EP2695387A1 - Multimedia test systems - Google Patents
Multimedia test systemsInfo
- Publication number
- EP2695387A1 EP2695387A1 EP11712582.3A EP11712582A EP2695387A1 EP 2695387 A1 EP2695387 A1 EP 2695387A1 EP 11712582 A EP11712582 A EP 11712582A EP 2695387 A1 EP2695387 A1 EP 2695387A1
- Authority
- EP
- European Patent Office
- Prior art keywords
- audio
- stream
- code
- data
- data stream
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
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Classifications
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N17/00—Diagnosis, testing or measuring for television systems or their details
- H04N17/004—Diagnosis, testing or measuring for television systems or their details for digital television systems
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
- H04N21/442—Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/60—Network structure or processes for video distribution between server and client or between remote clients; Control signalling between clients, server and network components; Transmission of management data between server and client, e.g. sending from server to client commands for recording incoming content stream; Communication details between server and client
- H04N21/65—Transmission of management data between client and server
- H04N21/658—Transmission by the client directed to the server
- H04N21/6582—Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number
Definitions
- This invention relates to system, methods and computer program code for monitoring the quality of multimedia datastreams, in particular DR (digital rights management) - protected multimedia datastreams.
- DR digital rights management
- the techniques we describe are especially useful for monitoring television programs 'broadcast' over the internet.
- An internet broadcast ecosystem comprising, in particular, major video service providers, content owners and media-rights holders. This provides a capability to encode, encrypt and DRM (Digital Rights Management)-protect media, insert adverts, switch to different sources, provide blackout management slates, deliver licenses and so forth. End customers use a wide range of live and on-demand media formats and platforms including, for example, Windows Media, Siiverlight Smooth Streaming, Adobe Flash, Apple HTTP Streaming (all Registered Trade Marks).
- an online video is usable at one or more bitrates.
- the end user can choose a preferred bit rate or a player can detect the bandwidth and automatically switch between bitrates to provide continuous media playback.
- Some users broadcast live television programs; they can require a high quality of service and may have aggressive SLA's (Service Level Agreements).
- SLA's Service Level Agreements
- a carrier of internet traffic is expected to quickly detect, assess and resolve any issues that may occur between source and end client, and this creates a demand for a reliable way of continuous monitoring of media.
- An approach from Nagios Enterprises, LLC dumps data files every few seconds and checks the size of the data file. This facilitates identifying problems with connectivity and accessibility, but further automating video monitoring is a difficult problem. This is particularly the case where a multimedia datastream is protected by digital rights management as this constrains the processing of the data - for example the storage of the decrypted data may not be permitted as video generally has copy protection and can only be played a computer that has a valid licence. Further, video secured using DRM can generally only be accessed when there are no debugging tools running.
- a system for monitoring the quality of DRM-protected multimedia data streams comprising at least one computer having a network connection to receive at least one said DRM-protected multimedia data stream, program memory, working memory, and a processor coupled to said program memory, working memory, wherein said program memory stores processor control code for a media player for said multimedia data stream and code to control said processor to: play said DRM-protected multimedia data stream to provide at least a decrypted video data output stream for display on a monitor; capture still image data from a succession of still images from said video data output stream; process said still image data to detect greater than a threshold difference between at least two of said still images; and output fault data identifying a potential video quality fault responsive to absence of detection of greater than a threshold difference.
- processing captured still images provides a number of advantages including compliance with DRM restrictions, and a reduced processing load.
- Successive images may be captured at intervals of between 1 second and 60, 30, 20, 10 or 5 seconds, for example every 3 seconds. Capturing images at this rate is useful because even where a scene is relatively static, for example talking heads or a game of tennis, the image is likely to change over this time frame.
- a time slice of the video data output stream is captured, the time slice having a duration of, for example, between 10 seconds and 5 minutes, and this time slice is divided into a set of still frames. Then one of these frames, for example the first frame, is chosen as a reference and the other frames within the time slice are compared with this reference frame.
- the number of frames which are different to this reference frame may then be counted to determine whether or not the video has frozen, or to identify other potential faults.
- the system is also configured to detect a still or moving holding graphic or 'slate'.
