METHOD OF COORDINATING FAULT DETECTION RESPONSES BY ACCESS NODES OF A NETWORK

• US 20120320766A1
• Filed: 06/20/2011
• Published: 12/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Sridhar, Kamakshi
• Granted Patent: US 9,204,315 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0206 in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/52 based on load
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

The present invention provides a method of coordinating access nodes when a sleeping cell is detected. The method may include modifying a coverage area of an access node to compensate for lost coverage in a sleeping cell detected by the access node. The access node implements resource allocation algorithms and a cell identification algorithm. The method may also include instructing the resource allocation algorithms and/or the cell identification algorithm to perform a predetermined action concurrently with the modification.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

modifying at least one coverage area of an access node to compensate for lost coverage in a sleeping cell detected by the access node, wherein the access node implements resource allocation algorithms and a cell identification algorithm; and

instructing at least one of the resource allocation algorithms or the cell identification algorithm to perform a predetermined action concurrently with said modification.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying said at least one coverage area comprises changing at least one tilt of at least one antenna used by the access node.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein instructing said at least one of the resource algorithms or the cell identification algorithm comprises initiating a physical cell identifier algorithm to allocate collision-free and confusion-free physical cell identifiers to the access node and neighboring access nodes.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising measuring at least one quality of experience (QoE) for at least one user being served by the access node concurrently with modifying said at least one coverage area.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein measuring said at least one QoE comprises measuring at least one of an uplink bit rate, a downlink bit rate, an estimated air interface delay, or a packet loss rate for said at least one user.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein instructing said at least one of the resource allocation algorithms to perform the predetermined action comprises instructing said at least one of the resource allocation algorithms to perform different predetermined actions depending on whether said at least one QoE is being met for said at least one user.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein instructing said at least one of the resource allocation algorithms to perform the predetermined action comprises instructing a call admission control algorithms to admit new guaranteed bit rate users when said at least one QoE is being met for said at least one user and instructing the call admission control algorithm to deny new guaranteed bit rate users when said at least one QoE is not being met for said at least one user.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein instructing the call admission control algorithms to admit or deny new guaranteed bit rate users comprises reconfiguring the call admission control algorithm using a first set of admission thresholds when said at least one QoE is being met for said at least one user and a second set of admission thresholds when said at least one QoE is not being met for said at least one user.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein instructing said at least one of the resource allocation algorithms to perform the predetermined action comprises instructing a load-balancing algorithm to load balance traffic away from the access node.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein instructing the load-balancing algorithm to load balance traffic away from the access node comprises determining whether to perform load balancing on said at least one user based on said at least one measured QoE and at least one likelihood that a target QoE for said at least one user will be met after load-balancing.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining whether to perform load balancing on said at least one user comprises load-balancing more traffic when a degradation in said at least one measured QoE is relatively large and load-balancing less traffic when the degradation is relatively small.

12. The method of claim 9, comprising detecting a sleeping cell condition on at least one carrier or radio access technology supported by the sleeping cell.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein instructing the load-balancing algorithm to load balance traffic away from the access node comprises instructing the load-balancing algorithm to load balance traffic away from said at least one carrier or radio access technology that is experiencing the sleeping cell condition.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the access node concurrently modifies said at least one coverage area and instructs said at least one of the resource allocation algorithms or the cell identifier algorithm to perform the predetermined action substantially continuously until a convergence criterion is satisfied.

15. The method of claim 1, comprising:

determining that the sleeping cell has awakened;

modifying said at least one coverage area of the access node to account for resumed coverage in the previously sleeping cell; and

instructing said at least one of the resource allocation algorithms or the cell identification algorithm to perform a predetermined action concurrently with said modification.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the access node concurrently modifies said at least one coverage area and instructs said at least one of the resource allocation algorithms or the cell identifier algorithm to perform the predetermined action substantially continuously until a convergence criterion is satisfied.