APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR GENERATING PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENTS IN WIRELESS NETWORKS

• US 20090310501A1
• Filed: 04/30/2009
• Published: 12/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Catovic, Amer, Dills, Jay F., Mittal, Mukesh K.
• Granted Patent: US 8,098,590 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports

Abstract

A method and apparatus for generating performance measurements for a wireless network is provided. The method may comprise: obtaining, at a base station, performance measurements and location data from a mobile device, storing, at the base station and based on the location data, at least a portion of the obtained measurements to at least one virtual geographic bin of a storage array, wherein each virtual geographic bin corresponds to a different geographic area within a cell serviced by the base station, aggregating, at the base station, at least a portion the measurements stored in each virtual geographic bin into one or more location-based performance measurements, and transmitting, from the base station, at least a portion of the location-based performance measurements to a network manager.

Claims

1. A method for generating performance measurements for a wireless network, the method comprising:

obtaining, at a base station, performance measurements and location data from a mobile device;

storing, at the base station and based on the location data, at least a portion of the obtained measurements to at least one virtual geographic bin of a storage array, wherein each virtual geographic bin corresponds to a different geographic area within a cell serviced by the base station;

aggregating, at the base station, at least a portion the measurements stored in each virtual geographic bin into one or more location-based performance measurements; and

transmitting, from the base station, at least a portion of the location-based performance measurements to a network manager.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising

removing performance measurements individually identifying the mobile device from the received performance measurements prior to storing the at least a portion of the performance measurements.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising

receiving information from the network manager, in response to the transmitted data, prompting the base station to redefine at least one of the defined geographic regions.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein obtaining performance measurements and location data from a mobile device further comprises:

configuring, at a base station, at least one mobile device to measure coverage and service quality and location data and report the measurements to the base station; and

receiving, at the base station, coverage and service quality measurements and location data from the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the aggregating further comprises aggregating at least a portion of the obtained measurements from multiple virtual geographic bins to generate one or more location-based performance measurements.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

formatting, at the base station, the location-based performance measurements into a performance measurement file, wherein the performance measurement file is formatted to be recognizable by the network manager; and

wherein the transmitting further comprises transmitting at least a portion of the performance measurement file to the network manager.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance measurements include at least one of:

received signal power at the wireless device per base station accessible to the wireless device;

or

carrier to interference ratio for each base station accessible to the wireless device;

or

wireless device transmission power;

or

wireless device block header rate;

or

wireless device buffer status;

or

call drop status.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the location data includes latitude and longitude data or network location data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the storing further comprises storing the at least a portion as the performance measurements in the virtual geographic bin as the performance measurements are received.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual geographic bin is logically divided into multiple time periods and wherein the storing further comprises storing the at least a portion as the performance measurements in a selected division of the virtual geographic bin according to the time the performance measurements were received.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the defined geographic area corresponding to the virtual geographic bins are contiguously and uniformly distributed across the cell serviced by the base station.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual geographic bins are contiguously distributed through defined Cartesian coordinates corresponding to directions defined through the cell serviced by the base station.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual geographic bins are contiguously distributed through the cell serviced by the base station with defined polar coordinates centered at the base station.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual geographic bins are contiguously distributed non-uniformly across the cell serviced by the base station, with a greater density of virtual geographic bins at a location predetermined by the network manager.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting at least a portion of the aggregated data further comprises:

determining if a triggering event has occurred; and

upon a determination that the triggering event has occurred, preparing at least a predetermined portion of the aggregated data to be transmitted.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the triggering event includes at least one of:

passage of a predetermined duration of time;

or

reception, in the storage array, of a predetermined number of entries;

or

reception, in the storage array, of a predetermined number of at least one performance measurement entry;

or

reception of a request from the network manager.

17. At least one processor configured to generate performance measurements for a wireless network:

a first module for obtaining, at a base station, performance measurements and location data from a mobile device;

a second module for storing, at the base station and based on the location data, at least a portion of the obtained measurements to at least one virtual geographic bin of a storage array, wherein each virtual geographic bin corresponds to a different geographic area within a cell serviced by the base station;

a third module for aggregating, at the base station, aggregating, at the base station, at least a portion the measurements stored in each virtual geographic bin into one or more location-based performance measurements; and

a fourth module for transmitting, from the base station, at least a portion of the location-based performance measurements to a network manager.

18. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium comprising;

a first set of codes for causing a computer to obtain performance measurements and location data from a mobile device;

a second set of codes for causing the computer to store at least a portion of the obtained measurements to at least one virtual geographic bin of a storage array based on the location data, wherein each virtual geographic bin corresponds to a different geographic area within a cell serviced by the base station;

a third set of codes for causing the computer to aggregate at least a portion the measurements stored in each virtual geographic bin into one or more location-based performance measurements; and

a fourth set of codes for causing the computer to transmit at least a portion of the location-based performance measurements to a network manager.

19. An apparatus, comprising:

means for obtaining, at a base station, performance measurements and location data from a mobile device;

means for storing, at the base station and based on the location data, at least a portion of the obtained measurements to at least one virtual geographic bin of a storage array, wherein each virtual geographic bin corresponds to a different geographic area within a cell serviced by the base station;

means for aggregating, at the base station, at least a portion the measurements stored in each virtual geographic bin into one or more location-based performance measurements; and

means for transmitting, from the base station, at least a portion of the location-based performance measurements to a network manager.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

a receiver operable to obtain performance measurements and location data from a mobile device;

a storage module operable to store at least a portion of the obtained measurements to at least one virtual geographic bin of a storage array based on the location data, wherein each virtual geographic bin corresponds to a different geographic area within a cell serviced by the base station;

a processing module operable to aggregate at least a portion of the measurements stored in each virtual geographic bin into one or more location-based performance measurements; and

a transmitter operable to transmit at least a portion of the location-based performance measurements to a network manager.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the storage module is further operable to remove performance measurements individually identifying the mobile device from the received performance measurements prior to storing the at least a portion of the performance measurements.

22. The apparatus of claim 20 further comprising a configuration module operable to configure at least one mobile device to measure performance measurements including at least coverage and service quality and location data and report the measurements to the base station.

23. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the processing module is further operable to aggregate at least a portion of the obtained measurements from multiple virtual geographic bins to generate one or more location-based performance measurements.

24. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein

the processing module is further operable to format the location-based performance measurements into a performance measurement file, wherein the performance measurement file is formatted to be recognizable by the network manager;

and

wherein the transmitter is further operable to transmit at least a portion of the performance measurement file to the network manager

25. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the receiver is further operable to receive information from the network manager, in response to the transmitted data, prompting the base station to redefine at least one of the defined geographic regions.

26. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the performance measurements include at least one of:

received signal power at the wireless device per base station accessible to the wireless device;

or

carrier to interference ratio for each base station accessible to the wireless device;

or

wireless device transmission power;

or

wireless device block header rate;

or

wireless device buffer status;

or

call drop status.

27. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the location data includes latitude and longitude data or network location data.

28. The apparatus of claim 20, the storage module is further operable for storing the at least a portion as the performance measurements in the virtual geographic bin as the performance measurements are received

29. The apparatus of claim 20, the processing module is further operable for:

logically dividing each virtual geographic bin into multiple time periods; and

storing the at least a portion as the performance measurements in a selected division of the virtual geographic bin according to the time the performance measurements were received

30. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the defined geographic area corresponding to the virtual geographic bins are contiguously and uniformly distributed across the cell serviced by the base station.

31. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the virtual geographic bins are contiguously distributed through defined Cartesian coordinates corresponding to directions defined through the cell serviced by the base station.

32. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the virtual geographic bins are contiguously distributed through the cell serviced by the base station with defined polar coordinates centered at the base station.

33. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the virtual geographic bins are contiguously distributed non-uniformly across the cell serviced by the base station, with a greater density of virtual geographic bins at a location predetermined by the network manager.

34. The apparatus of claim 20, furthering comprising a reporting module operable to:

determine if a triggering event has occurred; and

upon a determination that the triggering event has occurred, prepare at least a predetermined portion of the aggregated data to be transmitted.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the triggering event includes at least one of:

passage of a predetermined duration of time;

or

reception, in the storage array, of a predetermined number of entries;

or

reception, in the storage array, of a predetermined number of at least one performance measurement entry;

or

reception of a request from the network manager.