content samples with the recorded communication session.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
initiating a communication session between a first communications device and a second communications device, wherein initiating the communication session comprises routing session data for the communication session along a first communication path between the first communications device and the second communications device;
analyzing voice content captured by the first communications device during the communication session;
generating a plurality of reference content samples based on analyzing the voice content;
generating a recording of the communication session as received at a first destination along the first communication path; and
evaluating a quality of the communication session or of the first communication path by comparing the plurality of reference content samples with the recorded communication sessions; and
determining, based on whether the quality exceeds a threshold value, whether to adjust at least one of a sampling frequency or a duration of future reference content samples to be generated during the communication session.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first destination is the second communications device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein routing session data comprises routing the session data along the first communication path over a real-time communication channel.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
transmitting, by the first communications device, the plurality of reference content samples over a reliable communication channel to an evaluation system, wherein the reference content samples are transmitted both as part of the session data and over the reliable communication channel to the evaluation system.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the evaluation system is the second communications device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein evaluating the quality comprises:
identifying, for each reference content sample, a corresponding portion of the recording of the communication session; and
evaluating the quality by comparing the reference content samples to the corresponding portions of the recording of the communication session.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
analyzing the voice content captured by the first communications device comprises detecting instances when a first user of the first communications device is speaking; and
generating the plurality of reference content samples based on analyzing the voice content comprises sampling from the voice content only when it has been detected that the first user of the first communications device is speaking.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
analyzing the voice content captured by the first communications device comprises analyzing frequencies of audio in the voice content; and
generating the plurality of reference content samples based on analyzing the voice content comprises generating reference content samples so that the reference content samples cover a range of frequencies.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
analyzing the voice content captured by the first communications device comprises analyzing amplitudes of audio in the voice content; and
generating the plurality of reference content samples based on analyzing the voice content comprises generating reference content samples so that the reference content samples cover a range of amplitudes.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
analyzing the voice content captured by the first communications device comprises identifying voice content that includes frequencies that are likely to become distorted during the routing of the session data along the first communication path; and
generating the plurality of reference content samples based on analyzing the voice content comprises generating reference content samples that include the identified voice content.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication session is a voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VOIP) call between the first communications device and the second communications device.

12. A system comprising one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that when executed by the one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
initiating a communication session between a first communications device and a second communications device, wherein initiating the communication session comprises routing session data for the communication session along a first communication path between the first communications device and the second communications device;
analyzing voice content captured by the first communications device during the communication session;
generating a plurality of reference content samples based on analyzing the voice content;
generating a recording of the communication session as received at a first destination along the first communication path; and
evaluating a quality of the communication session or of the first communication path by comparing the plurality of reference content samples with the recorded communication session; and
determining, based on whether the quality exceeds a threshold value, whether to adjust at least one of a sampling frequency or a duration of of future reference content samples to be generated during the communication session.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein routing session data comprises routing the session data along the first communication path over a real-time communication channel.

14. The system of claim 13 , further comprising:
transmitting, by the first communications device, the plurality of reference content samples over a reliable communication channel to an evaluation system, wherein the reference content samples are transmitted both as part of the session data and over the reliable communication channel to the evaluation system.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein evaluating the quality comprises:
identifying, for each reference content sample, a corresponding portion of the recording of the communication session; and
evaluating the quality by comparing the reference content samples to the corresponding portions of the recording of the communication session.

16. The system of claim 12 , wherein:
analyzing the voice content captured by the first communications device comprises detecting instances when a first user of the first communications device is speaking; and
generating the plurality of reference content samples based on analyzing the voice content comprises sampling from the voice content only when it has been detected that the first user of the first communications device is speaking.

17. The system of claim 12 , wherein:
analyzing the voice content captured by the first communications device comprises analyzing frequencies of audio in the voice content; and
generating the plurality of reference content samples based on analyzing the voice content comprises generating reference content samples so that the reference content samples cover a range of frequencies.

18. The system of claim 12 , wherein:
analyzing the voice content captured by the first communications device comprises analyzing amplitudes of audio in the voice content; and
generating the plurality of reference content samples based on analyzing the voice content comprises generating reference content samples so that the reference content samples cover a range of amplitudes.

19. The system of claim 12 , wherein:
analyzing the voice content captured by the first communications device comprises identifying voice content that includes frequencies that are like

Assignees

• Ringcentral Inc

Inventors

• Nekorystnov Mikhail

Classifications

• H04M7/0057

  Services where the data services network provides a telephone service in addition or as an alternative, e.g. for backup purposes, to the telephone service provided by the telephone services network · CPC title

• H04L65/608

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04M1/2535

  adapted for voice communication over an Internet Protocol [IP] network (Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network equipment and services H04M7/006; implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16) · CPC title

• H04M3/28

  Automatic routine testing {; Fault testing; Installation testing; Test methods, test equipment or test arrangements therefor} · CPC title

• H04M3/2236 Primary

  Quality of speech transmission monitoring · CPC title