Radio base station for monitoring faults of radio communication modems based on content of received frames that are received during call connections

• US 20030224777A1
• Filed: 05/15/2003
• Published: 12/04/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Sakuma, Masaki
• Granted Patent: US 6,915,127 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/423
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements

Abstract

A radio base station is disclosed that monitors faults of radio communication modems based on the content of received frames that are received during call connection. The radio communication modems are mounted in units of prescribed number on signal converters of card structure and are assigned to correspond to mobile stations that perform call connections. The radio base station uses fault detection data to check the content of frames that are received during call connections for each radio communication modem, and counts the total number of received frames and the number of frames in which faults are detected. Upon termination of a call connection, the radio base station determines whether or not a fault has occurred in a radio communication modem based on the counted ratio of the number of frames in which faults are detected to the total number of received frames, and if a fault has occurred, attempts recovery control. If a radio communication modem does not recover, the radio base station deletes the radio communication modem as a candidate for next assignment. The radio base station further transmits, to maintenance personnel through the radio base station controller, a message prompting exchange of a signal conversion card in which the number of faulty radio communication modems reaches or exceeds a particular number.

Claims

1. A radio base station of a mobile communication system that accommodates a plurality of mobile stations through radio lines and that control call connections, said radio base station comprising:

a line control means for controlling connections with radio base station controllers that control a plurality of radio base stations through wired lines and that mediate communication with partner mobile stations of said mobile stations;

radio transceiving means for communicating with each of said mobile stations by radio frequency signals;

a plurality of radio communication modems that are each assigned to a call connection of each of said mobile stations for performing mutual conversion between signals of radio sections for said radio transceiving means and signals of wired sections for said line control means;

fault detection comparison data storage means for storing fault detection comparison data for comparison with the content of frames that are received for each of said radio communication modems to detect faults;

total received frame counting means for counting the total number of frames that are received for each of said radio communication modems;

fault detection frame counting means for counting the number of frames in which a fault is detected of frames that are received for each of said radio communication modems based on said fault detection comparison data;

modem fault detection threshold value storage means for storing a modem fault detection threshold value, which is the maximum value of the ratio of said number of frames in which a fault is detected to said total received frames for determining a fault of a relevant radio communication modem for each of said radio communication modems; and

a central control means for monitoring each of said radio communication modems, and when a call connection is terminated, calculating the ratio of said number of frames in which a fault is detected to said total received frames of the relevant radio communication modem, comparing this calculated ratio with said modem fault detection threshold value, and when this calculated ratio exceeds said modem fault detection threshold value, determining that a fault has occurred and causing the execution of an automatic recovery process of the relevant radio communication modem.

2. A radio base station according to claim 1, comprising:

a plurality of signal conversion cards that are constructed such that said plurality of radio communication modems are mounted in units of prescribed numbers on each of cards in which connectors are arranged on a printed circuit board to allow free attachment to or removal from the main body of a radio base station;

a modem-specific reset times counting means for counting instances in which resetting is performed to realize automatic recovery from a fault for each of said radio communication modems;

a maximum reset times threshold value storage means for storing a maximum reset times threshold value, which is the maximum number of instances of resetting for each of said radio communication modems;

a card-specific unusable modem counting means for counting the number of radio communication modems that have been rendered unusable for each of said signal conversion cards; and

card exchange report threshold value storage means for storing a card exchange report threshold value, which is the maximum value for the number of radio communication modems that have been rendered unusable for each of said signal conversion cards for determining whether to prompt the exchange of each of said signal conversion cards;

wherein said central control means makes unusable those radio communication modems for which said number of instances of resetting for causing automatic recovery from faults has exceeded said maximum reset times threshold value, does not assign said radio communication modems that have been made unusable to said mobile stations, and further, compares the number of radio communication modems of a relevant signal conversion card that have been rendered unusable with said card exchange report threshold value, and when said number of radio communication modems that have been rendered unusable exceeds said card exchange report threshold value, transmits a message prompting the exchange of the relevant signal conversion card to maintenance personnel through said line control means and said radio base station controller.

