Component aware maintenance alarm monitoring system and methods

• US 9,699,020 B1
• Filed: 11/19/2015
• Issued: 07/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2015
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Lobo, Shane A., Shinholster, Jr., P. A., Lushear, Brian D., Szymanski, Todd M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nealon, William
• Application Number:
  US14/946,747
• Time in Patent Office: 593 Days
• Field of Search: 455424
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0609 based on severity or priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0622 based on time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/064 involving time analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/069 using logs of notifications; Post-processing of notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition

Abstract

A component aware maintenance alarm monitoring system for one or more cellular sites is disclosed. The system comprises an alarm database, an integrated inventory database, a maintenance activity, and a monitoring server comprising a monitoring application. The monitoring application receives alarms during a maintenance period. The maintenance period is associated with maintenance of one or more radio access network (RAN) components at a cellular site. The monitoring application evaluates the alarms based on accessing RAN component alarm information from the alarm database, RAN component inventory information from the integrated inventory database, and maintenance information from the maintenance activity database. During the maintenance period, the monitoring application selectively suppresses a subset of the alarms and takes a different action on at least one alarm not included in the subset based on the evaluation of the alarms.

Claims

1. A component aware maintenance alarm monitoring system for one or more cellular sites, comprising:

an alarm database that comprises radio access network (RAN) component alarm information;

an integrated inventory database that comprises RAN component inventory information;

a maintenance activity database that comprises maintenance information regarding maintenance performed at the one or more cellular sites; and

a monitoring server comprising a monitoring application stored in a non-transitory memory of the monitoring server, that when executed by a processor of the monitoring server;

receives a plurality of alarms during a maintenance period, wherein the maintenance period is associated with maintenance of one or more RAN components at a cellular site,

evaluates the plurality of alarms based on accessing the RAN component alarm information associated with the plurality of alarms from the alarm database, the RAN component inventory information associated with at least one of the one or more RAN components or any other RAN components associated with the plurality of alarms from the integrated inventory database, and the maintenance information associated with the cellular site from the maintenance activity database,

during the maintenance period, selectively suppresses a subset of the plurality of alarms and takes a different action on at least one alarm of the plurality of alarms not included in the subset based on the evaluation of the plurality of alarms, wherein the different action comprises prioritizing the at least one alarm, and

re-evaluates the at least one alarm based on the prioritization after the maintenance period expires.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the different action comprises transmitting a notification to a technician at the cellular site, and wherein the notification identifies a RAN component at the cellular site associated with the at least one alarm.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the RAN component inventory information comprises dependency relationships among RAN components at the cellular site, and wherein the dependency relationships are determined based on one or more of functional relationships between the RAN components, physical proximity of the RAN components, or physical couplings of the RAN components.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of RAN components comprise one or more of routers, radio heads, antennas, or electrical power sources.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a maintenance tool that includes a scheduler for scheduling maintenance activities at the cellular site, wherein the maintenance tool is communicatively coupled to the maintenance database, and wherein the maintenance database comprises a procedure implemented to the at least one RAN component by a technician during the maintenance period.

6. A component aware maintenance alarm monitoring method for one or more cellular sites, comprising:

receiving, by a monitoring application stored in a non-transitory memory and executable by a processor, one or more alarms during a maintenance period, wherein the maintenance period is associated with maintenance of one or more radio access network (RAN) components at a cellular site;

evaluating, by the monitoring application, the one or more alarms based on accessing RAN component alarm information associated with the one or more alarms from an alarm database, RAN component inventory information associated with at least one of the one or more RAN components or any other RAN components associated with the one or more alarms from an integrated inventory database, and maintenance information associated with the cellular site from a maintenance activity database;

during the maintenance period, selectively suppressing, by the monitoring application, at least one alarm of the one or more alarms based on the evaluation of the one or more alarms;

prioritizing, by the monitoring application, the suppressed at least one alarm; and

re-evaluating, by the monitoring application, the suppressed at least one alarm based on the prioritization after the maintenance period expires.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the monitoring application selectively suppresses less than all of the one or more alarms during the maintenance period based on the evaluation of the one or more alarms.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising transmitting, by the monitoring application, a notification to a technician at the cellular site during the maintenance period, wherein the notification identifies at least one RAN component at the cellular site associated with a non-suppressed alarm of the one or more alarms based on the evaluation of the one or more alarms.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the RAN component inventory information stored in the integrated inventory database comprises dependency relationships among RAN components at the cellular site.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the dependency relationships are determined based on one or more of functional relationships between the RAN components, physical proximity of the RAN components, or physical couplings of the RAN components.

11. A component aware maintenance alarm monitoring method, comprising:

receiving, by a monitoring application stored in a non-transitory memory and executable by a processor, one or more alarms during a maintenance period, wherein the maintenance period is associated with maintenance of one or more radio access network (RAN) components at a cellular site;

evaluating, by the monitoring application, the one or more alarms based on accessing RAN component alarm information associated with the one or more alarms from an alarm database, RAN component inventory information associated with at least one of the one or more RAN components or any other RAN components associated with the one or more alarms from an integrated inventory database, and maintenance information associated with the cellular site from a maintenance activity database;

during the maintenance period, transmitting, by the monitoring application, a notification to a technician at the cellular site based on the evaluation of the one or more alarms, wherein the notification identifies at least one RAN component at the cellular site that is associated with at least one alarm of the one or more alarms;

selectively suppressing, by the monitoring application, less than all of the one or more alarms based on the evaluation of the one or more alarms;

prioritizing, by the monitoring application, a non-suppressed alarm of the one or more alarms; and

re-evaluating, by the monitoring application, the non-suppressed alarm based on the prioritization after the maintenance period expires.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one RAN component comprises one or more of routers, radio heads, antennas, or electrical power sources.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising scheduling, by a scheduler of a maintenance tool, a procedure to be implemented to the at least one RAN component by the technician.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the procedure is stored in the maintenance database.