- Such a slate is typically used by a program blackout management system (BMS) to block availability of certain programs in certain countries when accessed via the internet.
- Identification of the holding graphic may be performed by a range of different techniques depending upon the graphic - for example detecting a black border and/or detecting whether an average red/green/b!ue colour is within a range.
- the system is configured to monitor a plurality of DRM- protected multimedia datastreams simultaneously. These may either comprise different channels, or they may comprise one channel 'broadcast' at a range of different bit rates, and hence video quality.
- a plurality of instances of the media player are implemented simultaneously, each producing a decrypted video output, and these video output streams are combined as if for display on a single monitor, each video stream appearing in a separate window on the monitor, for example in a grid pattern. (There is, however, no need for an actual video monitor to be present).
- a single motion detection module or procedure may be employed to process the set or grid of images simultaneously and, if a fault is detected, the separate streams can be interrogated individually to determine in which stream the fault is present.
- Preferred implementations of the system also include an audio quality monitoring system for monitoring a plurality of (DRM-protected) audio portions of multimedia data streams simultaneously.
- DRM-protected audio portions of multimedia data streams One problem with audio monitoring is that, unlike the multiple video streams described above, the audio streams cannot be separated "spatially". Moreover in a computer architecture playing multiple audio streams simultaneously will generally result in a single, combined audio stream. In the case of DRM-protected multimedia data streams, however, because these are encrypted it can be difficult to separate the audio from the video.
- the system includes code to select audio from a single one of the audio data streams by inhibiting or muting audio in the other data streams, in particular, by controlling a mute function of each of the media players.
- a mute function is generally provided by a media player and can be used to, in effect, demultiplex a single audio stream for further processing.
- code to process a single audio stream to identify an audio fault may comprise code to detect differences between peaks and troughs in an average signal level. More particularly, the code may determine whether there is greater than a threshold difference between a signal level peak and trough, measured over a time interval.
- the audio can be assumed to be present, but if no such variation is detected a potential audio fault can be flagged.
- the time interval or slice over which the variation in audio signal level is determined may be the same duration as a time slice of video or, for example, the duration between captured still images.
- the invention provides a system for monitoring the quality of DRM-protected multimedia data streams, the system comprising at least one computer having a network connection to receive at least one said DRM-protected multimedia data stream program memory, working memory, and a processor coupled to said program memory and working memory, and wherein said program memory stores processor control code for a media player for said multimedia data stream and code to control said processor to: play a plurality of said DRM-protected multimedia data streams simultaneously each using a respective said media player to provide a decrypted audio data stream from each said DRM-protected multimedia data stream; wherein said audio data streams are combined into a common audio output data stream; and wherein said code further comprises code to: select audio from one of said audio data streams in said common audio output data stream by muting audio in the other said audio data streams; process said selected audio in said common audio output data stream to identify an audio fault; and output fault data responsive to identification of the existence of said audio fault.
- a media player is re-started at intervals, for example of between 1 minute and 30 minutes and/or after a timeout of a response from the media player has been identified. This helps to ensure robust operation of the system for long periods of unattended use.
- standard media players may be implemented including, for example, Windows Media Player (Trade Mark), Adobe Flash Player (Trade Mark), and many others.
- the system is implemented as a client-server system.
- the client may implement a set of media players and capture a grid of images at intervals, storing the captured still images, and also segments of audio data, to shared storage for the client-server system.
- the server may schedule jobs for the client and, in embodiments, performs at least the motion detection processing of the captured still images, as this is an efficient use of the available processing capacity.
- the server may also send a message to an operations centre on detection of a potential fault, identifying the relevant multimedia stream.
- the system also stores historical data, preferably including fault detection data (audio and video) in combination with channel identification, bit rate data, time/date data, time slice identification data, and, preferably, segments of captured audio and/or video and/or still image data.
- the system provides a user interface to facilitate access to this information. Storing the multimedia data in which a potential fault has been identified is useful as it enables immediate or later checking to determine whether a fault exists, and provides evidence of the presence/absence of a fault which may be reported, for example, to the content provider.
