Wireless network interference management using geographic data

• US 8,107,981 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2009
• Issued: 01/31/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Byun, Jungsub, Li, Zhi, Savoor, Raghvendra
• Primary Examiner(s): MIZRAHI, DIANE D
• Application Number:
  US12/645,092
• Publication Number:
  US 20110151864A1
• Time in Patent Office: 770 Days
• Field of Search: 455437-444, 455/426.1, 455/455, 455/466
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/165 for reducing network power consumption H04W36/18 - H04W36/22 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/16 based on interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/205 using topographical information, e.g. hills, high rise buildings

Abstract

An interference management system of a wireless network provider using geographic data and network information to recommend and/or facilitate transfer of services to an alternative connection.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a cellular communication network; and

an interference management system configured to;

determine whether to direct one or more elements of the cellular communication network to transfer a service being provided to a primary mobile device by the cellular communication network via an original route to an alternative route between the mobile device and the cellular communication network, the alternative route including an alternative connection device, the determination being based at least in part on geographic data available to the interference management system; and

direct the one or more network elements to transfer the service based on the determination.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the interface management system comprises:

a dead zone analysis module configured to identify at least one dead zone, wherein the determination is based at least in part on a comparison of a location of the primary mobile device to a boundary of the at least one dead zone.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the dead zone analysis module processes call record data to identify a location as a dead zone based on a threshold number of dropped calls of the call record data occurring proximate to the location.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the dead zone analysis module processes call record data to identify a location as a dead zone based on a connection performance parameter falling below a minimum proximate to the location.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the connection performance parameter is selected from the group consisting of throughput, signal-to-noise ratio, and voice mean opinion score.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the interface management system further comprises:

a connection monitor module configured to collect mobile device connection performance, wherein the dead zone analysis module processes output for the connection monitor module to identify a location as a dead zone.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the interface management system further comprises:

a connection monitor module configured to monitor mobile device connection performance, wherein the determination is based at least in part on a monitored performance parameter falling below a minimum acceptable threshold.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the monitored performance parameter is selected from the group consisting of throughput, signal-to-noise ratio, and voice mean opinion score.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the alternative connection device is a wireless router connected to a broadband network; and

the wireless router communicates wirelessly with the mobile device using a WiFi transceiver.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the alternative connection device is an intermediate mobile device having a first transceiver and a second transceiver, the first transceiver communicating with the primary mobile device, and the second transceiver communicating with the cellular communication network.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the interference management system directs the one or more network elements to transfer services based at least in part on a relative location of the mobile device and a boundary of a dead zone identified by a dead zone analysis module using the geographic data available at the interference management system.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the interference management system directs the one or more network elements to transfer the service based at least in part on a signal performance parameter of a connection between the mobile device and the cellular network.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the alternative route includes two or more alternative connection devices.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the service is a voice call, and the primary mobile device is configured to multiplex voice data across the two or more alternative connection devices using voice over internet protocol.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the primary mobile device is configured to encode the voice over internet protocol transmissions with forward error correction encoding.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the interference management system further comprises a geographic data visualization module configured to generate an interactive map for display on a client device accessing the interference management system.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the geographic data visualization module is further configured to update the interactive map based on inputs received from the client device.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the interactive map includes representations of dead zones identified by a dead zone analysis module.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the geographic data visualization module is further configured to update data used by the interference management system with data received from the client device, the data being received from the client through manipulation of the interactive map.

20. A method comprising:

an interference management system monitoring a performance characteristic of a voice call on a cellular communication network;

the interference management system monitoring one or more available alternative connections; and

the interference management system requesting a transfer of the voice call from an original route between a mobile device and the cellular communication network to an alternative route between the mobile device and the cellular communication network using at least one of the available alternative connections based at least in part on data available to the interference management system.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the transfer request is based at least in part on dead zone boundary data of the interference management system.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the transfer request is based at least in part on a radio signal propagation model of the interference management system.