Method and system for indicating link quality among neighboring wireless base station

• US 7,076,274 B2
• Filed: 11/03/2003
• Issued: 07/11/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Aurix Pte., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Strix Systems Incorporated (AHA Holdings Pvt Ltd.)
• Inventors: Jollota, James M., Kamstra, Duke
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Duc M.
• Application Number:
  US10/701,370
• Publication Number:
  US 20040142699A1
• Time in Patent Office: 981 Days
• Field of Search: 455/561, 455/560, 455/67.11, 455/67.7, 455/426.2, 455/7, 455/9, 455/11.1, 455/41.2, 455/41.3, 455/507, 455/508, 455/566, 4552261-2264, 455423-425, 455/446, 455/448, 455/449
• US Class Current: 455/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/309 Measuring or estimating channel quality parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• 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 36/30 by measured or perceived connection quality data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/20 between access points

Abstract

Various aspects of a method and system for indicating the link quality between wireless base station units are presented. The establishment of a wireless network involves the placement of and communication between several base station units. To facilitate the operational capability of such a wireless network, a method for continuously displaying the quality of the links between these base station units is introduced. The method provides each base station with the information necessary to individually display the quality of the links between itself and its neighboring base stations. The displays can take on a variety of formats. Additionally, link quality of neighboring base stations can be collected by a central controller which can process the information and create a grid showing the link quality throughout the wireless network.

Claims

1. A method for indicating quality of a wireless link among three or more wireless base stations, comprising:

measuring at least one wireless link quality characteristic between a first wireless base station and at least two additional wireless base station, wherein the at least one wireless link quality characteristic is signal to noise ratio, bit error rate, or received signal strength indication;

manipulating the link quality characteristic so as to form a common scale of link quality information for each of the two additional wireless base stations, wherein manipulating includes normalizing dissimilar link quality characteristic measurements;

providing at least one display unit for each of the at least two additional wireless base stations, wherein the display units are provided on the wireless base station;

displaying the common scale of link quality information for each of the at least one additional wireless base stations at the first wireless base station using the display units; and

updating the common scale of link quality information on a real time basis.

2. A method for displaying the quality of a wireless link among two or more wireless base stations, comprising:

measuring at least one link quality characteristic between a first wireless base station and at least one additional wireless base station repeatedly, with same or varying periods, wherein the first base station includes at least one display unit representing each of the at least one additional wireless base stations, wherein the measuring is performed after initial installation of at least one of the two or more wireless base stations;

manipulating the at least one link quality characteristic so as to form a link quality information signal for each of the at least one additional wireless base stations; and

displaying the link quality information signal for each of the at least one additional wireless base stations on the respective display unit.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one link quality characteristic is selected from a group that includes signal strength indication, bit error rate, and signal to noise ratio.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein manipulating includes normalizing the at least one link quality characteristic of the at least one additional base station.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein manipulating includes combining two or more of the at least one link quality characteristics of the at least one additional base station.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the link quality information signal is a logarithmic scale.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the link quality information signal is a linear scale.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

updating the link quality information signal on an approximate real time basis; and

notifying a user when the link quality information signal is less than a predefined value.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein manipulating includes selecting a type of link quality characteristic used to form the link quality information signal.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein displaying includes providing a visual indication of the orientation of the at least one additional wireless base station relative to the first wireless base station associated with each of the at least one display unit.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one display unit includes light emitting diodes arranged in a vertical bar capable of displaying different values of the link quality information signal.

12. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one display unit includes a liquid crystal display capable of displaying at least one link quality characteristic, and wherein the liquid crystal display is capable of identifying the at least one additional wireless base stations associated with the at least one link characteristic.

13. A method for indicating the quality of a wireless link among two or more wireless base stations, comprising:

at least periodically and at a first wireless base station, measuring at least one link quality indicator between the first wireless base station and at least one neighboring wireless base station, wherein the measuring is performed at least after initial installation and during normal operation of the wireless base stations; and

at the first wireless base station, providing a visual display for a user; and

at least periodically, displaying the at least one link quality indicator for neighboring wireless base stations on the visual display.

14. A system for showing quality of a wireless link, comprising:

two or more wireless base stations coupled to form at least one communications link, wherein each of the two or more wireless base stations includes at least one display device representing every other base station, wherein each of the two or more wireless base stations is capable of;

measuring at least one link quality characteristic with respect to communications among each of the two or more wireless base stations;

manipulating the at least one link quality characteristic so as to form a link quality information signal; and

directing the at least one display device to display an indication of a quality of the communication among each of the two or more wireless base stations based on the link quality information signal for each of the two or more wireless base stations.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein each of the at least one display device, associated with on other base station, is a stacked bar of multicolored light emitting diodes (“

LED”

), a stacked bar of LEDs that emit only one of two colors, a liquid crystal display or a single multicolored LED.

16. The system of claim 14, further comprising normalizing dissimilar link quality characteristic measurements.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein directing includes updating the common scale of link quality information on an approximately real time basis.

18. The system of claim 14, further comprising at least one mobile wireless device that displays the link quality information signal of the two or more wireless base stations.