- the invention provides a server, for monitoring the quality of DRM-protected multimedia data streams, the server comprising at least one computer having a network connection to communicate with a client, program memory, working memory, and a processor coupled to said program memory and working memory, and wherein said program memory stores processor controi code to control said processor to: communicate with said client to play a said DRM-protected multimedia data stream to provide at least a decrypted video data output steam for display on a monitor; receive from said client captured still image data from a succession of still images from said video data output stream; process said still image data to detail greater than a threshold difference between at least two of said still images; and output fault data responsive to absence of detection of said greater than a threshold difference.
- the invention provides a client, for monitoring the quality of DRM-protected multimedia data streams, the client comprising at least one computer having a network connection to communicate with a server and to receive at least one said DRM-protected multimedia data stream, program memory, working memory, and a processor coupled to said program memory and working memory, and wherein said program memory stores processor control code for a media player for said multimedia data stream, and code to control said processor to: receive from said server an instruction to play a said DRM-protected multimedia data stream; play said DRM- protected multimedia data stream to provide at least a decrypted video data output stream for displaying on a monitor; and output to said server captured still image data from a succession of still images from said video data output stream, for identifying a potential video quality fault.
- the server and/or client constructs a list of streams to be checked having a priority order, where the priority order is determined by prioritising a stream for which an error was identified or for which an error threshold was reached, in a previous cycle of checking the list of streams.
- a priority list or queue may be constructed and/or stored at the server and/or client by identifying one or more streams in which an error was identified or for which an error threshold was reached. This priority list or queue may then be employed to determine a list of streams for subsequent checking.
- the invention further provides a method of monitoring the quality of a multimedia data stream provided over the internet, the method comprising: playing said multimedia data stream to provide at least a video data output steam for display on a monitor; operating on data from said video data output stream using a motion detection procedure; identifying a potential video quality fault in said multimedia data stream responsive to an output of said motion detection procedure.
- the invention further provides processor control code to implement the above- described systems and methods, for example on a general purpose computer system or on a digital signal processor (DSP).
- the code is provided on a carrier such as a disc, CD- or DVD-ROM, programmed memory such as non-volatile memory (e.g. Flash) or read-only memory (Firmware).
- Code (and/or data) to implement embodiments of the invention may comprise source, object or executable code in a conventional programming language (interpreted or compiled) such as C, or assembly code. As the skilled person will appreciate such code and/or data may be distributed between a plurality of coupled components in communication with one another.
- Figure 1 shows the architecture of a system for monitoring the quality of DRM- protected multimedia data streams according to an embodiment of the Invention
- Figures 2a and 2b show details of a system for monitoring the quality of DRM-protected multimedia data streams according to an embodiment of the invention
- Figure 3 shows a flow diagram of a procedure for prioritizing monitoring of a DRM- protected multimedia data stream according to an embodiment of the invention
- Figure 4 shows a flow diagram of a procedure for identifying video errors in a multimedia data stream, according to a preferred implementation of the present invention
- Figure 5 shows a flow diagram of a client procedure for checking a plurality of multimedia data streams according to an embodiment of the invention
- Figure 6 shows an example user interface display for a multimedia data stream monitoring system according to an embodiment of the invention
- Figures 7a and 7b show example status page displays of a user interface for the system displaying, respectively, a detailed data stream monitoring view, and a historical data stream monitoring view;
- Figure 8 shows a filmstrip view of a user interface for a system for monitoring the quality of multi media data streams according to an embodiment of the invention.
- the system has access to a list of data streams to check and these are played for a time interval and the video displayed in a grid comprising multiple streams.
- screen shots are taken and audio samples of each stream are captured for archiving.
- the screen shot files are processed and screen shots are compared using motion detection algorithms to detect loss of video and still-image faults.
- the AForge.Net framework http://www.aforgenet.com/framework ), published under the LGPL v3 license, is used as a library of motion detection code.
- NAudio http://naudio.codeplex.com/
- Ms-PL Microsoft Public License
- the system detects potential faults with the video and audio and provides alerts to the operational staff, in embodiments using email, so that they can employ a human check of the potentially faulty data streams. This reduces the burden on the operational staff as only selected streams are reported for checking by human intervention. In embodiments the system flags potential issues in the video delivery by mimicking the end user experience, reporting these issues for human verification. The system also stores results of previous checks for archival purposes.
