Patent ID: 8233590

Claim:
A method of automatically controlling a volume level of communication speech for quality measurement using quality measurement equipment, the quality measurement equipment calculating a quality value based on results obtained by comparing a speech signal, which is received via a voice communication network, with a reference speech signal, the method comprising the steps of: (a) when a first audio signal, including a first speech signal, is received from counterpart quality measurement equipment in a predetermined format, measuring, by the quality measurement equipment, a volume level of the first speech signal; (b) comparing, by the quality measurement equipment, the measured volume level of the first speech signal with a reference volume level; (c) generating, by the quality measurement equipment, a predetermined intrinsic audible frequency signal corresponding to results of the comparison, wherein the predetermined intrinsic audible frequency signal comprises one of a ‘proper’ tone signal indicating that the volume level of the first speech signal is proper, an ‘excess’ tone signal indicating that the volume level of the first speech signal is excessive and an ‘insufficiency’ tone signal indicating that the volume level of the first speech signal is insufficient; (d) transmitting, by the quality measurement equipment, the predetermined intrinsic audible frequency signal to the counterpart quality measurement equipment; (e) receiving, by the counterpart quality measurement equipment, the predetermined intrinsic audible frequency signal; (f) if the received predetermined intrinsic audible frequency signal comprises the ‘excess’ tone signal or the ‘insufficiency’ tone signal: (f1) generating, by the counterpart quality measurement equipment, a second audio signal including a second speech signal; (f2) controlling, by the counterpart quality measurement equipment, the volume level of the second speech signal in accordance with the interpreted predetermined intrinsic audible frequency signal, wherein the volume of the second speech signal is decreased relative to the volume of the first speech signal if the received predetermined intrinsic audible frequency signal comprises the ‘excess’ tone signal, and the volume of the second speech signal is increased relative to the volume of the first speech signal if the received predetermined intrinsic audible frequency signal comprises the ‘insufficiency’ tone signal; and (f3) transmitting, by the counterpart quality measurement equipment, the second audio signal including the second speech signal to the quality measurement equipment; and (g) if the received predetermined intrinsic audible frequency signal comprises the ‘proper’ tone signal, transmitting, by the counterpart quality measurement equipment, an acknowledgement tone signal to the quality measurement equipment, wherein the acknowledgement tone signal is distinguished from the ‘proper,’ excess' or ‘insufficiency’ tone signals.