System and method for implementing combined broadband and wireless self-organizing network (SON)

• US 10,123,250 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2017
• Issued: 11/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Schwengler, Thomas, Opferman, Stephen
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Jay P
• Application Number:
  US15/853,452
• Publication Number:
  US 20180146412A1
• Time in Patent Office: 319 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/28 using route fault recovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/04 based on wireless node resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Novel tools and techniques might provide for implementing combined broadband and wireless self-organizing network (“SON”) for provisioning of services. In some embodiments, a computing system might receive, from one or more first sensors and one or more second sensors, first operational states of fixed broadband network nodes and second operational states of wireless network nodes, respectively. The computing system might analyze the received first and second operational states, might determine an optimal network pathway and/or an optimal network backhaul pathway, and might establish the optimal network pathway and/or the optimal network backhaul pathway, through a determined combination of fixed and wireless network nodes, thereby implementing the combined broadband and wireless self-organizing network (“SON”) for provisioning of services.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

monitoring, with one or more first sensors, one or more first operational states of each of a plurality of fixed broadband network nodes between a service provider facility and a plurality of network interface devices located at a plurality of service areas;

monitoring, with one or more second sensors, one or more second operational states of each of a plurality of wireless network nodes, the plurality of wireless network nodes comprising a plurality of wireless access points and a plurality of wireless endpoint devices, the plurality of wireless endpoint devices being located at the plurality of service areas;

analyzing, with a computing system, the monitored one or more first operational states of each of the plurality of fixed broadband network nodes and the monitored one or more second operational states of each of the plurality of wireless network nodes;

determining, with the computing system, an optimal network pathway from the service provider facility to one or more wireless endpoint devices, through a determined first combination of fixed and wireless network nodes, based at least in part on the analysis of the monitored one or more first operational states and the monitored one or more second operational states, the determined first combination of fixed and wireless network nodes comprising one or more fixed broadband network nodes of the plurality of fixed broadband network nodes and one or more wireless network nodes of the plurality of wireless network nodes; and

establishing, with the computing system, the determined optimal network pathway from the service provider facility to the one or more wireless endpoint devices, through the determined first combination of fixed and wireless network nodes, by sending, with the computing system, instructions to one or more intermediary network switches to direct broadband traffic along the determined optimal network pathway from the service provider facility to the one or more wireless endpoint devices to provide broadband service to the one or more wireless endpoint devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining and establishing the optimal network pathway from the service provider facility to the one or more wireless endpoint devices, through the determined first combination of fixed and wireless network nodes are performed differently for different types of network services provided.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, with the computing system, one or more optimal network backhaul pathways to the service provider facility, through a determined second combination of fixed and wireless network nodes, based on the analysis of the monitored one or more first operational states and the monitored one or more second operational states, the determined second combination of fixed and wireless network nodes comprising at least one fixed broadband network node of the plurality of fixed broadband network nodes and at least one wireless network node of the plurality of wireless network nodes; and

establishing, with the computing system, the determined one or more optimal network backhaul pathways from the at least one wireless endpoint device to the service provider facility, through the determined second combination of fixed and wireless network nodes.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the monitored one or more first operational states and the monitored one or more second operational states each comprises bandwidth usage and bandwidth capacity, wherein determining the one or more optimal network backhaul pathways comprises determining, with the computing system, the one or more optimal network backhaul pathways based on available bandwidth exceeding subscribed-to bandwidth for each of a plurality of customers.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein establishing the determined one or more optimal network backhaul pathways from the at least one wireless endpoint device to the service provider facility comprises sending, with the computing system, instructions to intermediary network switches to direct backhaul traffic along the determined one or more optimal network backhaul pathways from the at least one wireless endpoint device to the service provider facility to provide backhaul service.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the optimal network pathway and determining the one or more optimal network backhaul pathways are initiated in response to each of one or more trigger events.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more trigger events each comprises one of a sudden statistically significant change in network performance characteristics, a change in network performance characteristics that exceed predetermined threshold levels, a seasonal change in wireless propagation characteristics, a weather-related change in wireless propagation characteristics, a network service fault at one or more fixed broadband network nodes of the plurality of fixed broadband network nodes, a network service fault at one or more wireless network nodes of the plurality of wireless network nodes, a completed sales transaction with a customer for provisioning of network services to the customer, or a change in network usage that exceeds specified levels.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of fixed broadband network nodes are associated with fixed broadband services comprising at least one of a passive optical network (“

