Method of assigning frequencies for use during wireless system drive testing

• US 6,411,798 B1
• Filed: 05/28/1999
• Issued: 06/25/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: RPX Clearinghouse LLC (RPX Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Budiansky, Valery, Yu, Chang, Frenkel, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Hunter, Daniel
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gantt, Alan T.
• Application Number:
  US09/321,864
• Time in Patent Office: 1,124 Days
• Field of Search: 455/67.4, 455/423, 455/424, 455/425, 455/446, 455/450
• US Class Current: 455/67.14
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/18 Network planning tools
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/16 Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service]

Abstract

An automated method of assigning frequencies to sectors of a wireless telecommunications system for use during a drive test calculates a usage factor for each frequency that is assigned to the system to be tested. The usage factor for a particular frequency is equal to the number of sectors of the system to be tested to which the particular frequency is assigned. The method selects a sector and selects the frequency assigned to the selected sector with the smallest usage factor. The method keys up the selected frequency in the selected sector and keys down that frequency and the adjacent frequencies in each of the other sectors of the system to be tested. The method continues the foregoing sequence of steps until a unique frequency has been keyed up for each sector in the system to be tested.

Claims

1. A method of assigning a frequency from a set of frequencies to a sector in a wireless communication system during a drive test comprising:

calculating a usage factor for each frequency of said set of frequencies, said usage factor being equal to the number of sectors to which said frequency is assigned;

selecting said sector from a set of sectors;

selecting a frequency assigned to said selected sector with the smallest usage factor;

keying up said selected frequency in said selected sector; and

keying down said selected frequency in each of the other sectors of said set of sectors.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, said keying down step including the step of:

keying down the frequencies adjacent said selected frequency in each of said other sectors of said set of sectors.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a second sector from said set of sectors;

selecting a frequency assigned to said second sector with the smallest usage factor and which has not been keyed down;

keying up said selected frequency in said second sector; and

keying down said selected frequency in each of the other sectors of said set of sectors.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of selecting a sector from said set of sectors includes the step of:

ordering the sectors of said set of sectors in ascending order according to the number of frequencies assigned to said sectors.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein said step of selecting a sector from said set of sectors includes the step of:

selecting the sector from said ordered sectors with the smallest number of frequencies assigned to said sector.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of selecting a sector from said set of sectors includes the step of:

selecting the sector from said set of sectors with the smallest number of frequencies assigned to said sector.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of keying up said selected frequency includes the steps of:

inserting said selected frequency for said selected sector in a key up script for said drive test.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of keying down said selected frequency includes the step of:

inserting said selected frequency for each of said other sectors in a key down script for said drive test.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

determining if any sector has a minimum number of frequencies; and

responsive to a determination that a sector has said minimum number of frequencies, making the frequencies of said minimum number of frequencies and their adjacent frequencies unavailable for key down.

10. A computer program product for assigning a frequency from a set of frequencies to a sector of a communication system during a drive test, said program product comprising:

a computer readable medium; and

program code on said computer readable medium for;

generating a key up script, said key up script including a unique frequency selected from said set of frequencies for each sector of a set of sectors, wherein said generating step occurs in response to

first selecting said unique frequency assigned to a selected sector with the smallest usage factor;

keying up said selected unique frequency in said selected sector; and

keying down said selected unique frequency in each other sector of said set of sectors within said communication system.

11. The computer program product as claimed in claim 10, wherein said program code for generating said key up script includes program code for:

calculating a usage factor for each frequency of said set of frequencies, said usage factor being equal to the number of sectors to which said frequency is assigned;

selecting a sector from said set of sectors; and

selecting a frequency assigned to said selected sector with the smallest usage factor.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising program code for:

generating a key down script, said key down script including, for each sector of said set of sectors, a set of frequencies to be keyed down during said drive test.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein said frequencies to be keyed down include the frequencies in said key up script.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein said frequencies to be keyed down include the frequencies immediately adjacent the frequencies in said key up script.

15. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising program code for:

ordering the sectors of said set of sectors in ascending order according to the number of frequencies assigned to said sectors; and

selecting the sector from said ordered sectors with the smallest number of frequencies assigned to said sector.

16. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising program code for:

determining if any sector has a minimum number of frequencies; and

responsive to a determination that a sector has said minimum number of frequencies, making the frequencies of said minimum number of frequencies and their adjacent frequencies unavailable for key down.

17. A communication system comprising:

a plurality of sectors;

at least one frequency assigned to each of said plurality of sectors, wherein said at least one frequency is selected via a selection mechanism comprising;

means for calculating a usage factor for each frequency of said set of frequencies, said usage factor being equal to the number of sectors among said plurality of sectors to which said frequency is assigned;

means for selecting a sector from said set of sectors;

means for selecting a frequency assigned to said selected sector with the smallest usage factor;

means for keying up said selected frequency in said selected sector; and

means for keying down said selected frequency in each of the other sectors of said plurality of sectors.

18. The communication system of claim 17, wherein further said selection mechanism further comprises:

means for ordering the sectors of said plurality of sectors in ascending order according to the number of frequencies assigned to said sectors; and

means for selecting the sector from said ordered sectors with the smallest number of frequencies assigned to said sector.

19. The communication system of claim 17, wherein further said selection mechanism further comprises means for making the frequencies of said minimum number of frequencies and their adjacent frequencies unavailable for key down.

20. The communication system of claim 17, wherein further said selection mechanism further comprises means for keying down the frequencies adjacent said selected frequency in each of said other sectors of said set of sectors.