RADIO NETWORK PERFORMANCE MONITORING METHOD, RADIO COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, DEVICE, AND ITS PROGRAM

• US 20110003554A1
• Filed: 11/28/2007
• Published: 01/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Sekiya, Kayato
• Granted Patent: US 8,078,115 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/67.11
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/18 wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/08 Indicating faults in circuits or apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2227 Quality of service monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/19 Connection re-establishment

Abstract

During a communication, the radio connection quality is measured so as to detect and store a generation time, an end time, and a continuation time of quality degradation. Upon a communication end, the end cause is judged. If the communication end is caused by a user operation, a causal connection between the communication end and the quality degradation is judged according to temporal relationship between the generation time of the quality degradation and the communication end time. That is, it is judged whether the communication end caused by the user operation is a phenomenon that the user has terminated the communication because of the communication quality degradation or other reason. Thus the communication end reasons are divided into at least two types and accumulated.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring the communication performance of a radio communication network, comprising the steps of:

measuring the quality of a radio connection while a radio communication terminal of a user is during communication;

deciding the presence or absence of a quality deterioration based on measured values of said quality;

deciding whether or not termination has caused by an operation of said user at a communication termination time and deciding whether or not said termination is a voluntary communication termination by a user due to quality deterioration of communication, using deterioration information based on decision results of the presence or absence of said quality deterioration, when the termination has caused by said user'"'"'s operation; and

summarizing the number of occurrences of the phenomenon occurs that said user terminates communications voluntarily due to quality deterioration of communication.

2. The radio network performance monitoring method defined in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

detecting and storing a quality deterioration occurrence time based on decision results on the presence or absence of quality deterioration during communication of a radio communication terminal;

detecting a termination time of communication at an end of communication; and

deciding that said termination is a voluntary communication termination by a user due to quality deterioration of communication when communication termination has caused by a user'"'"'s operation while a time interval between an occurrence time of said quality deterioration and a termination time of said communications is less than a predetermined value.

3. The radio network performance monitoring method defined in claim 1, further comprising the step of:

detecting, as radio connection quality information, at least one of a desired wave received power of a common pilot channel, a ratio of energy to in-band received power density, a block error ratio of a transport block, and a transmission power control state based on transmission power of a individual channel and based on a transmission power control field value; and

thus measuring a radio connection quality.

4. The radio network performance monitoring method defined in claim 1, further comprising the step of:

monitoring at least one of a user′

button operation and transmission of a call control message for call control; and

thus deciding whether or not communication has been terminated due to user'"'"'s operation.

5. The radio network performance monitoring method defined in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

calculating a difference between an occurrence time of quality deterioration and a communication termination time when communication termination has caused by a user'"'"'s operation; and

thus deciding that said termination is a voluntary communication termination by a user due to quality deterioration of communication, when said resultant difference is less than a predetermined threshold value.

6. The radio network performance monitoring method defined in claim 1, further comprising the step of:

deciding that said termination is a voluntary communication termination by user due to quality deterioration of communication, when communication termination is caused by a user'"'"'s operation while a difference between an occurrence time of quality deterioration and a communication termination time is less than a predetermined threshold value and a duration of quality deterioration is said predetermined time or more.

7. The radio network performance monitoring method defined in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

storing a communication destination identifier, which identifies a communication opposite party, when decision indicates that a user has terminated communications voluntarily due to communication quality deterioration;

deciding whether or not re-dialing to the same communication opposite party has been made based on a communication destination identifier in a current communication and a communication destination identifier stored in the previous communication at the next communication time; and

summarizing the number of occurrences of re-dialing due to communication quality deterioration.

8. The radio network performance monitoring method defined in claim 7, comprising the steps of:

storing a communication destination identifier, a quality measured value in communication termination, and a communication termination time; and

deciding that the current communication corresponds to re-dialing due to communication quality deterioration when, to the same communication opposite party, the quality at the beginning of the current communication is improved more than a predetermined value, compared with the quality at the end of the previous communication, and when an elapsed time between the termination of the previous communication and the beginning of the current communication is within a predetermined duration.

9. A radio communication system for providing a communication service to a radio communication terminal operated by a user, comprising:

a quality measuring unit for measuring a radio connection quality during communication of a radio communication termination;

a deterioration information detector for deciding the presence or absence of quality deterioration based on information indicating qualities measured by said quality measuring unit and detecting deterioration information based on decision results on the presence or absence of said quality deterioration;

a call state detector for detecting the beginning and termination of communication of said radio communication terminal or a cause of termination indicating whether or not termination has occurred due to a user'"'"'s operation;

a termination cause decision unit for deciding a termination cause detected by said call state detector in communication termination and deciding whether or not said communication termination is a voluntary communication termination by a user due to communication quality deterioration, using deterioration information detected by said deterioration information detector when said termination has occurred due to a user'"'"'s operation; and

a summation unit for summarizing the number of occurrences of voluntary communication termination by a user due to communication quality deterioration, based on decision results by said causal relation decision unit.