- FIG 1 shows the architecture of a system according to an embodiment of the invention.
- the system comprises the server 100 in communication with a plurality of clients 120, typically though not essentially separate machines. Human operators 140 interact with the data on the server and clients over a network, in this example the Internet 160.
- the server assigns multimedia data streams at different bit rates to clients which play their assigned data streams (video) using a media (video) player. Captures images and audio samples are stored in the client machines.
- the server hosts a website that shows summary statistics of the data stream monitoring, and sends alerts by email.
- FIG 2a shows details of an embodiment of a system 200 for monitoring the quality of DRM-protected multimedia data streams.
- Figure 2a illustrates high level communications between the server 100, a client 120, and a human operator 140.
- the system also includes a database 110 coupled to server 100, for storing statistical and other data, and a database 130 coupled to client 120 for storing captured still images, for example in JPG format, and captured audio, for example in .WAV format.
- database 120 stores data such as channel, speed, licence URL, media (video) URL, number of errors, the last check time, the last error time and h.
- the server 100 manages the system and maintains a list of all streams to validate, for example defined as part of a user configuration procedure, and a record of previous checks. Every 30 seconds each client node connects to the server and the server receives a request 200a for a list of streams to check and provides 200b a list of streams to be checked back to the client. When the client node connects it provides the gathered data on the previously checked streams to the server as well as requesting another list of streams to check. Each client/node has a predetermined list of streams to check and the server returns a list of streams to each node in a loop. The client checks the audio streams and determines whether or not a particular stream is "good" ⁇ i.e.
- the server analyses the stills from the captured video to determine whether or not the video of a stream is good.
- the server is able to request 210a an image sample from client database 130 and to retrieve 210b an image sample from this database, in embodiments in the form of a filmstrip, as described later.
- the human operator 140 is also able to interrogate database 130, via a network connection (web interface), in particular to request 220a images and/or audio and to retrieve 220b these images/audio. This allows the human operator to drill down to investigate details and potential causes of an identified fault.
- the server saves 230a data relating to the monitored multimedia data streams into database 110 for later retrieval 230b for responding to a status request 240a from human operator 140 with status data 240b on the monitored streams.
- the server as Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) (registered trade mark) installed and presents a dashboard with gathered results to a human operator 140.
- the server is also configured to send an email to a human operator when a monitored stream indicates a potential fault, more particularly when a count of a number of errors exceeds a predetermined threshold.
- the server 100 also has a communication link with a Blackout Management System (BMS) (not shown in figure 2a), for example via a network.
- BMS Blackout Management System
- a Blackout Management System controls accessibility of a stream over the Internet, by displaying a holding graphic called a "slate" instead of the programme when a programme is not permitted to be streamed over the Internet.
- the server 100 periodically, for example every two minutes, connects to the Blackout Management System and requests a list of streams which have a slate. This can then be taken into account when determining whether or not to flag a potential fault on a data stream since, for example, a slate could appear as a frozen stream.
- FIG 2b this shows a schematic illustration of the multimedia data capture processes operating within client 120.
- each multimedia data stream 250 is allocated a respective media player 260, which also receives licence data 252 (from server 100) for playing the data stream.
- a media player also has a mute control input 258 to mute the respective audio output 254 from the media player.
- Media player 260 may be implemented in either software or hardware or a combination of the two.
- the output of media player 260 comprises audio data 254 and video data 256.
- the audio data is captured in segments and is written to a data file; the video data is combined with video data from other multimedia data streams into a grid format 270 (although this need not be physically displayed on a display).
- a client has a plurality, N, of media players 260 and the N video data streams are combined into the video grid display 270. At intervals, for example every three seconds, a frame of display 270 is captured, comprising captured frames of, in this example, three separate video streams 270a, b,c.
- filmstrip-type images 280a,b,c each comprising a set of captured frames from a single respective multimedia data stream, conveniently organized in a line defining a time sequence of the captured frames.
- these "filmstrips" form the basis of subsequent processing to determine whether or not there is a potential fault in a video data stream. Details of a preferred approach for such fault detection are described later.
- a priority queue is managed by each client node. This queue holds a list of failed streams to be rechecked as soon as possible to confirm the failure.
