METHODS AND APPARATUS TO SCAN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SPECTRUM

• US 20160119795A1
• Filed: 12/31/2015
• Published: 04/28/2016
• 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 9,668,145 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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. In some examples, the methods and apparatus associate a first base station identifier with a first frequency by scanning a wireless communication spectrum at a first rate with a first scanner having base station identifier decoding enabled on the first scanner, measure a signal strength by scanning the wireless communication spectrum at a second rate with a second scanner having base station identification code decoding disabled on the second scanner, the disabling of the base station identification code decoding enables the second scanner to scan at the second rate, the second rate being higher than the first rate, determine whether the signal strength is associated with the first frequency, and when the signal strength is associated with the first frequency, populate a measurement record from the second scanner with the first base station identifier in association with the signal strength.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

associating a first base station identifier with a first frequency by scanning a wireless communication spectrum at a first rate with a first scanner having base station identifier decoding enabled on the first scanner;

measuring a signal strength by scanning the wireless communication spectrum at a second rate with a second scanner having base station identification code decoding disabled on the second scanner, the disabling of the base station identification code decoding enables the second scanner to scan at the second rate, the second rate being higher than the first rate;

determining, by executing an instruction with a processor, whether the signal strength is associated with the first frequency; and

when the signal strength is associated with the first frequency, populating, by executing an instruction with the processor, a first measurement record from the second scanner with the first base station identifier in association with the signal strength.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, further including, when the signal strength is not associated with the first frequency, identifying a second base station identifier associated with a second frequency.

3. The method as defined in claim 2, further including identifying a deficiency in a second measurement record.

4. The method as defined in claim 3, further including identifying the deficiency in the second measurement record as no correlation between the signal strength and a base station identifier.

5. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the correlating of the first base station identifier with the signal strength is based on timestamp information.

6. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the correlating of the first base station identifier with the signal strength is based on geographic location information.

7. The method as defined in claim 6, wherein the geographic location information is gathered from at least one of a measured control channel or a global positioning system.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a first scanner to associate a first base station identifier with a first frequency by scanning a wireless communication spectrum at a first rate with base station identifier decoding enabled;

a second scanner to measure a signal strength by scanning the wireless communication spectrum at a second rate with base station identification code decoding disabled, the disabling of the base station identification code decoding to enable the second scanner to scan at the second rate, the second rate being higher than the first rate; and

a correlator to, when the signal strength is associated with the first frequency, associate the signal strength with the first base station identifier in a measurement record from the second scanner.

9. The apparatus as defined in claim 8, wherein the correlator is to, when the signal strength is not associated with the first frequency, identify a second base station identifier associated with a second frequency.

10. The apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein the correlator is to identify a deficiency in a second measurement record.

11. The apparatus as defined in claim 10, wherein the correlator is to identify that the deficiency in the second measurement record is caused by no correlation between the signal strength and a base station identifier.

12. The apparatus as defined in claim 8, wherein the correlator is to associate the first base station identifier with the signal strength based on timestamp information obtained by a timestamper.

13. The apparatus as defined in claim 8, wherein the correlator is to associate the first base station identifier with the signal strength based on geographic location information obtained by a geographic locator.

14. The apparatus as defined in claim 13, wherein the geographic locator is to obtain the geographic location information from at least one of a measured control channel or a global positioning system.

15. A tangible computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

associate a first base station identifier with a first frequency obtained from a first scanner scanning a wireless communication spectrum at a first rate with base station identifier decoding enabled;

measure a signal strength obtained from a second scanner scanning the wireless communication spectrum at a second rate with base station identification code decoding disabled, the disabling of the base station identification code decoding enabling the second scanner to scan at the second rate, the second rate being higher than the first rate; and

when the signal strength is associated with the first frequency, associate the signal strength with the first base station identifier in a measurement record from the second scanner.

16. The storage medium as defined in claim 15, further including, when the signal strength is not associated with the first frequency, identifying a second base station identifier associated with a second frequency.

17. The storage medium as defined in claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the machine to identify a deficiency in a second measurement record.

18. The storage medium as defined in claim 17, wherein the instructions further cause the machine to identify the deficiency in the second measurement record as no correlation between the signal strength and a base station identifier.

19. The storage medium as defined in claim 15, wherein the signal strength is associated with the first base station identifier based on timestamp information.

20. The storage medium as defined in claim 15, wherein the signal strength is associated with the first base station identifier based on geographic location information.