Apparatus and methods for determining connection quality of a wireless device on a wireless communications network

• US 20060203738A1
• Filed: 03/10/2005
• Published: 09/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Guellec, Lenaig Genevieve, Hwang, Jihyun, Yip, Eric Chi Chung, Fok, Kenny
• Granted Patent: US 8,620,314 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/26 using historical data, averaging values or statistics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/16 in which the return channel carries supervisory signals, e.g. repetition request signals

Abstract

Apparatus and methods for determining a connection quality of a wireless device with a wireless communications network comprise a user manager operable to receive a plurality of communications messages as recorded by the wireless device, where the plurality of communications messages comprise messages transmitted from and received by the wireless device via the wireless communication network. Further, a connection quality module associated with the user manager is operable to generate a connection quality record comprising a connection quality characteristic based on a detection of a predetermined sequence of communications messages within the plurality of communications messages. Optionally, an optimization module may generate a configuration change for the wireless device and/or a network component based on the connection quality characteristic.

Claims

1. A method of determining a connection quality between a wireless device and a wireless communications network, comprising:

receiving a plurality of communications messages as recorded by the wireless device, where the plurality of communications messages comprise messages transmitted from and received by the wireless device via the wireless communication network; and

generating a connection quality record comprising a connection quality characteristic based on a detection of a predetermined sequence of communications messages within the plurality of communications messages.

2. The method of claim 1, where the connection quality characteristic comprises at least one of an access failure and a call drop.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving position information corresponding to at least one position of the wireless device during the plurality of communications, and associating the position information with the connection quality characteristic in the generated connection quality record.

4. The method of claim 3, where the position information relates to at least one of a geographic position of the wireless device and a geographic position of a network component in communication with the wireless device.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising generating an optimal configuration of at least one of the wireless device and the network component based on the connection quality characteristic.

6. The method of claim 1, where the connection quality characteristic comprises an access failure, where the access failure is based on a predetermined relationship between an access attempt and an access success.

7. The method of claim 6, where the access attempt comprises a unique radio connection request message of a first type having an establishment cause selected from the group consisting of an original conversational call, a terminating conversational call, and an emergency call, or a second type of the unique radio connection request message having the establishment cause comprising a registration and followed by one of a connection request signaling message or a setup signaling message.

8. The method of claim 6, where the access success comprises an alerting signaling message associated with one of the first type or the second type of unique radio connection request message, respectively, or a connect signaling message associated with one of the first type or the second type of unique radio connection request message, respectively, or a connect acknowledgement signaling message associated with one of the first type or the second type of unique radio connection request message, respectively.

9. The method of claim 1, where the plurality of communications messages comprise messages in a Universal Mobile Telephone System (“

UMTS”

) protocol, and where the connection quality characteristic comprises an access failure determined according to the following equation;

number of access failures=Σ

access attempts−

Σ

access successes

where;

Σ

access attempts=

a sum of the number of unique RRC_Connection_Request Messages of a first type with an ESTABLISHMENTCAUSE comprising one of an ORIGINATING_CONVERSATIONAL_CALL, a TERMINATING_CONVERSATIONAL_CALL, and an EMERGENCY_CALL;

plus

a sum of the number of unique RRC_Connection_Request Messages of a second type with the ESTABLISHMENTCAUSE=REGISTRATION followed by either a CM_SERVICE_REQUEST_NAS_Signaling with SERV_TYPE=1, or a SETUP_NAS_Signaling message; and

Σ

access successes=

a sum of the number of ALERTING_NAS_Signaling messages associated with ones of the first type and the second type of the unique RRC_Connection_Request messages, respectively;

plus

a sum of the number of CONNECT_NAS_Signaling messages associated with ones of the first type and the second type of the unique RRC_Connection_Request messages, respectively, without an associated ALERTING_NAS_Signaling message;

plus

a sum of the number of CONNECT_ACK_NAS_Signaling messages associated with ones of the first type and the second type of the unique RRC_Connection_Request messages, respectively, without an associated ALERTING_NAS_Signaling message or an associated CONNECT_NAS_Signaling message.

10. The method of claim 1, where the connection quality characteristic comprises a call drop based on at least one of a state change, an abnormal release and an abnormal disconnect.

11. The method of claim 10, where the state change comprises a change from an active state to an idle state, following an access success, without an associated release signaling message or a disconnect signaling message between the state change.

