Apparatus and method for measuring and controlling the performance or an adjustable antenna on a sub-sector basis

• US 6,970,721 B1
• Filed: 01/25/2000
• Issued: 11/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Gnesda, Nicholas, Zahnle, Jeffrey Arthur, Smolik, Kenneth Frank
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Lee
• Application Number:
  US09/490,605
• Time in Patent Office: 2,135 Days
• Field of Search: 455/562, 455/423, 455/424, 455/67.1, 455/67.3, 342/373
• US Class Current: 455/562.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/24 Cell structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements

Abstract

The present invention retunes adjustable base station antennas of a wireless communications system in order to improve performance metrics that are determined by measurements and that are associated with sub-sectors within the wireless communications system. The present invention calculates and applies control signals to the adjustable antennas to improve the performance in accordance with the performance metrics. Thus, the present invention obviates much of the labor that is required for retuning the wireless communications system with changing radio conditions.

Claims

1. A wireless communications system supporting a call with a mobile subscriber unit that is located within a sector of a cell of said wireless communications system, said sector containing a sub-sector, said wireless communications system containing a base station communicating with said mobile subscriber unit through a base station antenna for supporting said call, said wireless communications system comprising:

means for detecting an occurrence of a call event type associated with said call;

means, responsive to said detecting means, for determining an approximate location of said mobile subscriber unit at the occurrence of said call event type;

means, responsive to said determining means, for mapping said approximate location to said sub-sector of said sector;

means, responsive to said mapping means, for incrementing a corresponding event counter that is associated with said call event type and said sub-sector;

said corresponding event counter determining a performance metric associated with said sub-sector;

means, responsive to said incrementing means, for accumulating said corresponding event counter during a study period; and

means, responsive to said accumulating means, for adjusting a radiation pattern of said base station antenna by coupling control signals to said base station in order to provide an improvement of said performance metric determined by said corresponding event counter.

2. The wireless communications system of claim 1, wherein said call is a mobile-originated call.

3. The wireless communications system of claim 1, wherein said call is a mobile-terminated call.

4. The wireless communications system of claim 1, wherein said approximate location of said mobile subscriber unit is a last known location of said mobile subscriber unit if said approximate location of said mobile subscriber unit cannot be ascertained by said determining means.

5. The wireless communications system of claim 1 wherein a second performance metric is associated with a second sub-sector and wherein said adjusting means comprises:

means for calculating updated values of said control signals to provide said improvement of said performance metric;

means, responsive to said calculating means, for modifying said updated values in order to limit a degradation of said second performance metric; and

means, responsive to said modifying means, for adjusting said radiation pattern of said base station antenna with said updated values.

6. The wireless communications system of claim 5, wherein said second sub-sector is located within the cell served by said base station.

7. The wireless communications system of claim 5, wherein said second sub-sector is located within a second cell served by a second base station.

8. The wireless communications system of claim 1 wherein a second performance metric is associated with a second sub-sector and wherein said adjusting means comprises:

means for assessing whether said second performance metric is degraded more than a predetermined limit;

means, responsive to said assessing means, for calculating incremental values of said control signals to provide said improvement of said performance metric; and

means, responsive to said calculating means, for adjusting said radiation pattern of said base station antenna with said incremental values.

9. The wireless communications system of claim 8, wherein said second sub-sector is located within the cell served by said base station.

10. The wireless communications system of claim 8, wherein said second sub-sector is located within a second cell served by a second base station.

11. The wireless communications system of claim 1 wherein said base station antenna comprises a plurality of sub-sectors, each sub-sector associated with a narrow beam radiation pattern.

12. A method for supporting a call for a mobile subscriber unit that is located within a sector of a cell of a wireless communications system, said sector containing a sub-sector, said wireless system containing a base station communicating with said mobile subscriber unit through a base station antenna for supporting said call, said method comprising the steps of:

detecting an occurrence of a call event type associated with said call;

determining an approximate location of said mobile subscriber unit at said occurrence of said call event type, responsive to said step of detecting;

mapping said approximate location to a sub-sector, responsive to said step of determining;

incrementing a corresponding event counter that is associated with said call event type and said sub-sector responsive to said step of mapping;

said corresponding event counter determining a performance metric associated with said sub-sector;

accumulating said corresponding event counter during a study period responsive to said step of incrementing; and

adjusting a radiation pattern of said base station antenna by coupling control signals to said base station antenna in order to provide an improvement of said performance metric, responsive to said step of accumulating.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein a second performance metric is associated with a second sub-sector and wherein said step of adjusting comprises:

calculating updated values of said control signals to provide said improvement of said performance metric;

modifying said updated values of said control signals in order to limit a degradation of said second performance metric, responsive to said step of calculating; and

adjusting said radiation pattern of said base station antenna with said updated values, responsive to said step of modifying.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein a second performance metric is associated with a second sub-sector and wherein said step of adjusting comprises:

determining whether said second performance metric is degraded more than a predetermined limit;

calculating incremental values of said control signals to provide said improvement of said performance metric, responsive to said step of determining, and

adjusting said radiation pattern of said antenna with said incremental values, responsive to said step of calculating.

15. A wireless communications system supporting a call with a mobile subscriber unit that is located within a sector of a cell of said wireless communications system, said sector containing a sub-sector, said wireless communications system containing a base station communicating with said mobile subscriber unit through a base station antenna for supporting said call, said wireless communications system comprising:

means for detecting an occurrence of a call event type associated with said call;

means, responsive to said detecting means, for determining an approximate location of said mobile subscriber unit at the occurrence of said call event type;

means, responsive to said determining means, for mapping said approximate location to said sub-sector of said sector,

means, responsive to said mapping means, for incrementing a corresponding event counter that is associated with said call event type and said sub-sector;

said corresponding event counter determining a performance metric associated with said sub-sector;

means, responsive to said incrementing means, for accumulating said corresponding event counter during a study period; and

means, responsive to said accumulating means, for adjusting a radiation pattern of said base station antenna by coupling control signals to said base station in order to provide an improvement of said performance metric determined by said corresponding event counter;

wherein said call event type is selected from the group forward frame error rate and reverse frame error rate.

16. The wireless communications system of claim 15, wherein said group additionally consisting of dropped call and blocked call.