A Flexible Monitor for Assessing 3D Video QoE in Real-time

With the evolution of 3D technology, 3D IPTV services may prove to be a common service widely distributed by operators. So it is important that they have the necessary means to easily and inexpensively monitor the Quality of Experience (QoE) of this new service. Deployment of 3D video QoE monitors anywhere in the network will enable operators to adapt their service and network infrastructure in order to guarantee a desired QoE level, e.g., in scenarios where 3D IPTV streaming is offered to users with multi-homed equipment and simultaneous access to the network by means of heterogeneous smartcells in the customer premises. This paper presents a prototype developed for monitoring 3D video QoE in multiple use-case scenarios. A novel aspect is that this monitor may inspect video using several inputs, allowing different coding standards and encapsulation schemes. It can either analyze offline captures or perform real-time monitoring, and operate either using a graphical user interface or in command line mode. The latter allows its integration in network embedded devices like smartcells. The prototype puts in practice a flexible architecture that allows easy integration of modules new QoE evaluation models.. To demonstrate the monitor applicability and validate its performance in a real use-case scenario, a video-plus-depth QoE assessment model was implemented and extensive tests were performed with real traffic data, using the ITU-T G.1050 recommendation to simulate network impairments. It has been demonstrated that inferred quality results have a very high correlation with the measured quality values.(1)