Method for determining the quality of mobile radiotelephone units in a mobile radiotelephone network

• US 6,721,557 B1
• Filed: 09/19/2000
• Issued: 04/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Swisscom Mobile AG (Government of Switzerland)
• Original Assignee: Swisscom AG (Government of Switzerland)
• Inventors: Ritter, Rudolf
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Nay
• Assistant Examiner(s): SHARMA, SUJATHA R
• Application Number:
  US09/646,458
• Time in Patent Office: 1,302 Days
• Field of Search: 455/67.3, 455/67.1, 455/67.7, 455/423, 455/456, 455/415
• US Class Current: 455/423
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements

Abstract

For each connection in a mobile radio network, at least one quality parameter is determined. A server (6) in a mobile radio network (7) calculates at least one statistical quality indicator (p_i.) from quality parameters of multiple connections of a user, as well as at least one quality criterion (G, G_i), which depends on a plurality of connections with different mobile devices (1).

Based on the determined quality indicators, the server (6) decides which mobile devices (1) do not fulfil the quality criteria (G, G_i) and must be rated as critical. The user of a mobile device, which does not fulfil one or more established quality criteria, is informed by means of an indication in his telephone bill.

The quality parameters are determined in the base stations (2) of the mobile radio network (7) and collected in said server (6).

The method may also be applied to the determination of the quality of components of the infrastructure, for example base stations (2).

Claims

1. A method for determining the quality achieved by different components in a mobile radio network, comprising:

determining a quality parameter which consists of a binary value indicating the success or failure of a connection through base stations of the mobile radio network for every connection with a mobile device;

statistically calculating, by a server in the mobile radio network, a mobile device quality indicator of a mobile device from the binary quality parameters of corresponding multiple connections associated with the mobile device, wherein the mobile device quality indicator of the mobile device is determined as the success rate computed based on the proportion of the number of successful connections to the number of attempted connections; and

determining quality criteria according to a quantile of the distribution of the success rates of the mobile device and/or a predefined limiting value with respect to the success rate, wherein

a user of a mobile device is informed when the mobile device quality indicator associated with the mobile device does not satisfy the quality criteria.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the success rates of a mobile device are determined with respect to individual base stations based on connections made by the mobile device via the individual base stations and/or with respect to all base stations based on connections made by the mobile device via all base stations of the mobile radio network; and

the quality criteria are determined according to a quantile of the distribution of the success rates determined based on connections made via individual base stations and/or all connections made via all base stations of the mobile radio network.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the user of the mobile device that does not satisfy the quality criteria is informed by means of at least one of an indication in the telephone bill, an alphanumeric short message on the mobile device, and a verbal message transmitted to the mobile device.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

statistically determining, by the server, at least one component quality indicator with respect to a plurality of components based on quality parameters computed from multiple connections of different users, where an inferior or defective component of a certain type in the mobile radio network can be determined from a component quality indicator associated with the components of the same type.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the components include a base station.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein a decision as to whether or not a mobile device satisfies the quality criteria depends on the component quality indicator associated with the component used by the mobile device.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

statistically calculating, by the server for each mobile device with respect to each base station, at least one statistical base-station-specific mobile device quality indicator based on a plurality of connections between each mobile device and each specific base station; and

informing the user of a mobile device if the base-station-specific mobile device quality indicator with respect to the mobile device does not satisfy certain base-station-specific quality criteria associated with the specific base station.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the base-station-specific quality criteria associated with the specific base station are established based on at least one statistical attribute of the plurality of connections with the specific base station.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising statistically determining, by the server, a manufacturer quality indicator with respect to a mobile device manufacturer based on quality parameters associated with multiple connections of different users using mobile devices from the manufacturer, wherein the manufacturer quality indicator statistically indicates the quality of the mobile devices from the manufacturer.