12. The method of claim 11, where the access success comprises an alerting signaling message associated with one of a first type and the second type of unique radio connection request messages, respectively, or a connect signaling message associated with one of the first type and the second type of unique radio connection request messages, respectively, or a connect acknowledgement signaling message associated with one of the first type and the second type of unique radio connection request messages, respectively.

13. The method of claim 12, where the first type of unique radio connection request message comprises an establishment cause selected from the group consisting of an original conversational call, a terminating conversational call, and an emergency call, and where the second type of unique radio connection request messages comprises an establishment cause having a registration and followed by one of a service request signaling message or a setup signaling message.

14. The method of claim 10, where the abnormal release comprises a release signaling messages having an abnormal cause code and associated with an alerting signaling message corresponding to an access success.

15. The method of claim 10, where the abnormal disconnect comprises a disconnect signaling message having an abnormal cause code and associated with the alerting signaling message corresponding to the access success.

16. The method of claim 1, where the plurality of communications messages comprise messages in a Universal Mobile Telephone System (“

UMTS”

) protocol, and where the connection quality characteristic comprises a call drop determined according to the following equation;

number of call drops=Σ

call drops due to state changes+Σ

abnormal releases+Σ

abnormal disconnects

where;

Σ

call drops due to state changes=

a sum of the number of NAS_MM state changes from CONNECTION_ACTIVE to CONNECTION_IDLE except when there is a RELEASE_NAS_Signaling message or a DISCONNECT_NAS_Signaling message between the state change, and associated with an access success, where the access success comprises;

an ALERTING_NAS_Signaling message associated with ones of a first type and a second type of unique RRC_Connection_Request messages, respectively;

or

a CONNECT_NAS_Signaling message associated with ones of the first type and the second type of unique RRC_Connection_Request messages, respectively, without an associated ALERTING_NAS_Signaling message;

or

a CONNECT_ACK_NAS_Signaling message associated with ones of the first type and the second type of unique RRC_Connection_Request message, respectively, without an associated ALERTING_NAS_Signaling message or an associated CONNECT_NAS Signaling message;

where the first type of unique RRC_Connection_Request message comprises an ESTABLISHMENTCAUSE comprising one of an ORIGINATING_CONVERSATIONAL_CALL, a TERMINATING_CONVERSATIONAL_CALL, and an EMERGENCY_CALL;

where the second type of unique RRC_Connection_Request Message comprises the ESTABLISHMENTCAUSE=REGISTRATION followed by either a CM_SERVICE_REQUEST_NAS_Signaling with SERV_TYPE=1 or a SETUP_NAS_Signaling message; and

without any new RRC_Connection_Request Message in between;

Σ

abnormal releases=

a sum of the number of RELEASE_NAS_Signaling Messages having a CAUSE≠

NORMAL and associated with the ALERTING_NAS Signaling message corresponding to the access success, and not preceded by an associated DISCONNECT_NAS_Signaling message; and

Σ

abnormal disconnects=

a sum of the number of DISCONNECT_NAS_Signaling having the CAUSE≠

NORMAL and associated with the ALERTING_NAS_Signaling message corresponding to the access success, and not preceded by an associated RELEASE_NAS_Signaling message.

36. A computer-readable medium for determining a connection quality between a wireless device and a wireless communications network, comprising:

at least one sequence of instructions, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor causes the processor to perform the steps as claimed in claim 1.

37. A computer-readable medium for determining a connection quality between a wireless device and a wireless communications network, comprising:

at least one sequence of instructions, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor causes the processor to perform the steps as claimed in claim 16.

17. A method of determining a connection quality between a wireless device and a wireless communications network, comprising:

receiving a plurality of communications messages transmitted from and received by the wireless device on the wireless communications network;

identifying a connection quality characteristic within the plurality of communications messages based on a detection of a predetermined sequence of messages;

generating a connection quality record associated with the received plurality of messages, the connection quality record comprising the connection quality characteristic; and

generating a configuration change for at least one of the wireless device and a network component in the wireless communication network based on the connection quality record.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising receiving a second plurality of communications messages transmitted from and received by a second wireless device on the wireless communications network;

receiving a first set and a second set of position information respectively corresponding to the plurality of communications and the second plurality of communications, and respectively corresponding to the wireless device and the second wireless device, and where generating the connection quality record further comprises correlating the connection quality characteristic with positions from the first set and the second set of position information.

38. A computer-readable medium for determining a connection quality between a wireless device and a wireless communications network, comprising:

at least one sequence of instructions, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor causes the processor to perform the steps as claimed in claim 17.