19. A method for displaying wireless link quality among networked wireless base stations, comprising:

receiving at least one link quality characteristic from the two or more wireless base station at a communications network system controller, wherein the at least one link quality characteristic is selected from a group including received signal strength indication, bit error rate, frame error rate, symbol error rate, and signal to noise ratio, and wherein the at least on link quality characteristic is measured at each of the two or more wireless base stations;

at the network system controller, manipulating the at least one link quality characteristic so as to form at least one link quality information signal;

receiving, at the network system controller, an indication of wireless base station neighbors from the two or more wireless base stations;

at the network system controller, associating the at least one link quality information signal with certain wireless base stations in the indication of wireless base station neighbors and producing a display signal; and

at the network system controller, outputting the display signal to the certain wireless base stations in the indication of wireless base station neighbors, wherein the certain wireless base stations display an indication of the link quality characteristic based on the display signal and wherein outputting includes providing an approximate real time indication of the link quality information among the two or more wireless base stations at the two or more wireless base stations.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the certain wireless base stations display a schematic associating a location of the two or more wireless base stations with link quality among the two or more wireless base stations.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising notifying a user when the common scale of link quality information is less than a predefined value.

22. A wireless base station coupled among at least one additional wireless base station in a communication network, comprising:

a wireless transceiver for communicating with mobile units and the at least one additional wireless base station;

a display device; and

at least one processor coupled to the wireless transceiver and the display device, wherein the processor is configured to;

measure at least one link quality characteristic of at least one link with the at least one additional wireless base station repeatedly, with or without varying periods, wherein the display device includes at least a portion representing each of the at least one additional wireless base stations, and wherein the measuring is performed during normal operation of the wireless base station;

manipulate the at least one link quality characteristic so as to form a link quality information signal for each of the at least one additional wireless base stations; and

display the link quality information signal for each of the at least one additional wireless base stations on the display device representing each of the at least one additional wireless base stations.

23. A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a display device to indicate the link quality between wireless base stations, the method comprising:

measuring at least one link quality characteristic between a first wireless base station and at least one additional wireless base station at least once, wherein the first base station includes a display device, wherein at least a portion of the display device represents each of the at least one additional wireless base stations;

manipulating the at least one link quality characteristic so as to form a link quality information signal for each of the at least one additional wireless base stations; and

displaying the link quality information signal for each of the at least one additional wireless base stations on the display device representing each of the at least one additional wireless base stations.

24. In a wireless communications network including two or more wireless base stations, wherein at least one wireless mobile device communicates with at least a portion of the network, an apparatus for indicating link quality among the two or more wireless base stations, comprising:

means for periodically or sporadically measuring at least one link quality characteristic between a first wireless base station and at least one additional wireless base station, wherein the first base station includes a display device representing each of the at least one additional wireless base stations;

means for manipulating the at least one link quality characteristic so as to form a link quality information signal for each of the at least one additional wireless base stations; and

means for displaying the link quality information signal for each of the at least one additional wireless base stations on the display device representing each of the at least one additional wireless base stations, wherein the measuring is performed at least after installation of the wireless base stations.

25. A system for indicating the quality of a wireless links among networked wireless base stations, comprising:

three or more wireless base stations coupled to form a communication network, wherein each of the three or more wireless base stations identifies neighboring wireless base stations linked to each of the three or more wireless base stations, and wherein the identification includes at least one link quality measurement for each linked wireless base station; and

a communications network system controller capable of;

receiving, at the network system controller, an indication of neighboring wireless base stations from each of the three or more wireless base stations;

associating, at the network system controller, the at least one link quality measurement with certain wireless base stations in the indication of wireless base station neighbors;

manipulating, at the network system controller, the at least one link quality measurement associated with the certain wireless base stations in the indication of wireless base station neighbors so as to form a link quality information signal;

searching, at the network system controller, for each of the three or more wireless base stations at least two or more neighboring wireless base stations;

selecting, at the network system controller, from the at least two or more neighboring wireless base stations, two wireless base stations possessing the highest value of the at least one link quality measurement;

forming, at the network system controller, at least one triangular cell of wireless base stations, wherein the at least one triangular cell includes at least one of the three or more wireless base stations and the associated two wireless base stations possessing the highest value of the at least one link quality measurement for the at least one of the three or more wireless base stations;

removing, at the network system controller, mutual entries of wireless base stations from the indication of neighboring wireless base stations from each of the wireless base stations forming the triangular cell, wherein each triangular cell includes a wireless base station at each node coupled by a first segment between each node, wherein the length of the first segment is proportional to the common scale of link quality information;

locating, at the network system controller, single neighbor wireless base stations for each of the three or more wire wireless base stations; and

combining, at the network system controller, the at least one triangular cells of wireless base stations forming a grid of wireless base stations, wherein the grid includes the single neighbor wireless base stations connected to the grid of wireless base stations by a second segment between each node, wherein the second segment is proportional to the link quality information signal.

26. A method for indicating the quality of links among wireless base stations in a network, comprising:

receiving, at a communications network system controller, an indication of wireless neighboring base stations from each of three or more wireless base stations, wherein the indication of wireless neighboring base stations includes at least one link quality measurement;

associating, at a communications network system controller, the at least one link quality measurement with certain wireless base stations in the indication of wireless base station neighbors;

configuring, at a communications network system controller, a display device, wherein the display includes triangular cells of wireless base stations, each triangular cell representing three mutually linked wireless base stations such that the link quality measurement of the three mutually linked wireless base stations is optimized, and wherein each triangular cell includes three nodes coupled together by three segments such that a different node represents each of the three mutually linked wireless base stations, and such that a different segment represents each of the three links between the three mutually linked wireless base stations;

removing, at a communications network system controller, from the indication of wireless neighboring base stations of the three mutually linked wireless base stations, the identity of wireless neighboring base station included in the triangular cell;

depicting, at a communications network system controller, the at least one link quality measurement between the three mutually linked wireless base stations such that each segment length between each node represents and is proportional to the link quality between each of the three mutually linked wireless base stations; and

adding, at a communications network system controller, a single node to the display representing a wireless base station that is linked to only one other wireless base station, wherein the node is coupled to the display with a single segment such that the segment length represents and is proportional to the link quality between the single node and the one other wireless base station.