- the priority queue is managed by the server, and in a client node 120 a prioritized multimedia data stream may be allocated to a notional "first" multimedia player.
- a user alert may be provided when a predetermined number of errors is reached, for example by sending an email as previously described.
- this shows a flow diagram of a procedure for generating a prioritized list of multimedia data streams for a process on a client node to check.
- the procedure of figure 3 is implemented on server 100 and thus at step 200a the server receives a request for a list of new streams to check.
- the server determines 300 whether or not there is at least one failed stream in the set of streams to check and, if so, sets the failed stream as first in the list to return (step 310). Then, or if there are no failed streams in the previous checked list, the procedure pulls the rest of the list starting with the oldest checked stream (step 320). Where there are multiple failed streams these may be prioritized by the number of errors identified in a stream. Once the full list has been constructed this is returned 200b to the requesting client node.
- this shows an example of a procedure which may be implemented on server 100 to process a fiimstrip 280 of the type shown in figure 2b to identify potential faults and to provide statistical data for storing in data base 110 for later use by a human operator.
- the server receives a list of streams to be monitored (step 400), for example defined during a set up procedure.
- Each listed stream is checked 402 by a client and a fi!mstrip type image is stored in database 130 for each checked stream, and afterwards the video integrity of each stream is checked by server 100 using the saved fiimstrip images.
- the server downloads a fiimstrip image 404 and cuts the retrieved image into a time series of frames 406, Each captured video frame of the series is then processed to determine an average red, green, blue and black value for the frame (step 408).
- a black colour value is determined from a sum of red, green and blue colour values and a black colour may be identified as a colour in which such a sum is less than a predetermined value, for example 10.
- the system is configured to ignore black frames.
- the procedure determines (410) whether there are any substantially entirely black frames and if so these are removed (412). Motion detection for each frame is then performed against the first frame (or against an immediate predecessor frame), at step 414.
- step 418 the system then checks whether or not a number of previous errors on the data stream was above the threshold (step 426) and if so the system provides a user alert that there has been recovery from a previous error in the data stream, for example by sending a "recovery" email (step 428). If the number of previous errors was not above the threshold, the stream was previously good and is still good and thus the system continues with step 424, saving data relating to the check performed in the database, and then looping back to step 402 to check the next stream in the list.
- a client node 120 comprises a designated computing device on which a client process is running, to play a plurality of ERM-protected multimedia data streams in a picture-in-picture grid of video displays as previously described.
- each client node runs in a 13 second loop, every 30 seconds sending a request 200a to the server 100 for a new list of streams to validate.
- the procedure requests and receives a list of multimedia data streams to check and, using this, sets up a plurality of media players to play some (but not necessarily all) of the listed streams in parallel, constructing a grid of the video outputs of the players so that they can be displayed/captured in a common frame (step 502).
- This approach enables substantially any media format to be monitored including (but not limited to) Windows Media, Silverlight Smooth Streaming, Adobe Flash, Apple HTTP Streaming (all registered trade marks), and so forth.
- Licence data for playing the listed media streams may either be obtained by the server 100 or directly from a licence URL (which may be supplied, for example, via the server 100).
- the system constructs the player video grid whilst each player begins connecting to its respective media stream.
- the client node also monitors and reports each player's state (step 504) back to server 100 for logging.
- the possible states are dependent upon the format of the multimedia data stream and the media player technology and DRM protection, but in general a player will report the following events: • Acquiring License
- the procedure of figure 5 has, broadly speaking, two loops, one for audio capture and a second for video capture.
- the procedure identifies the next audio stream to record (step 506) and selects a single audio stream from the set of audio streams available from the N players by, in embodiments, controlling the audio mute controls 258 (figure 2b) of the players to mute all but the audio stream of interest.
- This is useful because, in general, a computing device will have only a single audio path (albeit this may be stereo or have more than two channels) and because the DRM protection makes it difficult otherwise to separate out the respective audio outputs of the media players when these are playing in parallel.
- the system then performs a check on the selected audio stream (step 508).
