System and method for data maintenance and integration including interpolation

• US 20070165541A1
• Filed: 07/13/2006
• Published: 07/19/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bison Patent Licensing, LLC
• Original Assignee: Andrew LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Arpee, John
• Granted Patent: US 7,630,327 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/245 by using the properties of transmission codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0859 by keeping history of different configuration generations or by rolling back to previous configuration versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/142 using statistical or mathematical methods
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/147 for predicting network behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0847 Transmission error
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/106 using time related information in packets, e.g. by adding timestamps
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports

Abstract

A system and method of managing collection and maintenance of performance data for a wireless communications network including collecting configuration data for the network, encoding the collected configuration data and storing the data, collecting a transmitted signal, measuring a parameter of the collected signal, and encoding and storing the parameter. These steps are repeated for additional configurations of the network. The transmitted signals are transmitted by a base station or a mobile device. Further, the transmitted signals are collected by a base station or a mobile device.

Claims

1. In a wireless communications network having a plurality of base stations for communication with a plurality of mobile devices, a method of managing the collection and maintenance of performance data for the wireless communications network comprising:

(a) collecting configuration data for the wireless communications network;

(b) encoding the collected configuration data and storing the data in a first database;

(c) collecting signals transmitted by the mobile device at at least one base station;

(d) measuring at least one parameter of the collected signal;

(e) encoding the at least one parameter and storing in a second database; and

(f) repeating steps (a)-(e) for a plurality of configurations.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of

(g) receiving a request for at least one measured parameter for a specified network configuration;

and

(h) accessing the at least one measured parameter for the time period during which the specified network configuration existed.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising the steps of:

(i) if the specified network configuration does not exist in the first database;

(1) accessing the at least one parameter of a network substantially similar to the specified configuration; and

(2) modifying the accessed data to correspond to the specified configuration.

10. The method of claim 2 further comprising identifying the at least one measured parameter which is not valid for the specified network configuration.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

(g) estimating the network configuration as a function of a specified time; and

(h) providing at least one measured parameter valid for the estimated network configuration.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

(g) receiving a request for at least one measured parameter for a specified time interval;

(h) identifying the requested at least one parameter for the specified time interval;

(i) identifying the network configurations associated with identified requested at least one parameter for the specified time interval; and

(j) identifying the identified requested at least one parameter which may have been affected by a network configuration change during the specified time interval.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second database are the same database.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein encoding the parameter includes associating with a temporal parameter.

4. In a wireless communication network having a configuration of communication elements for communicating with a mobile device, a method of collecting performance information related to the configuration of the network elements comprising:

(a) collecting performance data for a first configuration of network elements;

(b) encoding the collected performance data for the first configuration and storing in a database;

(c) collecting performance data for a second configuration of network elements;

(d) encoding the collected performance data for the second configuration and storing in a database; and

(e) predicting the performance data for a third configuration as a function of the performance data for the first and second configurations, wherein the first, second and third configurations are not the same configuration.

13. The method of claim 4 wherein the step of prediction the performance of the third configuration includes:

(i) extrapolating the performance data associated with the first network configuration;

(ii) extrapolating the performance data associated with the second network configuration; and

(iii) predicting the performance data for third network configuration by extrapolating the extrapolated performance data associated with the first and second network configurations.

15. The method of claim 4 wherein collecting performance data includes at least one of continuous collection, periodic collection, intermittent collection, and event-driven collection.

17. The method of claim 4, wherein encoding the parameter includes associating with a temporal parameter.

5. In a wireless communications network having a plurality of base stations for communication with a plurality of mobile devices, a method of managing the collection and maintenance of performance data for the wireless communications network comprising:

(a) collecting configuration data for the wireless communications network;

(b) encoding the collected configuration data and storing the data in a database;

(c) collecting signals transmitted by at least one base station at at least one mobile device;

(d) measuring at least one parameter of the collected signal;

(e) encoding the at least one parameter and storing in a database; and

(f) repeating steps (a)-(e) for a plurality of configurations.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the steps of

(g) receiving a request for at least one measured parameter for a specified network configuration;

and

(h) accessing the at least one measured parameter for the time period during which the specified network configuration existed.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising the steps of:

(i) if the specified network configuration does not exist in the data base;

(1) accessing the at least one parameter of a network substantially similar to the specified configuration; and

(2) modifying the accessed data to correspond to the specified configuration.

18. The method of claim 5, wherein encoding the parameter includes associating with a temporal parameter.

8. A method for evaluating the performance of a wireless communications network having a plurality of base stations for communicating with a plurality of mobile devices, comprising:

(a) collecting configuration data for the wireless communications network and storing in a database;

(b) measuring at least one parameter of the communication signals transmitted in the wireless communications network and storing in the database;

(c) receiving a request for the at least one measured parameter for a specified network configuration; and

(f) providing the requested at least one parameter that is valid for the specified network configuration.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the collected configuration data and the measured at least one parameter are time stamped.