PON”

) service, a gigabit PON (“

GPON”

) service, an Ethernet fiber line service, an Ethernet PON (“

EPON”

) service, a next generation PON (“

NGPON”

) service, a second generation NGPON or 40 Gigabit-capable PON (“

NGPON2”

) service, a digital subscriber line (“

DSL”

) service, an asymmetric DSL (“

ADSL”

) service, a symmetric DSL (“

SDSL”

) service, a high speed voice and data link service, a rate-adaptive DSL (“

RADSL”

) service, a very high bit rate DSL (“

VDSL,”

“

VDSL2,”

or “

VDSL2-Vplus”

), a uni-DSL (“

UDSL”

) service, a frequency division vectoring service, a microwave radio service, a millimeter-wave radio service, a free-space optical service, a data over cable service interface specification (“

DOCSIS”

)-based cable service, or a fixed backhaul wireless service.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of wireless network nodes are associated with wireless communications comprising at least one of machine-to-machine Internet of Things (“

IoT”

) communications, Bluetooth communications, Z-wave communications, ZigBee communications, WiFi communications, or cellular network communications.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

repeating the processes of;

monitoring the one or more first operational states of each of the plurality of fixed broadband network nodes;

monitoring the one or more second operational states of each of the plurality of wireless network nodes; and

analyzing the monitored one or more first operations states of each of the plurality of fixed broadband network nodes and the monitored one or more second operational states of each of the plurality of wireless network nodes;

determining, with the computing system, a second optimal network pathway from the service provider facility to one or more wireless endpoint devices, through a determined third combination of fixed and wireless network nodes, based on the repeated analysis of the monitored one or more first operational states and the monitored one or more second operational states;

determining, with the computing system, whether the optimal network pathway and the second optimal network pathway are different; and

based on a determination that the optimal network pathway and the second optimal network pathway are different, establishing, with the computing system, the determined second optimal network pathway from the service provider facility to the one or more wireless endpoint devices, through the determined third combination of fixed and wireless network nodes.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one fixed broadband network node of the plurality of fixed broadband network nodes comprises at least one first sensor of the one or more first sensors, wherein the at least one first sensor monitors the one or more first operational states of each of one or more adjacent fixed broadband network nodes of the plurality of fixed broadband network nodes, wherein at least one wireless network node of the plurality of wireless network nodes comprises at least one second sensor of the one or more second sensors, wherein the at least one second sensor monitors the one or more second operational states of each of one or more adjacent wireless network nodes of the plurality of wireless network nodes.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the one or more first operational states comprises obtaining information comprising at least one of available bandwidth, number of operational splitters, location information, type of fixed broadband network, loop qualification information, loop length, port speed audit information, train rate information, digital subscriber line (“

DSL”

) vectoring rate information, maximum available bit rates, current synchronization rates, tone utilization information, line code violation information, or upstream and downstream forward error correction (“

FEC”

) information.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the one or more second operational states comprises obtaining information comprising at least one of power levels, channel width, channel number, frequency of use of each channel, antenna elements, modulation coding scheme information, signal preconditioning, or cyclic prefix, wherein the modulation coding scheme information comprises at least one of modulation level, forward error correction (“

FEC”

) type, or multiple-input multiple-output (“

MIMO”