- this peak audio value data is provided to server 100 (as XML data). If the stream does not have audio above the threshold level the procedure loops back to step 506 to retrieve the next audio stream; otherwise the procedure begins capturing a sample of the selected audio stream. In embodiments a three second sample of each audio stream is recorded.
- the video capture loop runs in parallel with the audio capture loop and, at step 512, the procedure captures a screen shot of the entire video grid 270 (in figure 2b). In embodiments this is performed at time intervals corresponding to the audio capture time intervals, for example every three seconds.
- the procedure cuts a screen shot for that player from the video grid display and assembles this into a filmstrip image for the player (step 516).
- each of images 270a,b,c is assembled into a respective filmstrip 280a, b,c, for each player that is playing a stream.
- the image for a particular player may be extracted from the captured video grid screen shot based upon the player's known position in the grid.
- the captured sequence of images forming a filmstrip may be stored as separate images in a time sequence but, in embodiments, these are combined into a single image for storage.
- the captured images from each player are initially saved into an array and then at the end of the (30 second) loop these captured images are arranged side-by-side in a linear fashion, in the manner of a filmstrip.
- the filmstrip image for each player is stored in database 30, together with the corresponding captured audio.
- a client is managed by one or more scheduled tasks.
- the client software is restarted at intervals, for example every five minutes, by a scheduled task. This is because third party media player code can be unstable and thus restarting at intervals helps to ensure continuous and uninterrupted functionality.
- a new folder in database 130 is created each day for images and audio samples. Conveniently this folder is made accessible via HTTP to facilitate access by server 100 and human operator 140. In some preferred implementations a further scheduled task runs daily to delete folders older than a time limit, for example 14 days. This helps to control the very large quantity of image and audio sample data which rapidly accumulates and, in general, there is no need to store data longer than around 1-2 weeks. Archiving for up to 1-2 weeks is, however, advantageous in providing an audit trail for multimedia stream distributors to be investigated when, for example, streaming faults occur.
- the client node is provided with a licence handling scheduled task to download all licences needed for the monitored multimedia data streams at intervals, for example every four hours.
- licences needed for the monitored multimedia data streams may include, for example, ail licences for Windows Media Video (registered trade mark) needed and all other licences needed to play the DRM-protected multimedia data streams.
- a licence needs to be delivered, and for Windows Media Video this licence is required in advance. Conveniently, therefore, licences for these played streams can be accessed periodically by a scheduled task as described.
- a client node 120 is implemented using either a standard PC or a server with a sound card.
- the software can run adequately on a standard PC (personal computer), but the number of simultaneously checked streams is limited by the CPU, PPU, the bandwidth, and the sound card-imposed limitation of only being able to check one audio channel at a time.
- the available communications bandwidth can significantly impact performance, and in particular because of the relatively short checking loops (30 seconds) insufficient bandwidth can cause extensive buffering and can impact the number of reported alerts. Thus, preferably, the available communications bandwidth for a client is increased until this does not occur.
- the server 100 provides a system dashboard view for operator 140.
- the dashboard is used to provide an operator with an overview of the entire system, as well as an archive view of the last checked streams.
- Figure 6 shows an example of the system dashboard 600, used to provide a summary of the checks that are done in real time; this page refreshes itself every 30 seconds.
- the dashboard comprises three main regions, an error summary region 610, a BMS summary region 620, and a node summary region 630.
- the error summary region shows the monitored channels 612, the respective channel speed (in bits per second) 614, and a region 616 showing a time series of recent errors, for example as tick/cross icons.
- Region 617 shows descriptions for a short history of recent errors (for example "still image"), and region 618 shows the IP address of the monitoring client node.
- Region 610 may be colour coded according to the number of failed checks, in the illustrated example regions 610a,b,c having respective colours grey, yellow, red with increasing numbers of detected errors.
- the BMS summary region 620 shows (when expanded) scheduled slates in each channel.
- the nodes summary region 630 shows statistical information regarding each client node machine, in particular the node IP address, the number of alerts per node, the number of minutes which have passed since the earliest check, and the number of minutes which have passed since the most recent check.
- FIG. 7a illustrates an example status view 700, which shows details of historical checks on a multimedia data stream, giving details on each check, and also enabling a user to go back earlier in time to review the results of a previous check.
