Network Support Node Traffic Reduction for Self-Organizing Networks

• US 20140250201A1
• Filed: 05/14/2014
• Published: 09/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Tapia, Pablo
• Granted Patent: US 10,142,242 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/207
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/20 Network management software packages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Described herein are techniques for limiting transmission of plurality of messages from one or more self-organizing network (SON) tools to a network support node based at least in part on performance information and on either or both of priorities associated with the plurality of messages or priorities associated with the SON tool(s). The performance information is associated with performance of a network support node.

Claims

1. A computing device comprising:

a processor;

a plurality of self-organizing network (SON) tools; and

a SON engine configured to be operated by the processor and to execute the SON tools, the SON engine further being configured to;

receive performance information associated with performance of an operations support system (OSS) node;

determine that a plurality of messages from a plurality of SON tools are ready for transmission to the OSS node, wherein at least two messages of the plurality of messages are associated with (i) different ones of the plurality of SON tools having different priorities or (ii) different ones of a plurality of parameters having different priorities; and

limit transmission of the plurality of messages based at least in part on the performance information and on (i) priorities of the plurality of SON tools or (ii) priorities of parameters.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the SON engine is further configured to limit the transmission of the plurality of messages when the performance information fails to meet one or more thresholds or models.

3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the SON engine is further configured to limit the transmission of the plurality of message by transmitting a subset of the plurality of messages, the subset including (i) one or more messages of the plurality of messages that each have a priority that meets or exceeds a threshold or (ii) one or more messages selected in order of priority until a collective size of the selected messages meets a threshold.

4. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by a SON engine, performance information associated with performance of a network support node;

determining, by the SON engine, that a plurality of messages from a plurality of SON tools are ready for transmission to the network support node, wherein at least two messages of the plurality of messages are associated with different ones of the plurality of SON tools having different priorities; and

limiting, by the SON engine, transmission of the plurality of messages based at least in part on the performance information and on priorities of the plurality of SON tools.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the performance information is associated with performance of a central processing unit of the network support node, performance of memory of the network support node, input/output performance of the network support node, or performance of storage of the network support node.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the performance information is received from a client component residing on the network support node or is retrieved by a component on SON engine which remotely accesses the performance information.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the network support node is an OSS node.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the limiting further comprises limiting the transmission of the plurality of messages when the performance information fails to meet one or more thresholds or models.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the limiting further comprises transmitting a subset of the plurality of messages, the subset including (i) one or more messages of the plurality of messages that each have a priority that meets or exceeds a threshold or (ii) one or more messages selected in order of priority until a collective size of the selected messages meets a threshold.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein the limiting is further based on priorities of network parameters associated with the plurality of messages.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein the limiting further comprises limiting the transmission of the plurality of messages to subset of the plurality of messages if the performance information fails to meet a first threshold and preventing the transmission of the plurality of messages if the performance information fails to meet a second threshold.

12. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having stored thereon a plurality of programming instructions configured to be executed by a computing device implementing a SON tool to perform operations comprising:

receiving performance information associated with performance of a network support node;

determining that a plurality of messages from the SON tool are ready for transmission to the network support node, wherein at least two messages of the plurality of messages are associated with different priorities; and

limiting transmission of the plurality of messages based at least in part on the performance information and on priorities associated with the plurality of messages.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the messages of the plurality of messages are associated with different priorities based on priorities of network parameters associated with the messages.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the limiting is further based on a priority of the SON tool and on a threshold for the performance information.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the SON tool is implemented by a SON engine of the computing device, the SON engine performing the receiving, the determining, and the limiting.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the performance information is associated with performance of hardware or software components of the network support node or with performance of a support systems network including the network support node.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the performance information is received from a client component residing on the network support node or is retrieved by a component on SON engine which remotely accesses the performance information.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the limiting further comprises limiting the transmission of the plurality of messages when the performance information fails to meet one or more thresholds or models.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the limiting further comprises transmitting a subset of the plurality of messages, the subset including (i) one or more messages of the plurality of messages that each have a priority that meets or exceeds a threshold or (ii) one or more messages selected in order of priority until a collective size of the selected messages meets a threshold.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the limiting further comprises limiting the transmission of the plurality of messages to subset of the plurality of messages if the performance information fails to meet a first threshold and preventing the transmission of the plurality of messages if the performance information fails to meet a second threshold.