METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING AND EXCHANGING INFORMATION FOR COVERAGE OPTIMIZATION IN WIRELESS NETWORKS

• US 20100284303A1
• Filed: 04/15/2010
• Published: 11/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: De Angelis, Flavio, Catovic, Amer
• Granted Patent: US 9,210,586 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/18 Network planning tools
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition

Abstract

The subject specification is directed towards generating and exchanging information for coverage optimization in wireless networks. Aspects are disclosed for facilitating a distributed coverage optimization. A communication is established with at least one external entity, and a coverage-related measurement is received from the at least one external entity. A coverage parameter is then self-optimized as a function of the coverage-related measurement.

Claims

1. A method that facilitates a distributed coverage optimization, the method comprising:

establishing a communication with at least one external entity;

receiving a coverage-related measurement from the at least one external entity; and

self-optimizing a coverage parameter as a function of the coverage-related measurement.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one external entity is a wireless terminal.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising configuring the wireless terminal to collect the coverage-related measurement.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one external entity is a base station.

5. The method of claim 4, the establishing comprising facilitating a backhaul connection with the base station.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a coverage report based on the coverage-related measurement.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising ascertaining a set of coverage-related statistics to include in the coverage report, the set of coverage-related statistics computed across the coverage-related measurement.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the set of coverage-related statistics are associated with at least one of a coverage quality, a received power, a received interference power, a user equipment transmit power, a cell geometry, or a path loss.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the received interference power is a received downlink interference power from a specific neighbor.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising computing at least one of an average, a maximum, or a minimum across the coverage-related measurement.

11. The method of claim 10, the computing comprising computing at least one of the average, the maximum, or the minimum across at least one of a reference signal received power, a reference signal received quality, a reference signal strength indication, or a user equipment transmit power.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein at least one of the reference signal received power, the reference signal received quality, or the reference signal strength indication is associated with a serving cell.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein at least one of the reference signal received power, the reference signal received quality, or the reference signal strength indication is associated with a neighboring cell.

14. The method of claim 10, the computing comprising averaging at least one of a cell geometry, a path loss in a cell, or a signal-to-noise ratio requirement of a user equipment.

15. The method of claim 10, the computing comprising computing an interference coefficient associated with at least one neighbor cell.

16. The method of claim 6, wherein the coverage report is associated with a coverage provided by at least one cell.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one cell is a neighboring cell.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one cell is an extended neighbor cell.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the coverage report is configurable by a network entity to include coverage information associated with a set of extended neighbor cells within a threshold number of hops from a serving cell.

20. The method of claim 6, further comprising communicating the coverage report to a base station.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the coverage report is included in a series of coverage reports, and wherein the communicating comprises reporting the series of coverage reports based on a period.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the period is configurable by a network entity.

23. The method of claim 20, further comprising detecting a trigger event, the communicating based on the trigger event.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the trigger event is a request for the coverage report.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising monitoring a load in a cell, wherein the detecting comprises determining whether the load exceeds a threshold.

26. An apparatus configured to facilitate a distributed coverage optimization, the apparatus comprising:

a processor configured to execute computer executable components stored in memory, the components including;

a communication component configured to receive at least one coverage-related measurement from at least one external entity; and

an optimization component configured to self-optimize a coverage parameter as a function of the at least one coverage-related measurement.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the at least one external entity is a wireless terminal.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, the communication component further configured to provide the wireless terminal with configuration data, the configuration data configuring the wireless terminal to collect the at least one coverage-related measurement.

29. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the at least one external entity is a base station.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, the communication component further configured to facilitate a backhaul connection with the base station.

31. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising a computation component configured to provide a coverage report based on the at least one coverage-related measurement.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, the computation component further configured to determine a set of coverage-related statistics to include in the coverage report, the set of coverage-related statistics computed across the at least one coverage-related measurement.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the set of coverage-related statistics are associated with at least one of a coverage quality, a received power, a received interference power, a user equipment transmit power, a cell geometry, or a path loss.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the received interference power is a received downlink interference power from a specific neighbor.

35. The apparatus of claim 32, the computation component further configured to compute at least one of an average, a maximum, or a minimum across the at least one coverage-related measurement.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, the computation component further configured to compute at least one of the average, the maximum, or the minimum across at least one of a reference signal received power, a reference signal received quality, a reference signal strength indication, or a user equipment transmit power.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein at least one of the reference signal received power, the reference signal received quality, or the reference signal strength indication is associated with a serving cell.

38. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein at least one of the reference signal received power, the reference signal received quality, or the reference signal strength indication is associated with a neighboring cell.

39. The apparatus of claim 35, the computation component further configured to perform an averaging of at least one of a cell geometry, a path loss in a cell, or a signal-to-noise ratio requirement of a user equipment.

40. The apparatus of claim 35, the computation component further configured to compute an interference coefficient associated with at least one neighbor cell.

41. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the coverage report is associated with a coverage provided by at least one cell.

42. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the at least one cell is a neighboring cell.

43. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the at least one cell is an extended neighbor cell.

44. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the coverage report is configurable by a network entity to include coverage information associated with a set of extended neighbor cells within a threshold number of hops from a serving cell.

45. The apparatus of claim 31, the communication component further configured to communicate the coverage report to a base station.

46. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the coverage report is included in a series of coverage reports, and wherein the communication component is further configured to report the series of coverage reports based on a period.

47. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the period is configurable by a network entity.

48. The apparatus of claim 45, further comprising a trigger component configured to detect a trigger event, the communication component further configured to communicate the coverage report based on the trigger event.

49. The apparatus of claim 48, wherein the trigger event is a request for the coverage report.

50. The apparatus of claim 48, the trigger component further configured to determine whether a load in a cell exceeds a threshold.

51. A computer program product that facilitates a distributed coverage optimization, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium comprising code for causing at least one computer to;

establish a communication with at least one external entity;

receive at least one coverage-related measurement from the at least one external entity; and

self-optimize a coverage parameter as a function of the at least one coverage-related measurement.

52. The computer program product of claim 51, the code further causing the at least one computer to provide a coverage report based on the at least one coverage-related measurement.

53. The computer program product of claim 52, the code further causing the at least one computer to determine a set of coverage-related statistics to include in the coverage report, the set of coverage-related statistics computed across the at least one coverage-related measurement.

54. The computer program product of claim 53, the code further causing the at least one computer to compute at least one of an average, a maximum, or a minimum across the at least one coverage-related measurement.

55. The computer program product of claim 52, the code further causing the at least one computer to communicate the coverage report to a base station.

56. An apparatus configured to facilitate a distributed coverage optimization, the apparatus comprising:

means for establishing a communication with at least one external entity;

means for receiving a coverage-related measurement from the at least one external entity; and

means for self-optimizing a coverage parameter as a function of the coverage-related measurement.

57. The apparatus of claim 56, further comprising means for generating a coverage report based on the coverage-related measurement.

58. The apparatus of claim 57, wherein the coverage report is associated with a coverage provided by at least one cell.

59. The apparatus of claim 57, further comprising means for ascertaining a set of coverage-related statistics to include in the coverage report, the set of coverage-related statistics computed across the coverage-related measurement.

60. The apparatus of claim 59, wherein the set of coverage-related statistics are associated with at least one of a coverage quality, a received power, a received interference power, a user equipment transmit power, a cell geometry, or a path loss.