- Example data which may be included in such detailed view includes an identifier for the log, and stream, a bit rate, image dimensions (height and width), a log path and file name, a duration ("played For") field indicating the duration of the loop in seconds, and error information.
- the error information may include a count of dropped images, motion detection values for each three second point, sound threshold values for each stream for each three second point, average black, red, green and blue values for each three second point, a count of a number of checks and errors, and data relating to operation of a media player.
- the video play sequence is illustrated by a stepped graph with different height regions 702, 704, 706 illustrating when the media player is, respectively, connecting, buffering and playing.
- FIG. 708a, b illustrate when the system is capturing video and audio respectfully, showing corresponding time intervals in milliseconds. Clicking on an audio region of the display brings up an audio player 710 to enable the captured audio to be reviewed, and a region 720 displays the film strip constructed from the captured video phones.
- the detailed status data shows when the video images and audio sample(s) were captured.
- Figure 7b illustrates an example historical status view 750 showing (in this example) checks made on a set of multimedia data streams during a selected time period, in the example one hour. This display combines checks for all the different delivery bit rates for each programme, and thus facilitates identification of whether a fault is specific to just one bit rate or to the entire programme, across all the bit rates. This display also facilitates comparing delivery hour-by-hour.
- this shows an example filmstrip page 800 provided by a preferred embodiment of the system.
- This page displays a set of filmstrips for a corresponding set of monitored channels, together with error status data, above the filmstrip and also flagged by a change in filmstrip background colour (the background of the bottom filmstrip is highlighted).
- the filmstrip view shows a set of recent checks, for example the last 50 checks performed by the system, and in embodiments this page refreshes itself every 30 seconds.
- clicking on a filmstrip opens a detailed view of the type shown in figure 7a.
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Abstract
Description
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Applications Claiming Priority (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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PCT/EP2011/055428 WO2012136260A1 (en) | 2011-04-07 | 2011-04-07 | Multimedia test systems |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
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EP2695387A1 true EP2695387A1 (en) | 2014-02-12 |
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Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
EP11712582.3A Withdrawn EP2695387A1 (en) | 2011-04-07 | 2011-04-07 | Multimedia test systems |
Country Status (3)
Country | Link |
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EP (1) | EP2695387A1 (en) |
CA (1) | CA2830429C (en) |
WO (1) | WO2012136260A1 (en) |
Families Citing this family (3)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
EP3383055A1 (en) | 2017-03-28 | 2018-10-03 | Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG | Method and device for monitoring data related to broadcasting and/or streaming |
EP3611928B1 (en) * | 2018-08-16 | 2022-06-22 | Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG | Apparatus and method for configuring a monitoring device, system for monitoring a streaming or broadcast service |
CN114745574B (en) * | 2022-04-24 | 2024-06-11 | 武汉风行在线技术有限公司 | Video integration cooperation process normalization detection method and system |
Family Cites Families (5)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
JPH0746579A (en) * | 1993-07-21 | 1995-02-14 | Sony Corp | Signal monitoring device |
JP2008538166A (en) * | 2005-01-21 | 2008-10-09 | コーニンクレッカ フィリップス エレクトロニクス エヌ ヴィ | Method and apparatus for detecting the presence of a digital television signal |
US20070047542A1 (en) * | 2005-08-30 | 2007-03-01 | Microsoft Corporation | Real-time audio-visual quality monitoring in a network |
US20070058043A1 (en) * | 2005-08-30 | 2007-03-15 | Microsoft Corporation | Real-time IPTV channel health monitoring |
GB0706496D0 (en) * | 2007-04-03 | 2007-05-09 | British Telecomm | Method and system for video quality assessment |
-
2011
- 2011-04-07 CA CA2830429A patent/CA2830429C/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 2011-04-07 WO PCT/EP2011/055428 patent/WO2012136260A1/en unknown
- 2011-04-07 EP EP11712582.3A patent/EP2695387A1/en not_active Withdrawn
Non-Patent Citations (2)
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None * |
See also references of WO2012136260A1 * |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
WO2012136260A1 (en) | 2012-10-11 |
CA2830429C (en) | 2018-06-26 |
CA2830429A1 (en) | 2012-10-11 |
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