METHODS AND APPARATUS TO SCAN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SPECTRUM

• US 20140329524A1
• Filed: 07/17/2014
• Published: 11/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Ngai, Dominic H.
• Granted Patent: US 9,253,649 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/434
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/18 Network planning tools
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are disclosed to scan a wireless communication spectrum. An example method disclosed herein includes causing a first scanner to determine, for a frequency of a wireless communication spectrum, a decoded base station identifier, causing a second scanner to determine a plurality of signal strengths at the frequency without determining a base station identifier, and determining that the base station identifier is associated with a subset of the plurality of signal strengths by comparing at least one of timestamps and locations associated with the base station identifier and the plurality of signal strengths.

Claims

1. A method to improve data correlation from multiple scanners comprising:

identifying, with a processor, a deficiency in a first measurement record from a first scanner that has captured signal strength measurements of a wireless communication spectrum;

determining a type of the deficiency in the measurement record;

when the type of the deficiency is associated with an insufficient location measurement, correlating the first measurement record from the first scanner to a second measurement record from a second scanner using timestamp information that is temporally located in a first time window, the timestamp information being from both the first and the second measurement records; and

when the type of deficiency is not associated with the insufficient location measurement, correlating the first measurement record from the first scanner to the second measurement record from the second scanner using geolocation information that is spatially located in a first radial distance, the geolocation information being from both the first and the second measurement records.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising identifying a base station associated with a frequency from a correlated measurement record by matching a base station identification code decoded from a control channel of the base station to signal strengths associated with the control channel.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the geolocation information is gathered from a measured control channel or a global positioning system.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first scanner measures the signal strength of a frequency while scanning the wireless communication spectrum.

5. A method as defined in claim 4, wherein the second scanner decodes a base station identification code associated with the frequency.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

in response to identifying no deficiency in the measurement record, correlating the first measurement record from the first scanner to the second measurement record of the second scanner using both the timestamp information and the geolocation information from both the first and the second measurement record.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the deficiency in the measurement record is identified before the first and the second scanner scan the wireless communication spectrum.

8. A machine readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to correlate data from multiple scanners by at least:

identifying a deficiency in a first measurement record from a first scanner that has captured signal strength measurements of a wireless communication spectrum;

determining a type of the deficiency in the measurement record;

when the type of the deficiency is associated with an insufficient location measurement, correlating the first measurement record from the first scanner to a second measurement record from a second scanner using timestamp information that is temporally located in a first time window, the timestamp information being from both the first and the second measurement records; and

when the type of deficiency is not associated with the insufficient location measurement, correlating the first measurement record from the first scanner to a second measurement record from the second scanner using geolocation information that is spatially located in a first radial distance, the geolocation information being from both the first and the second measurement records.

9. A storage medium as defined in claim 8, further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to at least:

identify a base station associated with the signal strength measurements based on the correlated measurement record.

10. A storage medium as defined in claim 8, wherein the geolocation information is gathered from a measured control channel or a global positioning system.

11. A storage medium as defined in claim 8, wherein the deficiency in the measurement record is identified before the first scanner captures the signal strength measurements.

12. A storage medium as defined in claim 8, wherein the first scanner measures signal strength of a frequency while scanning the wireless communication spectrum.

13. A storage medium as defined in claim 12, wherein the second scanner scans the frequency to decode a base station identification code associated with the frequency.

14. A storage medium as defined in claim 8, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to at least:

in response to identifying no deficiency in the measurement record, correlate the first measurement record from the first scanner to the second measurement record of the second scanner using both the timestamp information and the geolocation information from both the first and the second measurement record.