Management system and method for wireless communication network and associated user interface

• US 7,747,254 B2
• Filed: 06/20/2006
• Issued: 06/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ground Hog Inc.
• Original Assignee: Groundhog Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Chang, Wei-Ling, Young, Ming-Hui
• Primary Examiner(s): Afshar; Kamran
• Application Number:
  US11/455,853
• Publication Number:
  US 20060294260A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,470 Days
• Field of Search: 455/457, 455/422.1, 455/423, 455/424, 455446-449, 455/566
• US Class Current: 455/446
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/08 Configuration management of networks or network elements address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display

Abstract

A management system and method for a wireless communication network and an associated interface is provided. The management system provides a structure of data layers and a visualization design to upgrade the efficiency of network management. The management system includes a data generation module and a display module. The data module generates a plurality of data layers, which comprise at least a map layer, a network configuration layer, and an operation index layer. The network configuration layer comprises a configuration of the wireless communication network on the map layer. The operation index layer includes statistic values of an operation index of the wireless communication network under the configuration. The display module performs an overlap display of a plurality of selected layers from the data layers to show operation status of the wireless communication network.

Claims

1. A management system for a wireless communication network comprising a plurality of cells, the management system comprising:

a data generation module for generating a plurality of data layers, wherein the data layers comprise at least a map layer, at least a network configuration layer comprising a network configuration of the wireless communication network on the map layer, and at least an operation index layer comprising a statistic value of an operation index of the wireless communication network under the network configuration; and

a display module, connected to the data generation module, for performing an overlap display of a plurality of selected layers from the data layers to show operation status of the wireless communication network;

wherein when the operation index is corresponding to a cell pair of the wireless communication network, the operation index layer displays the statistic value of the operation index between a selected cell and each neighboring cell of the selected cell by a corresponding radiating line originated from the selected cell, and different colors of the corresponding radiating line represent different amounts of the statistic value.

2. The management system of claim 1, wherein the display module adds a customized data layer to the data layers according to a user request.

3. The management system of claim 1, wherein the display module provides a user interface comprising a data layer window for listing the data layers.

4. The management system of claim 3, wherein for each of the data layers, the data layer window comprises a status field for indicating a display status of the corresponding data layer, wherein the display status is one of the following:

displaying, not displaying, unable to display, displaying on the top, filtered displaying, and directional displaying;

when the display status of the data layer is filtered displaying, only a portion of the data layer which meets a filtering condition is displayed.

5. The management system of claim 4, wherein the filtering condition for the operation index layer in the display status of filtered displaying is determined by comparing the statistic value of the operation index with a specific value.

6. The management system of claim 1, wherein the display module provides a user interface comprising a network tree graph to display a tree structure of a plurality of network elements of the wireless communication network.

7. The management system of claim 6, wherein the network tree graph comprises a corresponding selection field for each of the network elements, wherein the selection field is configured to determine whether to display the corresponding network element when the overlap display of the selected layers is performed.

8. The management system of claim 1, wherein the network configuration comprises at least one of the following:

a location of a network element of the wireless communication network on the map layer, configuration of the network element, and a distribution of a serving area of the wireless communication network on the map layer.

9. The management system of claim 1, wherein the network configuration layer distinguishes serving areas of the wireless communication network by color.

10. The management system of claim 1, wherein the operation index layer distinguishes statistic values of the operation index by number, color, symbol, shape, or combination of above.

11. The management system of claim 1, wherein the operation index layer distinguishes the operation index within different serving areas of the wireless communication network by color, symbol, shape, or combination of above.

12. The management system of claim 11, wherein the shape is a three-dimensional shape.

13. The management system of claim 1, wherein when the operation index is corresponding to the cell pair of the wireless communication network, the operation index layer distinguishes whether the cell pair belongs to different serving areas of the wireless communication network by color, symbol, shape, or combination of above.

14. The management system of claim 1, wherein the operation index layer distinguishes from another operation index layer by color, symbol, shape, or combination of above.

15. The management system of claim 1, wherein a network performance diagnosis is performed according to correlation between the selected layers.

16. The management system of claim 15, wherein the selected layers comprise the network configuration layer and the operation index layer, and the network performance diagnosis is performed according to correlation between the network configuration and the operation index.

17. The management system of claim 15, wherein the selected layers comprise at least two operation index layers, and the network performance diagnosis is performed according to correlation between the operation indexes of the at least two operation index layers.

18. A user interface for managing a wireless communication network comprising a plurality of cells, the user interface comprising:

a data layer window for listing a plurality of data layers, wherein the data layers comprise at least a map layer, at least a network configuration layer comprising a network configuration of the wireless communication network on the map layer, and at least an operation index layer comprising a statistic value of an operation index of the wireless communication network under the network configuration;

wherein a plurality of selected layers for an overlap display is selected from the data layers via the user interface;

wherein when the operation index is corresponding to a cell pair of the wireless communication network, the operation index layer displays the statistic value of the operation index between a selected cell and each neighboring cell of the selected cell by a corresponding radiating line originated from the selected cell, and different colors of the corresponding radiating line represent different amounts of the statistic value.

19. The user interface of claim 18, wherein for each of the data layers, the data layer window comprises a status field for indicating a display status of the corresponding data layer, wherein the display status is one of the following:

displaying, not displaying, unable to display, displaying on the top, filtered displaying, and directional displaying.

20. The user interface of claim 19, wherein the display status of the data layer is adjusted by configuring the corresponding status field of the data layer.

21. The user interface of claim 18, further comprising:

a network tree graph for displaying a tree structure of a plurality of network elements of the wireless communication network.

22. The user interface of claim 21, wherein the network tree graph comprises a corresponding selection field for each of the network elements, wherein the selection field is configured to determine whether to display the corresponding network element when the overlap display of the selected layers is performed.

23. A management method for a wireless communication network comprising a plurality of cells, the management method comprising:

generating a plurality of data layers, wherein the data layers comprise at least a map layer, at least a network configuration layer comprising a network configuration of the wireless communication network on the map layer, and at least an operation index layer comprising a statistic value of an operation index of the wireless communication network under the network configuration; and

performing an overlap display of a plurality of selected layers from the data layers to show operation status of the wireless communication network;

wherein when the operation index is corresponding to a cell pair of the wireless communication network, the operation index layer displays the statistic value of the operation index between a selected cell and each neighboring cell of the selected cell by a corresponding radiating line originated from the selected cell, and different colors of the corresponding radiating line represent different amounts of the statistic value.

24. The management method of claim 23, further comprising:

adding a customized data layer to the data layers according to a user request.

25. The management method of claim 23, further comprising:

providing a user interface which comprises a data layer window for listing the data layers; and

selecting the selected layers from the data layers via the user interface.

26. The management method of claim 23, further comprising:

performing a network performance diagnosis according to correlation between the selected layers.