10. A radio communication system, comprising:

a radio communication terminal operated by a user; and

a radio network controller connected to said radio communication terminal via a radio communication network;

said radio communication terminal including;

a quality measuring unit for measuring a radio connection quality during communication of said radio communication terminal;

a deterioration information detector for deciding the presence or absence of quality deterioration based on information indicating the quality measured by said quality measuring unit and detecting deterioration information based on decision results of the presence or absence of said quality deterioration;

a call state detector for detecting the beginning and termination of communication of a radio communication terminal or a termination cause indicating whether or not termination has occurred due to a user'"'"'s operation;

a termination cause decision unit deciding a cause of termination detected by said call state detector in communication termination and deciding whether or not said termination is a voluntary communication termination by a user due to quality deterioration of communication, using deterioration information detected by said deterioration information detector when termination has occurred due to a user'"'"'s operation; and

a counter unit for counting the number of occurrences of voluntary communication termination by a user due to communication quality deterioration based on decision results by said causal relation decision unit;

said radio network controller including;

a summation display unit for summarizing and displaying the number of occurrences of voluntary communication termination by user due to communication quality deterioration in each radio communication terminal.

11. The radio communication system defined in claim 10, wherein said radio communication terminal comprises a communication destination detector for detecting a communication destination identifier that identifies a communication opposite party;

wherein said counter unit stores said communication destination identifier into a storage unit when decision indicates that said termination is a voluntary communication termination by a user due to communication quality deterioration;

said counter unit deciding whether or not re-dialing has been performed to the same communication opposite party in the next communication, based on a communication destination identifier in a current communication and based on a communication destination identifier stored in the previous communication, and counting the number of occurrences of re-dialing due to communication quality deterioration; and

wherein said summation display unit summarizes and displays the number of occurrences of re-dialing due to communication quality deterioration of each radio communication terminal.

12. A radio communication system, comprising:

a radio communication terminal operated by a user;

a radio base station controller for controlling a radio base station for establishing a bi-directional radio link to said radio communication terminal and a radio network management unit at least connected to said radio base station controller via a radio communication network;

said radio base station controller including;

a quality measuring unit for measuring a radio connection quality of said radio communication terminal during communication of said radio communication terminal belonging to said radio station to be controlled;

a deterioration information detector for deciding the presence or absence of quality deterioration based on information indicating the quality measured by said quality measuring unit and detecting deterioration information based on decision results on the presence or absence of said quality deterioration;

a call state detector for detecting the beginning and termination of communication of a radio communication terminal or a termination cause indicating whether or not termination has occurred due to a user'"'"'s operation;

a termination cause decision unit for deciding a termination cause of communication detected by said call state detector in communication termination of said radio communication terminal and deciding whether or not said termination is a voluntary communication termination by a user due to communication quality deterioration, using deterioration information detected by said deterioration information detector when said termination has occurred due to a user'"'"'s operation; and

a counter for counting the number of occurrences of voluntary communication termination by a user due to quality deterioration of communication based on decision results by said causal relation decision unit;

said radio network controller including;

a summation display unit for summarizing and displaying the number of occurrences of voluntary communication termination by user due to communication quality deterioration in each radio communication terminal counted by said radio base station controller.

13. The radio communication system defined in claim 12, wherein said radio base station controller comprises a communication destination detector that detects a communication destination identifier for identifying a communication opposite party of a radio communication terminal belonging to said radio base station to be controlled;

wherein said counter stores said communication destination identifier into a storage unit when decision indicates that termination of said radio communication terminal is communication termination by a user due to communication quality deterioration;

said counter deciding whether or not re-dialing has been performed to the same communication opposite party in the next communication of said radio communication terminal, based on a communication destination identifier in current communication and based on a communication destination identifier stored in previous communication, and counting the number of occurrences of re-dialing due to communication quality deterioration; and

wherein said summation display unit summarizes and displays the number of occurrences of re-dialing due to communication quality deterioration of each radio communication terminal.

14. A radio communication terminal in a radio communication system, which is operated by a user, comprising:

a quality measuring unit for measuring a radio connection quality of said radio communication terminal during communication of said radio communication terminal;

a deterioration information detector for deciding the presence or absence of quality deterioration based on information indicating the quality measured by said quality measuring unit and detecting deterioration information based on decision results on the presence or absence of said quality deterioration;

a call state detector for detecting the beginning and termination of communication of a radio communication terminal or a termination cause indicating the presence or absence of termination caused by a user'"'"'s operation;

a termination cause decision unit for deciding a termination cause of communication detected by said call state detector in communication termination and deciding whether or not termination is a voluntary communication termination by a user due to communication quality deterioration, using deterioration information detected by said deterioration information detector when termination has occurred due to a user'"'"'s operation; and

a counter for counting the number of occurrences of voluntary communication termination by a user due to communication quality deterioration based on decision results by said causal relation decision unit.

