METHOD OF NETWORK MANAGEMENT BY ASSISTANCE FROM TERMINAL USING CONTROL-PLANE SIGNALING BETWEEN TERMINAL AND NETWORK

• US 20090257353A1
• Filed: 03/13/2009
• Published: 10/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Mishra, Anjaii, Flore, Oronzo, Grilli, Francesco, Song, Osok, Kitazoe, Masato
• Granted Patent: US 8,780,732 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/241
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/14 Monitoring arrangements for SDH/SONET rings H04J3/085
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports

Abstract

Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate network management and optimization. As described herein, a network and a device communicating with the network can exchange network management information, thereby supporting a Self Organized Network (SON) architecture for improved network management and optimization performance. A Non-Access Stratum (NAS) layer protocol and/or an Internet Protocol (IP) application, in combination with a set of associated network management messages, can be utilized to exchange network management information between a device and a network. As further described herein, various procedures can be utilized to install a SON policy to a device in order to define device behavior for operations such as collecting and reporting information related to network management. Additionally, a set of standardized events can be defined, based on which a device can detect the occurrence of an event and report the occurrence to an associated network.

Claims

1. A method for supporting a Self Organized Network (SON), comprising:

defining one or more events associated with a communication network;

identifying a SON policy that specifies information to be collected relating to respective defined events and one or more procedures for reporting collected information;

establishing a communication interface between a designated network node and one or more user equipments (UEs); and

instructing communication of the SON policy from the designated network node to the one or more UEs over the communication interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the designated network node is a Mobility Management Entity (MME) or a SON application server.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying comprises defining respective events corresponding to at least one of device failure, hardware failure, a change to network topology as observed by a UE, or a change to communication resources utilized by a UE.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying comprises identifying triggering events at which collected information is to be reported by the one or more UEs, the triggering events comprising a memory at a UE utilized for storing information to be collected relating to the respective defined events becoming substantially full.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the information to be collected relating to respective defined events specified by the SON policy comprises at least one of time of occurrence of a defined event, resources utilized by a UE at a time associated with a defined event, network topology as observed by a UE at a time associated with a defined event, or a channel measurement performed by the UE at a time associated with a defined event.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a radio link failure (RLF) involving the one or more UEs; and

recording information relating to the RLF.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the recording comprises recording one or more of time of the RLF, a serving cell associated with the one or more UEs, a target cell associated with the one or more UEs, or channel measurements prior to the RLF.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the recording comprises:

receiving information relating to the RLF from one or more UEs; and

aggregating received information from the one or more UEs with locally generated information relating to the RLF.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the information received from the one or more UEs comprises a time of the RLF and position of the one or more UEs at the time of the RLF.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the information received from the one or more UEs comprises a time of the RLF, and the recording information relating to the RLF comprises locally determining position of the one or more UEs at the time of the RLF.

11. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

storing the recorded information relating to the RLF in a register; and

reporting stored information in the register to an O&

M entity upon determining that the register is substantially full or that a periodic time interval selected as a function of time elapsed from a most recent change in network topology has elapsed.

12. The method of claim 6, further comprising optimizing a neighbor list based on the recorded information relating to the RLF at least in part by determining expected utility associated with adding one or more of a new base station or a new repeater in the communication network based on the recorded information relating to the RLF.

13. A wireless communications apparatus, comprising:

a memory that stores data relating to definitions of respective network events and a Self Organized Network (SON) policy that includes instructions for conducting and reporting measurements relating to respective network events; and

a processor configured to designate a network management entity, to instruct communication of the SON policy from the designated network management entity to one or more terminals, to receive one or more reported measurements from the terminals via the designated management entity based on the SON policy, and to optimize operation of the wireless communications apparatus based at least in part on the reported measurements.

14. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 13, wherein the instructions stored by the memory for conducting and reporting measurements relating to respective network events comprise a standardized set of definitions for the respective network events and a schedule for reporting measurements relating to the respective network events from a terminal to the wireless communications apparatus.

15. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to create the schedule for reporting measurements by determining a level of memory usage in the UE employed for storing measurement logs.

16. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 13, wherein the instructions stored by the memory for conducting and reporting measurements relating to respective network events comprise instructions for measuring one or more of time of a defined event, resources utilized by a terminal at a time associated with a defined event, network location information observed by a terminal at a time associated with a defined event, or channel information observed by a terminal at a time associated with a defined event.

17. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to detect a radio link failure (RLF) involving the one or more terminals and to record information relating to the RLF.

18. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to record one or more of time of the RLF, a serving cell associated with the one or more terminals, a target cell associated with the one or more terminals, or channel measurements prior to the RLF.

19. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory further stores data relating to information relating to the RLF obtained from one or more terminals and the processor is further configured to aggregate the information obtained from the one or more terminals with locally generated information relating to the RLF.

20. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory further stores network configuration data and the processor is further configured to obtain information relating to the one or more terminals from the network configuration data.

21. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to store the recorded information relating to the RLF in a register.

22. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to optimize a neighbor list based on the recorded information relating to the RLF at least in part by determining expected utility associated with adding one or more of a new base station or a new repeater in the communication network based on the recorded information relating to the RLF.

23. An apparatus that facilitates network management and optimization, the apparatus comprising:

means for identifying a reporting policy that includes a list of event definitions and measurements associated with respective defined events;

means for identifying a terminal capable of utilizing the reporting policy; and

means for facilitating communication of the reporting policy from a pre-designated network node to the identified terminal.

24. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium, comprising;

code for determining one or more types of events to be logged by a network device;

code for determining a schedule for obtaining reports of respective logged events from the network device; and

code for assigning one or more of a network management server, a mobility management entity, or a Self-Organized Network (SON) application server to manage logging of the one or more determined types of events and reporting of respective logged events pursuant to the determined schedule at the network device.

25. An integrated circuit that executes computer-executable instructions for maintaining a Self Organized Network (SON), the instructions comprising:

compiling a SON policy to be utilized by one or more user equipments (UEs), the SON policy comprising respective standardized event definitions and a reporting schedule for respective defined events;

instructing communication of the SON policy from a designated network management node to the one or more UEs;

receiving one or more event reports from the UEs via the network management node based on the SON policy; and

optimizing network performance based at least in part on the received event reports.

26. A method for logging and reporting network events, comprising:

receiving a Self Organized Network (SON) policy from a network that specifies a list of definitions for respective network events, a list of measurements associated with the respective network events, and instructions for reporting measurements associated with the respective network events;

detecting occurrence of a network event defined by the SON policy;

performing one or more measurements associated with the detected network event based on the SON policy; and

reporting the one or more measurements to the network based on the instructions for reporting measurements provided in the SON policy.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the respective network events include one or more of hardware failure, connection failure, radio link failure (RLF), a change to observed network topology, and a change to utilized communication resources.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the performing one or more measurements comprises determining one or more of time of an event, resources utilized at a time associated with an event, observed network location at a time associated with an event, or channel information at a time associated with an event.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the receiving comprises receiving the SON policy in one or more paging messages from the network.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein the network event comprises a RLF and the method further comprises storing information associated with the RLF in a register.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the reporting comprises:

identifying time of occurrence of at least one predefined triggering event, the at least one triggering event comprising at least one of quality of a communication link with the network having at least a predetermined threshold quality or the register becoming substantially full; and

transferring at least a portion of information stored in the register to the network at the identified time of occurrence.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the reporting further comprises tunneling the one or more measurements to a SON server.

33. A wireless communications apparatus, comprising:

a memory that stores data relating to a Self Organized Network (SON) entity; and

a processor configured to receive an event definition list and respective sets of associated measurements from the SON entity, to detect occurrence of a defined event, to log measurements from a set of measurements associated with the detected event, and to report the logged measurements to the SON entity.

34. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 33, wherein the event definition list obtained from the SON entity defines a set of events including one or more of a hardware failure, a connection failure, a radio link failure (RLF), a change to observed network topology, and a change to utilized communication resources.

35. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 33, wherein the set of associated measurements obtained from the SON entity includes one or more of timestamp information corresponding to an event, resources utilized by the wireless communications apparatus corresponding to an event, network topology information associated with an event as observed by the wireless communications apparatus, or channel information associated with an event as observed by the wireless communications apparatus.

36. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 33, wherein the processor is further configured to detect a RLF and to store information associated with the RLF in a register.

37. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 36, wherein the processor is further configured to identify a time of occurrence of one or more triggering events, the one or more triggering events comprising at least one of identification of a communication link quality of at least a predetermined threshold quality or identifying that the register utilized for storing information associated with the RLF is substantially full, and to report at least a portion of the information associated with the RLF stored in the register at the identified time of occurrence.

38. An apparatus that facilitates implementation of a Self Organized Network (SON), the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a set of event definitions, sets of measurements related to respective defined events, and a reporting schedule from a network;

means for logging measurements upon occurrence of a defined event based on a set of measurements related to the event; and

means for communicating the logged measurements to the network according to the reporting schedule.

39. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium, comprising;

code for receiving a set of standardized network events, lists of measurements respectively associated with the network events, and instructions for reporting measurements associated with the network events to one or more of a network management entity or an Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) Device management (DM) server;

code for detecting an event from the set of standardized network events;

code for performing measurements in a list of measurements corresponding to the detected event; and

code for reporting the performed measurements to the network management entity or the OMA DM server based on the received instructions.

40. An integrated circuit that executes computer-executable instructions for logging and reporting events in a communication network, the instructions comprising:

receiving a Self Organized Network (SON) policy from the communication network, the SON policy specifying a list of network events, a set of measurements to log upon detection of a listed event, and instructions for reporting measurements to a designated network node;

monitoring network operating state to detect occurrence of a listed event;

performing the set of measurements upon detecting a listed event; and

reporting the set of measurements to the designated network node according to the provided instructions.