Network map for location-based mobility decisions

• US 8,768,369 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2012
• Issued: 07/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Ding, Allan, Marton, Csaba, Eskicioglu, Suat R.
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, DANH C
• Application Number:
  US13/564,065
• Publication Number:
  US 20140038634A1
• Time in Patent Office: 699 Days
• Field of Search: 455/446, 455/456.5, 455/418, 370/352
• US Class Current: 455/446
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/32 by location or mobility data, e.g. speed data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/322 by location data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/02 Selection of wireless resources by user or terminal

Abstract

The exemplary embodiment uses geographical location information to assist the selection of the target cell during reconfiguration, handover and redirection procedures. This process involves defining a network geographical grid and building an associated database of captured data from the user equipment, such as radio measurements, and calculated KPI statistics per geographical location, and then using such data for making mobility and load-balancing decisions.

Claims

1. A method of processing cellular network communications, the method comprising:

creating a geographical grid covering two or more layers in a cellular network, wherein a layer is defined as a unique combination comprising a cellular technology paired with a carrier frequency and the geographical grid is divided into a plurality of grid-zones;

collecting data for the layers within the cellular network grid from a plurality of user equipments and storing the data in a network map database;

obtaining geographical location information for a first user equipment;

mapping the geographical location information for the first user equipment to a first grid-zone in the geographical grid; and

refining at least one location-dependent decision criterion, wherein said refining is based on said data stored in said database for the first grid-zone, and wherein said criterion is for selecting a target cell of a particular cellular technology and/or for selecting a particular carrier frequency.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the cellular network technologies comprise at least Wideband Code Division Multiple Access and 4G Long Term Evolution.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the data collected includes at least radio measurements and historical network key performance indicator (KPI) statistics on a per grid-zone basis per technology and carrier frequency.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

adding an additional location parameter in one or more signaling messages to carry the location information when a call session has dropped or failed to establish;

calculating the establishment success rate (ESR) and session drop rate (SDR) statistics on a per grid-zone basis using the location information in at least one of the following types of messages;

Radio Resource Control (RRC) Connection Request, RRC Connection Setup Complete, RRC Connection Release Complete, RRC Cell Update, RRC Radio Bearer Release Complete.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the geographical grid covers substantially all the layers in the cellular network.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a target cell of a particular cellular technology.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a target cell of a particular carrier frequency.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

while a second user equipment is in a connected state, deciding to handover a session to another cellular technology or to another carrier frequency based at least on a measurement report that triggers a mobility algorithm;

obtaining geographical location information for the second user equipment from the measurement report;

mapping the geographic location information for the second user equipment to a second grid-zone in the geographical grid; and

using the data stored in said database for the second grid-zone to select a cell to start “

compressed-mode”

measurements or for handover.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the cellular network technologies comprise at least Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA) and 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE).

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the data collected includes at least radio measurements and historical network key performance indicator (KPI) statistics on a per grid-zone basis per technology and carrier frequency.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the geographical grid covers substantially all the layers in the cellular network.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when a third user equipment is going into a connected state or when performing service establishment with the third user equipment, deciding to redirect a call session for the third user equipment to a different cellular technology or to different carrier frequency based at least on a Radio Resource Control (RRC) Connection Request message with geographical location information for the third user equipment;

mapping the geographical location information for the third user equipment reported in the RRC Connection Request message to a third grid-zone zone in the geographical grid; and

using said data stored in said database for the third grid-zone to select a target cell to redirect the call session.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the cellular network technologies comprise at least Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA) and 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE).

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the data collected includes at least radio measurements and historical network key performance indicator (KPI) statistics on a per grid-zone basis per technology and carrier frequency.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the geographical grid covers substantially all the layers in the cellular network.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when a fourth user equipment is going into an idle state as a result of a session release procedure, mapping geographic location information for the fourth user equipment reported during the session release procedure to a fourth grid-zone in the cellular network grid; and

using said data stored in said database for the fourth grid-zone to select the cell to redirect the fourth user equipment to.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the cellular network technologies comprise at least Wideband Code Division Multiple Access and 4G Long Term Evolution.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the data collected includes at least radio measurements and historical network key performance indicator (KPI) statistics on a per grid-zone basis per technology and carrier frequency.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the geographical grid covers substantially all the layers in the cellular network.