Network support node traffic reduction for self-organizing networks

• US 10,142,242 B2
• Filed: 05/14/2014
• Issued: 11/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Tapia, Pablo
• Primary Examiner(s): Taylor, Nicholas R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Li, Michael
• Application Number:
  US14/277,389
• Publication Number:
  US 20140250201A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,658 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/20 Network management software packages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Described herein are techniques for limiting transmission of plurality of messages from one or more self-organizing network (SON) tools to a network support node based at least in part on performance information and on either or both of priorities associated with the plurality of messages or priorities associated with the SON tool(s). The performance information is associated with performance of a network support node.

Claims

1. A computing device comprising:

a processor;

a communication component in communication with an operations support system (OSS) node of an OSS network that is configured to support a self-organizing network (SON) telecommunication network; and

memory storing a message queue and a SON engine that, when operated by the processor, executes a plurality of SON tools,

wherein the SON engine is configured to perform operations comprising;

receiving OSS performance information from the OSS node indicative of performance of hardware or software component(s) of the OSS node;

placing a plurality of messages that are to be sent to the OSS node from the plurality of SON tools in the message queue;

determining that at least two messages in the message queue have different priorities based on priorities of the SON tools that originated the at least two messages or based on priorities of parameters associated with the at least two messages; and

limiting transmission of the plurality of messages in the message queue to the OSS node based at least in part on the OSS performance information and on the different priorities of the at least two messages.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the SON engine is further configured to limit the transmission of the plurality of messages when the OSS performance information fails to meet one or more thresholds or models.

3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the SON engine is further configured to limit the transmission of the plurality of messages in the message queue by transmitting a subset of the plurality of messages to the OSS node, the subset including (i) one or more messages of the plurality of messages that each have a priority that meets or exceeds a priority threshold or (ii) one or more messages selected in order of priority until a collective size of the selected messages meets a size threshold.

4. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by a self-organizing network (SON) engine running on a computing device, network support node performance information indicative of performance of hardware or software component(s) of a network support node, the network support node being part of a support systems network that is configured to support a SON telecommunication network;

placing, by the SON engine, a plurality of messages that are to be sent to the network support node from a plurality of SON tools executed by the SON engine in a message queue;

determining, by the SON engine, that at least two messages in the message queue have different priorities based on priorities of the SON tools that originated that at least two messages; and

limiting, by the SON engine, transmission of the plurality of messages in the message queue to the network support node based at least in part on the network support node performance information and on the different priorities of the at least two messages.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the network support node performance information is indicative of performance of a central processing unit of the network support node, performance of memory of the network support node, input/output performance of the network support node, or performance of storage of the network support node.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the network support node performance information is received from a client component residing on the network support node or is retrieved by a component on the SON engine which remotely accesses the network support node performance information from the network support node.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the network support node is an operations support system (OSS) node.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the limiting further comprises limiting the transmission of the plurality of messages to the network support node when the network support node performance information fails to meet one or more thresholds or models.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the limiting further comprises transmitting a subset of the plurality of messages to the network support node, the subset including (i) one or more messages of the plurality of messages that each have a priority that meets or exceeds a priority threshold or (ii) one or more messages selected in order of priority until a collective size of the selected messages meets a size threshold.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein the different priorities of the at least two messages is further based on priorities of network parameters associated with the at least two messages.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein the limiting comprises transmitting a subset of the plurality of messages to the network support node if the network support node performance information fails to meet a first threshold or preventing the transmission of the plurality of messages to the network support node if the network support node performance information fails to meet a second threshold.

12. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having stored thereon a plurality of programming instructions that, when executed by a computing device implementing a self-organizing network (SON) engine performs operations comprising:

receiving network support node performance information indicative of performance of hardware or software component(s) of a network support node, the network support node being part of a support systems network that is configured to support a SON telecommunication network;

placing a plurality of messages that are to be sent to the network support node from a plurality of SON tools in a message queue;

determining that at least two messages in the message queue have different priorities; and

limiting transmission of the plurality of messages in the message queue to the network support node based at least in part on the network support node performance information and on the different priorities of the at least two messages.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the different priorities of the at least two messages are based on priorities of network parameters associated with the at least two messages.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the different priorities of the at least two messages are based on priorities of the SON tools that originated the at least two messages.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the plurality of SON tools are implemented by the SON engine of the computing device, the SON engine performing the receiving, the placing, the determining, and the limiting.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the network support node performance information is further indicative of performance of the support systems network.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the network support node performance information is received from a client component residing on the network support node or is retrieved by a component on the SON engine which remotely accesses the performance information from the network support node.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the limiting further comprises limiting the transmission of the plurality of messages when the network support node performance information fails to meet one or more thresholds or models.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the limiting further comprises transmitting a subset of the plurality of messages to the network support node, the subset including (i) one or more messages of the plurality of messages that each have a priority that meets or exceeds a priority threshold or (ii) one or more messages selected in order of priority until a collective size of the selected messages meets a size threshold.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the limiting comprises transmitting a subset of the plurality of messages to the network support node if the network support node performance information fails to meet a first threshold or preventing the transmission of the plurality of messages to the network support node if the network support node performance information fails to meet a second threshold.