DYNAMIC AUTOMATED NEIGHBOR LIST MANAGEMENT IN SELF-OPTIMIZING NETWORK

• US 20150208300A1
• Filed: 01/20/2015
• Published: 07/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks US LLC (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Eden Rock Communications LLC (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: MCLAUGHLIN, Stephan, WELLINGTON, Dan
• Granted Patent: US 9,591,535 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/00835 Determination of neighbour cell lists
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/00837 Determination of triggering parameters for hand-off
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0088 Scheduling hand-off measurements

Abstract

Systems and methods for dynamically modifying neighbor lists for cells within telecommunications networks and/or modifying neighbor lists based on determined radio frequency coupling between cells are described. In some embodiments, the systems and methods access a neighbor list associated with a target cell or associated with one or more neighbor cells of the target cell within a network, apply one or more dynamic optimization rule sets to the target cell, and modify a neighbor list associated with the target cell or with neighbor cells to the target cell based on the applied rule sets.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining a coupling value for a source cell and a neighbor cell within a telecommunications network; and

performing an action that is based on the determined coupling value.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined coupling value is a geoscore that quantifies a degree of radio frequency coupling between the source cell and the neighbor cell.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined coupling value is based on an antenna relationship between the source cell and the neighbor cell and based on a coverage area relationship between the source cell and the neighbor cell.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a coupling value for the source cell and the neighbor cell includes:

calculating an azimuth of a vector between a location of the source cell and a location of the neighbor cell and an azimuth of an antenna of the source cell;

calculating an absolute value of a difference between the azimuth of the antenna of the source cell and the azimuth of the vector;

determining a geoscore for the source and the neighbor cell, the geoscore being a cosine of the calculated absolute value of the difference between the azimuth of the antenna of the source cell and the azimuth of the vector.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a coupling value for the source cell and the neighbor cell includes:

calculating a distance between a location of the source cell and a location of the neighbor cell;

calculating an azimuth of a vector between a location of the neighbor cell and a location of the source cell;

calculating an absolute value of a difference between the azimuth of the antenna of the neighbor cell and the azimuth of the vector; and

determining a geoscore for the source and the neighbor cell, the geoscore being a cosine of the calculated absolute value of the difference between the azimuth of the antenna of the neighbor cell and the azimuth of the vector, minus the calculated distance between the location of the source cell and the location of the neighbor cell multiplied by a pre-determined weighting factor.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a coupling value for the source cell and the neighbor cell includes:

calculating a coverage distance for the neighbor cell;

calculating an azimuth of a vector between a location of the neighbor cell and a projected location of the source cell;

calculating an absolute value of a difference between the azimuth of the antenna of the neighbor cell and the azimuth of the vector; and

determining a geoscore for the source and the neighbor cell, the geoscore being a cosine of the calculated absolute value of the difference between the azimuth of the antenna of the neighbor cell and the azimuth of the vector, minus the calculated coverage distance between the projected location of the source cell and the location of the neighbor cell multiplied by a pre-determined weighting factor.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein performing an action that is based on the determined coupling value includes providing the coupling value to an automated network relation process of neighbor seeding running within the telecommunications network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein performing an action that is based on the determined coupling value includes providing the coupling value to an automated network relation process of blacklisting neighbor cells from neighbor lists running within the telecommunications network.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein performing an action that is based on the determined coupling value includes providing the coupling value to an automated network relation process of augmenting neighbor lists running within the telecommunications network.

10. A computer-readable storage medium whose contents, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations within running automated neighbor relation optimization processes, the operations comprising:

determining a coupling value for a source cell and a neighbor cell within a telecommunications network; and

performing an action that is based on the determined coupling value.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the determined coupling value is a geoscore that quantifies a degree of radio frequency coupling between the source cell and the neighbor cell.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the determined coupling value is based on an antenna relationship between the source cell and the neighbor cell and based on a coverage area relationship between the source cell and the neighbor cell.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein determining a coupling value for the source cell and the neighbor cell includes:

calculating an azimuth of a vector between a location of the source cell and a location of the neighbor cell and an azimuth of an antenna of the source cell;

calculating an absolute value of a difference between the azimuth of the antenna of the source cell and the azimuth of the vector;

determining a geoscore for the source and the neighbor cell, the geoscore being a cosine of the calculated absolute value of the difference between the azimuth of the antenna of the source cell and the azimuth of the vector.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein determining a coupling value for the source cell and the neighbor cell includes:

calculating a distance between a location of the source cell and a location of the neighbor cell;

calculating an azimuth of a vector between a location of the neighbor cell and a location of the source cell;

calculating an absolute value of a difference between the azimuth of the antenna of the neighbor cell and the azimuth of the vector; and

determining a geoscore for the source and the neighbor cell, the geoscore being a cosine of the calculated absolute value of the difference between the azimuth of the antenna of the source cell and the azimuth of the vector, minus the calculated distance between the location of the source cell and the location of the neighbor cell multiplied by a pre-determined weighting factor.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein determining a coupling value for the source cell and the neighbor cell includes:

calculating a coverage distance for the neighbor cell;

calculating an azimuth of a vector between a location of the neighbor cell and a location of the source cell;

calculating an absolute value of a difference between the azimuth of the antenna of the neighbor cell and the azimuth of the vector; and

determining a geoscore for the source and the neighbor cell, the geoscore being a cosine of the calculated absolute value of the difference between the azimuth of the antenna of the source cell and the azimuth of the vector, minus the calculated coverage distance between the location of the source cell and the location of the neighbor cell multiplied by a pre-determined weighting factor.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein performing an action that is based on the determined coupling value includes providing the coupling value to an automated network relation process of neighbor seeding running within the telecommunications network.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein performing an action that is based on the determined coupling value includes providing the coupling value to an automated network relation process of blacklisting neighbor cells from neighbor lists running within the telecommunications network.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein performing an action that is based on the determined coupling value includes providing the coupling value to an automated network relation process of augmenting neighbor lists running within the telecommunications network.

19. A method performed by a network resource controller within a telecommunications network, the method comprising:

determining a geoscore for a source cell and a neighbor cell within a network; and

adding or removing the neighbor cell from a neighbor list of the source cell based on the determined geoscore.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein determining a geoscore for a source cell and a neighbor cell within a network includes determining a value that is a function of an angle of an antenna of the source cell and an angle of an antenna of the neighbor cell.