SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONSTRUCTING A CARRIER TO INTERFERENCE MATRIX BASED ON SUBSCRIBER CALLS

• US 20120270544A1
• Filed: 06/29/2012
• Published: 10/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cingular Wireless II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shah, Dipesh Hasmukhlal
• Granted Patent: US 8,498,648 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/434
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/336 Signal-to-interference ratio [SIR] or carrier-to-interference ratio [CIR]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic

Abstract

A conventional wireless device constantly measures the signal strength of its server base station and the strength of signals from surrounding base stations for handoff purposes. The wireless device transmits this information to its serving base station, which discards the information a short time afterward, following handoff. The present system and method store the formerly discarded information in one of several existing network elements or in a separate computer system. This information is used to generate a carrier to interference ratio, which indicates the level of interference between station pairs, and to also generate a carrier to interference matrix, including identifying potential interference for each station pair. The frequency of occurrences during predetermined desired periods of time and the volume of traffic affected by each level of interference may also be calculated. This provides comprehensive, continuous, real-time information for wireless frequency planning.

Claims

1-20. -20. (canceled)

21. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a system including a processor, signals from wireless antennas on a common frequency of a control channel associated with a station pair,

wherein the wireless antennas comprise base stations provide service to different network sectors, and information associated with the signals is stored in a data structure having a number of entries that corresponds to a number of occurrences of an interference parameter within a selected range for the station pair; and

determining, by the system, a relative percentage for the number of occurrences of the interference parameter.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising monitoring, by the system, a call for the station pair in the network sector by taking a signal measurement during a call associated with the station pair to obtain actual use sampling of data for the call during a measurement period.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising determining, by the system, a number of carrier-to-interference occurrences for the station pair.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising approximating, by the system, a number of customers affected by a given magnitude of interference for the station pair.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising measuring, by the system, during a given measurement period, relative signal strengths with respect to control channel signals transmitted by the wireless antennas.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising determining, by the system, traffic weights for a subset of the occurrences of the interference parameter within the given measurement period.

27. The method of claim 21, further comprising constructing, by the system, a carrier-to-interference matrix.

28. A system, comprising:

a memory storing computer executable instructions; and

a processor, communicatively coupled to the memory, which facilitates execution of the computer-executable instructions to at least;

receive transmissions from wireless transmitters on a frequency of a control channel associated with a station pair, wherein the wireless transmitters comprising base stations that provide service to different network sectors, and the transmissions are stored with a number incrementable by a number of occurrences associated with an interference parameter within a selected range for the station pair; and

determine a relative percentage for the number of occurrences that are associated with the interference parameter.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the at least one processor further facilitates the execution of the computer-executable instructions to construct a carrier-to-interference matrix.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein the at least one processor further facilitates the execution of the computer-executable instructions to monitor calls for the station pair in the network sector and obtain actual use samples of data by measurement of signal strengths for the calls during a measurement period.

31. The system of claim 28, wherein the at least one processor further facilitates the execution of the computer-executable instructions to determine a number of carrier-to-interference occurrences for the station pair.

32. The system of claim 28, wherein the at least one processor further facilitates the execution of the computer-executable instructions to approximate a number of customers affected by a given magnitude of interference for the station pair.

33. The system of claim 28, wherein the at least one processor further facilitates the execution of the computer-executable instructions to perform relative signal strength measurements during the given measurement period with respect to control channel signals transmitted by wireless transmitters associated with the station pair.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the at least one processor further facilitates the execution of the computer-executable instructions to calculate a relative percentage of the occurrences of the interference parameter within the given measurement period.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the at least one processor further facilitates the execution of the computer-executable instructions to calculate traffic weight for the occurrences of the interference parameter within the given measurement period.

36. The system of claim 28, wherein the at least one processor further facilitates the execution of the computer-executable instructions to identify and store signal strength measurements used to switch primary communications between network sectors.

37. The system of claim 34, wherein the wireless transmitters associated with the station pair comprise base stations that provide service to network sectors that are different from each other.

38. A non-transitory computer readable storage device comprising computer-executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause a computing device to perform operations, comprising:

receiving transmissions from wireless transmitters on a common frequency of a control channel associated with a station pair, the wireless transmitters are cellular base stations that provide service to different network sectors, wherein the transmissions are stored in a table having a number incrementable by a number of occurrences of an interference parameter within a selected range for the station pair; and

determining a relative percentage for the number of occurrences.

39. The non-transitory computer readable storage device of claim 38, further comprising instructions, that in response to execution, cause the computing device to perform operations, comprising identifying and storing signal strength measurements for switching primary communications between network sectors.

40. The non-transitory computer readable storage device of claim 39, further comprising instructions, that in response to execution, cause the computing device to perform operations, comprising analyzing the signal strength measurements to determine the interference parameter