3. A radio base station according to claim 2, further comprising means for downloading, from a radio base station controller, operation parameters that include said fault detection comparison data, said modem fault detection threshold value, said maximum reset times threshold value, and said card exchange report threshold value, and freely modifying said operation parameters.

7. A mobile communication system, comprising:

a maintenance monitor device that is managed by maintenance personnel of a system;

a plurality of radio base station controllers that are connected by wired lines to said maintenance monitor device;

a plurality of mobile stations; and

a plurality of radio base stations according to claim 2 that include a plurality of signal conversion cards in which radio communication modems for performing mutual conversion of signals for radio sections and signals for wired sections are mounted in prescribed numbers;

for controlling call connections of said plurality of mobile stations through radio lines under the control of said radio base station controllers by way of wired lines;

wherein each of said radio base stations;

performs a fault detection process for each of said radio communication modems within its own radio base station upon terminating a call connection, attempts an automatic recovery of radio communication modems in which faults are detected, prohibits the assignment to call connection processing of radio communication modems which have not recovered from a fault, and if the number of radio communication modems in which faults occur for each of said signal conversion cards reaches or exceeds a particular fixed value, transmits a message prompting the exchange of that signal conversion card to said maintenance monitor device through said radio base station controller.

8. A mobile communication system according to claim 7, further comprising:

means for downloading, from said radio base station controller, a control program for causing each of said radio base stations to operate and operation parameters that include said fault detection comparison data, said modem fault detection threshold value, said maximum reset times threshold value, and said card exchange report threshold value.

4. A radio communication modem fault recovery method, said method being a method, in a radio base station of a mobile communication system that controls call connections of a plurality of mobile stations through radio lines under the control of a radio base station controller through wired lines, for effecting recovery from faults of a plurality of radio communication modems that perform mutual conversion of signals for radio sections and signals for wired sections, said radio communication modems being assigned to each call connection of each of mobile stations, said method comprising steps of:

storing in advance;

fault detection comparison data for comparison with the content of frames that are received for each of said radio communication modems for detecting faults; and

a modem fault detection threshold value, which is the maximum value of the ratio of the number of frames in which faults are detected to the total number of received frames for determining a fault of a radio communication modem for each of said radio communication modems;

for each of said radio communication modems, counting the total number of received frames when frames are received, determining whether a fault exists based on said fault detection comparison data, and if a fault exists, counting the number of frames in which faults are detected; and

upon terminating a call connection of each of said radio communication modems, calculating the ratio of the number of frames in which faults are detected to the total number of received frames for each radio communication modem, comparing said calculated ratio with said modem fault detection threshold value, and, when said calculated ratio exceeds said modem fault detection threshold value, determining that a fault has occurred and performing an automatic recovery process of the relevant radio communication modem.

5. A radio communication modem fault recovery method according to claim 4, further comprising steps of:

storing in advance;

a card exchange report threshold value, which is the maximum value for the number of radio communication modems that are rendered unusable for each of said signal conversion cards; and

a maximum reset times threshold value, which is the maximum number of instances of resetting for each of said radio communication modems;

for determining whether or not to prompt exchange of a plurality of signal conversion cards in which said plurality of radio communication modems are mounted in units of prescribed numbers on cards in which connectors are arranged on printed wiring boards to allow free installation in or removal from a radio base station main body;

counting the number of instances of resetting that are performed for automatic recovery from a fault for each of said radio communication modems;

rendering unusable those radio communication modems for which said number of instances of resetting that are performed for automatic recovery from a fault exceeds said maximum reset times threshold value, not assigning said radio communication modems that have been rendered unusable to said mobile stations, and counting the number of radio communication modems that have been rendered unusable for each said signal conversion card and comparing the counted number with said card exchange report threshold value; and

when said counted number exceeds said card exchange report threshold value, transmitting a message for prompting exchange of the relevant signal conversion card to maintenance personnel through said radio base station controller.

6. A radio communication modem fault recovery method according to claim 5, further comprising a step of downloading operation parameters that include said fault detection comparison data, said modem fault detection threshold value, said maximum reset times threshold value, and said card exchange report threshold value from said radio base station controller and freely modifying said operation parameters.