15. The radio communication terminal defined in claim 14, further comprising a communication destination detector that detects a communication destination identifier for identifying a communication opposite party;

and

wherein said counter stores said communication destination identifier into a storage unit when decision indicates that termination is voluntary communication termination by a user due to communication quality deterioration; and

said counter deciding whether or not re-dialing has been performed to the same communication opposite party in the next communication, based on a communication destination identifier in current communication and based on a communication destination identifier stored in the previous communication and counting the number of occurrences of re-dialing due to quality deterioration of communication.

16. A radio control base station for controlling a radio base station that establishes a bi-directional radio link to a radio communication terminal operated by a user in a radio communication system, said radio control base station comprising:

a call state detector for detecting the beginning and termination of communication of a radio communication terminal belonging to a radio base station to be controlled or a termination cause indicating whether or not termination has occurred a user'"'"'s operation;

a quality measuring unit for measuring a radio connection quality in said radio communication terminal during communication of said radio communication terminal;

a deterioration information detector for deciding the presence or absence of quality deterioration based on information indicating the quality measured by said quality measuring unit and detecting deterioration information based on decision results on the presence or absence of said quality deterioration;

a termination cause decision unit for deciding a termination of communication detected by said call state detector in communication termination of said radio communication terminal and deciding whether or not termination is voluntary communication termination by a user due to communication quality deterioration, using deterioration information detected by said deterioration information detector when termination has occurred due to a user'"'"'s operation; and

a counter for counting the number of occurrences of voluntary communication termination by a user due to communication quality deterioration based on decision results by said causal relation decision unit.

17. The radio control base station defined in claim 16, further comprising a communication destination detector that detects a communication destination identifier for identifying a communication opposite party of a radio communication terminal;

and

wherein said counter stores said communication destination identifier into a storage unit when decision indicates that termination of said radio communication terminal is a voluntary communication termination by a user due to communication quality deterioration; and

said counter deciding whether or not re-dialing has been performed to the same communication opposite party in the next communication of said radio communication terminal, based on a communication destination identifier in the current communication and based on a communication destination identifier stored in the previous communication.

18. A radio network performance monitoring program suitably applied to a radio communication terminal operated by a user in a radio communication system, said program directing a computer to execute the steps of:

detecting the beginning and termination of communication and a termination cause indicating whether or not termination has occurred due to a user'"'"'s operation;

measuring a radio connection quality during communication;

deciding the presence or absence of the quality deterioration based on information indicating a measured quality and detecting deterioration information based on the decision results on the presence or absence of said quality deterioration;

deciding said cause of termination in communication termination and deciding whether or not said termination is a voluntary communication termination by a user due to communication quality deterioration, using said deterioration information when said termination is caused by a user'"'"'s operation; and

counting the number of occurrences of termination performed voluntarily by a user due to communication quality deterioration.

19. The radio network performance monitoring program defined in claim 18, further executing a computer to execute the steps of:

storing said communication destination identifier into a storage unit when it is decided that termination has been performed voluntarily by a user due to communication quality deterioration; and

deciding whether or not re-dialing has been performed to the same communication opposite party in the next communication, based on a communication destination identifier in the current communication and based on a communication destination identifier stored in the previous communication, and counting the number of occurrences of re-dialing due to communication quality deterioration.

20. A radio network performance monitoring program suitably applied to a radio base station controller that controls a radio base station establishing a bi-directional radio link to a radio communication terminal operated by a user in a radio communication system, said program directing a computer to execute the steps of:

detecting the beginning and termination of communication of a radio communication terminal belonging to a radio base station to be controlled or a termination cause indicating whether or not termination has caused by a user'"'"'s operation;

measuring a radio connection quality of said radio communication terminal during communication of said radio communication terminal;

deciding the presence or absence of the quality deterioration based on information indicating quality and detecting deterioration information based on the decision results on the presence or absence of said quality deterioration;

deciding said cause of termination in communication termination of said radio communication terminal and deciding whether or not termination is a voluntary communication termination by a user due to communication quality deterioration, using said deterioration information when said termination has caused by a user'"'"'s operation; and

counting the number of occurrences of termination performed voluntarily by a user due to communication quality deterioration.

21. The radio'"'"'network performance monitoring program defined in claim 20, further directing a computer to execute the steps of:

storing said communication destination identifier into a storage unit when it is decided that termination of a radio communication terminal has been performed voluntarily by a user due to communication quality deterioration; and

deciding whether or not re-dialing has been performed to the same communication opposite party in the next communication of said radio communication terminal, based on a communication destination identifier in the current communication and based on a communication destination identifier stored in the previous communication, and counting the number of occurrences of re-dialing due to communication quality deterioration.