Patent ID: 8068437

Claim:
A method performed by a computer system, the method comprising: generating, by a processor of the computer system, an assumed model for a second communication service, where the second communication service exhibits a first performance characteristic and a second performance characteristic, and where the assumed model estimates the effects of the second performance characteristic in the second communication service upon subjective ratings of the first performance characteristic in the second communication service; obtaining, by the computer system, a set of subjective ratings of the first performance characteristic in the second communication service based upon a model of the first performance characteristic in a first communication service, where the first communication service exhibits the first performance characteristic and does not exhibit the second performance characteristic; altering, by the processor, the subjective ratings of the first performance characteristic in the second communication service to reflect the effects of the second performance characteristic in the second communication service upon the subjective ratings of the first performance characteristic in the second communication service, using the assumed model; computing, by the processor, quality index values from the altered subjective ratings, where the quality index values reflect an estimated quality of the second communication service; and storing, in a memory associated with the computer system, the quality index values.