DEVICE-DRIVEN INTELLIGENCE AND FEEDBACK FOR PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION AND PLANNING OF A SERVICE NETWORK

• US 20110275364A1
• Filed: 05/06/2010
• Published: 11/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.), AT&T Services Incorporated (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.), AT&T Services Incorporated (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bates, Michael, Kelly, Stephen, Ryan, Lawrence, Salmon, Michael, Dennisson, Joseph, Austin, Mark, Meredith, Sheldon
• Granted Patent: US 8,811,977 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/423
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/145 involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/34 Signalling channels for network management communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

System(s), device(s), method(s), and user interfaces are provided to enable a subscriber device to report network operation conditions, such as network performance incidents, to receive feedback from the network related to the incident and available or possibly available solutions, and to produce network intelligence suitable for network planning and network performance enhancement. Reporting of network performance incidents can be characterized by location and time of occurrence, wherein these intelligence is provided by the user device. Feedback provided by the network is based on the network performance data received as part of reporting an incident. The reporting described herein enables a network operator to generate network planning intelligence based on actual network performance as experienced at the subscriber level.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

rendering in a device an environment for providing information that specifies a network performance incident;

delivering at least a portion of the information that characterizes the network performance incident; and

receiving at the device feedback data associated with the network performance incident in response to the delivering act, wherein the feedback data is supplied by a network node administered by a network operator that provides a communication service to the device.

2. The method of claim 1, the group of acts further comprising:

establishing a location of the device and associating the location to the network performance incident, wherein the network performance incident is at least one of (i) a dropped call, (ii) a failed call attempt, (iii) lack of coverage, (iv) data failure, or (v) non-satisfactory voice quality.

3. The method of claim 2, the group of acts further comprising:

assigning at least one time stamp to the network performance incident.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the establishing act includes receiving an indication that defines the location.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the establishing act includes receiving global navigation satellite system (GNNS) data and determining the location based at least on the GNNS data.

6. The method of claim 2, the establishing act comprising:

generating a location estimate of the location of the device based at least on a time-of-flight assessment which includes at least one of determining a timing advance (TA), generating a round trip time (RTT), a time of arrival (TOA), or determining a time difference of arrival (TDOA);

or

acquiring the location of the device from an external system that provides network location based services.

7. The method of claim 1, the group of acts further comprising:

in response to the delivering act, collecting diagnostic data based at least on the information that specifies the network performance incident.

8. The method of claim 7, the group of acts further comprising:

conveying operation support content based at least on a portion of the outcome of the integrity probe cycle.

9. The method of claim 1, the group of acts further comprising:

in response to the delivering act, collecting operational data of a telecommunication network based at least on the information that specifies the network performance incident.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the collecting act includes probing operational data of one or more of (i) at least one competitor network or (ii) an owned network.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

delivering at least a portion of the collected operational data.

12. A device, comprising:

a display interface that renders an environment to acquire data that specifies a network performance incident;

an incident report component that receives the data, the data comprising a category of the network performance incident, a location estimate for the network performance incident, and a time stamp for the network performance incident; and

a communication platform that delivers the data to a network node that provides a network service to the device.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the data further comprises information that specifies at least one of operation condition of the device or an operation environment of the device at a time the network performance incident occurred.

14. The device of claim 12, wherein the incident report component receives feedback data from the network node in response to delivery of the data, the feedback data conveys a response to the network performance incident.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the incident report component includes a collection component that queues the data if the network service is unavailable, the collection component delivers the data when the network service is restored.

16. The device of claim 12, wherein the incident report component includes a location component that produces the location estimate or acquires the location estimate from a network node that provides network location based services.

17. The device of claim 12, further comprising a scanner component that performs an integrity cycle and, based on the outcome of the integrity cycle, wherein the scanner component:

issues a recommendation of a mode of operation for the device;

or

switches a mode of operation of the device.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the integrity cycle is a diagnostic cycle and the recommendation includes an indication to switch from a first radio technology to a second radio technology, the scanner component performs the diagnostic cycle in response to a specific network performance incident.

19. The device of claim 17, wherein the scanner component detects pilot signals in the vicinity of the device and, based at least on the pilot signals, the scanner component identifies a set of confined-coverage access points (APs), wherein a confined-coverage AP in the set of confined-coverage APs serves a confined area that is leased or owned by the owner or lessee of the confined-coverage AP.

20. A computer-readable storage medium having code instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least a processor, the code instructions perform at least the following acts:

rendering an environment for providing information that specifies a network performance incident;

delivering at least a portion of the information that characterizes the network performance incident; and

receiving feedback data associated with the network performance incident in response to the delivering act, wherein the feedback data is supplied by a network node administered by a network operator that provides a network service to the device.