) rank.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the optimal network pathway comprises determining, with the computing system, the optimal network pathway to optimize at least one of coverage, capacity, latency, load balancing, privilege of a given area, mobility robustness, or key performance characteristics of the combination of fixed and wireless network nodes.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the optimal network pathway comprises determining, with the computing system, one or more parameters to adjust in each of one or more of at least one fixed broadband network node of the plurality of fixed broadband network node or at least one wireless network node of the plurality of wireless network node to optimize at least one of coverage, capacity, latency, load balancing, privilege of a given area, mobility robustness, or key performance characteristics of the combination of fixed and wireless network nodes, and wherein establishing the determined optimal network pathway comprises adjusting, with the computing system, the determined one or more parameters in each of one or more of the at least one fixed broadband network node or the at least one wireless network node.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the one or more parameters comprise at least one of bandwidth, train rate, tone being used, power levels, channel width, channel number, frequency of use, antenna element parameters, modulation coding scheme, signal preconditioning parameters, or cyclic prefix, wherein the modulation coding scheme includes at least one of modulation level, forward error correction (“

FEC”

) type, or multiple-input multiple-output (“

MIMO”

) rank.

17. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, the non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer software comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the apparatus to;

receive, from one or more first sensors, information regarding one or more first operational states of each of a plurality of fixed broadband network nodes between a service provider facility and a plurality of network interface devices located at a plurality of service areas;

receive, from one or more second sensors, information regarding one or more second operational states of each of a plurality of wireless network nodes, the plurality of wireless network nodes comprising a plurality of wireless access points and a plurality of wireless endpoint devices, the plurality of wireless endpoint devices being located at the plurality of service areas;

analyze the received information regarding the one or more first operational states of each of the plurality of fixed broadband network nodes and the received information regarding the one or more second operational states of each of the plurality of wireless network nodes;

determine an optimal network pathway from the service provider facility to one or more wireless endpoint devices, through a determined first combination of fixed and wireless network nodes, based at least in part on the analysis of the received information regarding the one or more first operational states and the received information regarding the one or more second operational states, the determined first combination of fixed and wireless network nodes comprising one or more fixed broadband network nodes of the plurality of fixed broadband network nodes and one or more wireless network nodes of the plurality of wireless network nodes; and

establish the determined optimal network pathway from the service provider facility to the one or more wireless endpoint devices, through the determined first combination of fixed and wireless network nodes by sending instructions to one or more intermediary network switches to direct broadband traffic along the determined optimal network pathway from the service provider facility to the one or more wireless endpoint devices to provide broadband service to the one or more wireless endpoint devices.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the apparatus comprises one of a server computer located at the service provider facility, a distributed computing system, at least one of the plurality of fixed broadband network nodes, or at least one of the plurality of wireless network nodes.

19. A system, comprising:

one or more first sensors that monitor one or more first operational states of each of a plurality of fixed broadband network nodes between a service provider facility and a plurality of network interface devices located at a plurality of service areas;

one or more second sensors that monitor one or more second operational states of each of a plurality of wireless network nodes, the plurality of wireless network nodes comprising a plurality of wireless access points and a plurality of wireless endpoint devices, the plurality of wireless endpoint devices being located at the plurality of service areas; and

a computing system, comprising;

at least one processor; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, the non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer software comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the computing system to;

receive, from the one or more first sensors, information regarding one or more first operational states of each of the plurality of fixed broadband network nodes between the service provider facility and the plurality of network interface devices located at the plurality of service areas;

receive, from the one or more second sensors, information regarding one or more second operational states of each of the plurality of wireless network nodes;

analyze the received information regarding the one or more first operational states of each of the plurality of fixed broadband network nodes and the received information regarding the one or more second operational states of each of the plurality of wireless network nodes;

determine an optimal network pathway from the service provider facility to one or more wireless endpoint devices, through a determined first combination of fixed and wireless network nodes, based at least in part on the analysis of the received information regarding the one or more first operational states and the received information regarding the one or more second operational states, the determined first combination of fixed and wireless network nodes comprising one or more fixed broadband network nodes of the plurality of fixed broadband network nodes and one or more wireless network nodes of the plurality of wireless network nodes; and

establish the determined optimal network pathway from the service provider facility to the one or more wireless endpoint devices, through the determined first combination of fixed and wireless network nodes, by sending instructions to one or more intermediary network switches to direct broadband traffic along the determined optimal network pathway from the service provider facility to the one or more wireless endpoint devices to provide broadband service to the one or more wireless endpoint devices.