19. A wireless device connection quality determination apparatus, comprising:

a user manager operable to receive a plurality of communications messages as recorded by the wireless device, where the plurality of communications messages comprise transmitted messages sent from the wireless device over a wireless communications network; and

a connection quality module operable to generate a connection quality record comprising a connection quality characteristic based on a detection of a predetermined sequence of communications messages within the plurality of communications messages.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the connection quality characteristic comprises at least one of an access failure and a call drop.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising the user manager operable to receive position information corresponding to at least one position of the wireless device during the plurality of communications, and wherein the connection quality module is further operable to associate the position information with the connection quality characteristic in the generated connection quality record.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the position information comprises at least one of a geographic position of the wireless device and a geographic position of a network component in communication with the wireless device.

23. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising an optimization module operable to generate an optimal configuration of at least one of the wireless device and a network component of the wireless communications network based on the connection quality characteristic.

24. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the connection quality characteristic comprises an access failure, wherein the access failure is based on a predetermined relationship between an access attempt and an access success.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the access attempt comprises a unique radio connection request message of a first type having an establishment cause selected from the group consisting of an original conversational call, a terminating conversational call, and an emergency call, or a second type of the unique radio connection request message having the establishment cause comprising a registration and followed by one of a connection request signaling message or a setup signaling message.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the access success comprises an alerting signaling message associated with one of the first type or the second type of unique radio connection request message, respectively, or a connect signaling messages associated with one of the first type or the second type of unique radio connection request message, respectively, or a connect acknowledgement signaling message associated with one of the first type or the second type of unique radio connection request message, respectively.

27. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the plurality of communications messages comprise messages in a Universal Mobile Telephone System (“

UMTS”

) protocol, and wherein the connection quality characteristic comprises an access failure, wherein the connection quality module generates determines the access failure according to the following equation;

number of access failures=Σ

access attempts−

Σ

access successes

where;

Σ

access attempts

a sum of the number of unique RRC_Connection_Request Messages of a first type with an ESTABLISHMENTCAUSE comprising one of an ORIGINATING_CONVERSATIONAL_CALL, a TERMINATING_CONVERSATIONAL_CALL, and an EMERGENCY_CALL;

plus

a sum of the number of unique RRC_Connection_Request Messages of a second type with the ESTABLISHMENTCAUSE=REGISTRATION followed by either a CM_SERVICE_REQUEST_NAS_Signaling with SERV_TYPE=1, or a SETUP_NAS_Signaling message; and

Σ

access successes=

a sum of the number of ALERTING_NAS_Signaling messages associated with ones of the first type and the second type of the unique RRC_Connection Request messages, respectively;

plus

a sum of the number of CONNECT_NAS_Signaling messages associated with ones of the first type and the second type of the unique RRC_Connection_Request messages, respectively, that do not have an associated ALERTING_NAS_Signaling message;

plus

a sum of the number of CONNECT_ACK_NAS_Signaling messages associated with ones of the first type and the second type of the unique RRC_Connection_Request messages, respectively, that do not have an associated ALERTING_NAS_Signaling message or an associated CONNECT_NAS_Signaling message.

28. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the connection quality characteristic comprises a call drop based on at least one of a state change, an abnormal release and an abnormal disconnect.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the connection quality module is operable to identify the state change by identifying within the plurality of communications messages a change from an active state to an idle state, following an access success, without an associated release signaling message or a disconnect signaling message therebetween.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the access success comprises an alerting signaling message associated with one of a first type and the second type of unique radio connection request messages, respectively, or a connect signaling message associated with one of the first type and the second type of unique radio connection request messages, respectively, or a connect acknowledgement signaling message associated with one of the first type and the second type of unique radio connection request messages, respectively.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the first type of unique radio connection request message comprises an establishment cause selected from the group consisting of an original conversational call, a terminating conversational call, and an emergency call, and wherein the second type of unique radio connection request messages comprises an establishment cause having a registration and followed by one of a service request signaling message or a setup signaling message.

32. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the abnormal release comprises a release signaling messages having an abnormal cause code and associated with an alerting signaling message corresponding to an access success.

33. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the abnormal disconnect comprises a disconnect signaling message having an abnormal cause code and associated with the alerting signaling message corresponding to the access success.

34. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the plurality of communications messages comprise messages in a Universal Mobile Telephone System (“

UMTS”

) protocol, and wherein the connection quality characteristic comprises a call drop, wherein the connection quality module is operable to determine the call drop according to the following equation;

number of call drops=Σ

call drops due to state changes+Σ

abnormal releases+Σ

abnormal disconnects

where;

Σ

call drops due to state changes=

a sum of the number of NAS_MM state changes from CONNECTION_ACTIVE to CONNECTION_IDLE except when there is a RELEASE_NAS_Signaling message or a DISCONNECT_NAS_Signaling message between the state change, and associated with an access success, where the access success comprises;

an ALERTING_NAS_Signaling message associated with one of a first type and a second type of unique RRC_Connection_Request messages, respectively;

or

a CONNECT_NAS_Signaling message associated with one of the first type and the second type of unique RRC_Connection_Request messages, respectively, without an associated ALERTING_NAS_Signaling message;

or

a CONNECT_ACK_NAS_Signaling message associated with one of the first type and the second type of unique RRC_Connection_Request message, respectively, without an associated ALERTING_NAS_Signaling message or an associated CONNECT_NAS_Signaling message;

where the first type of unique RRC_Connection_Request message comprises an ESTABLISHMENTCAUSE comprising one of an ORIGINATING_CONVERSATIONAL_CALL, a TERMINATING_CONVERSATIONAL_CALL, and an EMERGENCY_CALL;

where the second type of unique RRC_Connection_Request Message comprises the ESTABLISHMENTCAUSE=REGISTRATION followed by either a CM_SERVICE_REQUEST_NAS_Signaling with SERV_TYPE=1 or a SETUP_NAS_Signaling message; and

without any new RRC_Connection_Request Message in between;

Σ

abnormal releases=

a sum of the number of RELEASE_NAS_Signaling Messages having a CAUSE≠

NORMAL and associated with the ALERTING_NAS_Signaling message corresponding to the access success, and not preceded by an associated DISCONNECT_NAS_Signaling message; and

Σ

abnormal disconnects=

a sum of the number of DISCONNECT_NAS_Signaling having the CAUSE≠

NORMAL and associated with the ALERTING_NAS_Signaling message corresponding to the access success, and not preceded by any RELEASE_NAS_Signaling message.

35. An apparatus for determining a connection quality between a wireless device and a wireless communications network, comprising:

a first means for receiving a plurality of communications messages transmitted from and received by the wireless device on the wireless communications network;

a second means for identifying a connection quality characteristic within the plurality of communications messages based on a detection of a predetermined sequence of messages;

a third means for generating a connection quality record associated with the received plurality of messages, the connection quality record comprising the connection quality characteristic; and

a fourth means for generating a configuration change for at least one of the wireless device and a network component in the wireless communication network based on the connection quality record.

39. A wireless communications device, comprising:

a processor operable to transmit and receive a plurality of communications messages respectively to and from a wireless network; and

a memory having a resident connection quality module comprising executable instructions operable to collect and forward the communications messages across the wireless network, wherein a predetermined sequence of the plurality of communications messages corresponds to a connection quality characteristic of the wireless device on the wireless network.

40. A wireless communications device, comprising:

logic configured to process a plurality of communications messages for transmission from the wireless communications device to a wireless communications network and for receipt by the wireless communications device from the wireless communications network; and

logic configured to gather the plurality of communications messages in the form of a communications log and transmit, at a predetermined time, the communications log across the wireless communications network;

wherein a predetermined sequence of the plurality of communications messages corresponds to a connection quality characteristic of the wireless device on the wireless network.

41. A wireless communications device, comprising:

a first means for processing a plurality of communications messages for transmission from the wireless communications device to a wireless communications network and for receipt by the wireless communications device from the wireless communications network; and

a second means for gathering the plurality of communications messages in the form of a communications log and transmitting, at a predetermined time, the communications log across the wireless communications network;

where a predetermined sequence of the plurality of communications messages corresponds to a connection quality characteristic of the wireless device on the wireless network.

42. A method for determining a connection quality characteristic of a wireless communications device, comprising:

processing a plurality of communications messages for transmission from the wireless communications device to a wireless communications network and for receipt by the wireless communications device from the wireless communications network;

gathering the plurality of communications messages in the form of a communications log; and

transmitting, at a predetermined time, the communications log across the wireless communications network;

where a predetermined sequence of the plurality of communications messages corresponds to a connection quality characteristic of the wireless device on the wireless network.

43. A computer-readable medium for determining a connection quality between a wireless device and a wireless communications network, comprising:

at least one sequence of instructions, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor causes the processor to perform the steps as claimed in claim 42.