IDENTIFYING AND FORECASTING NETWORK CONDITIONS USING REAL-TIME RADIO ACCESS NETWORK (RAN) MODELING

• US 20120250570A1
• Filed: 03/31/2011
• Published: 10/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: PARKER, Benjamin J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,203,722 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/253
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0882 Utilisation of link capacity

Abstract

A system, associated with a service provider network, is configured to monitor traffic being transported via one or more cells, within a radio access network (RAN), that serve a group user devices; obtain traffic information, associated with a cell, based on the traffic monitoring, where the traffic information includes information associated with each of the user devices, a quantity of bandwidth that corresponds to traffic flows within the cell, or one or more traffic types being served by the cell; determine that a condition exists within the cell when the quantity of bandwidth is greater than a bandwidth threshold associated with the cell; and transmit a notification that indicates that the condition exists, where the notification enables an operation to be performed on all or a portion of the traffic flows, based on a particular traffic type, to remedy the condition.

Claims

1. A method, performed by a first server associated with a radio access network (RAN) via which traffic is transported between a service provider network and a plurality of user devices, the method comprising:

monitoring, by the first server, a plurality of packets associated with the traffic;

identifying, by the first server and as a result of the monitoring, one or more flows of packets associated with one or more user devices, of the plurality of user devices, being served by a cell, of a plurality of cells, within the RAN,

obtaining, by the first server and from the one or more flows of packets, information associated with the one or more flows of packets, the information associated with the one or more flows of packets including at least one of;

information associated with at least one of the one or more user devices,

information associated with the cell, or

information associated with a respective bandwidth that corresponds to each of the one or more flows of packets, and

transmitting, by the first server, the information associated with the one or more flows, where transmitting the information associated with the one or more flows enables congestion in the cell to be detected when;

a traffic load, associated with the cell, is greater than a first threshold, where the traffic load is based on the respective bandwidth that corresponds to each of the one or more flows, or

a quantity of user devices, associated with the one or more user devices being served by the cell, is greater than second threshold.

2. The method of claim 1, where monitoring the plurality of packets associated with the traffic includes:

monitoring one or more base stations, associated with the RAN, that transport the plurality of packets, where the plurality of cells are associated with the one or more base stations.

3. The method of claim 2, where the cell is associated with a base station, of the one or more base stations, and where monitoring the one or more base stations includes:

monitoring one or more interfaces between the base station and the service provider network, where the one or more interfaces include;

a first interface associated with one or more signal bearers that enable the one or more flows to be transported via the service provider network, and

a second interface associated with control-plane signaling that controls the one or more signal bearers to establish or execute communication sessions associated with the one or more user devices.

4. The method of claim 3, where monitoring the one or more interfaces includes:

monitoring the second interface to identify at least one, of the one or more user devices, that is being handed over from another cell, of the plurality cells, to the cell; and

monitoring the second interface to identify at least one, of the one or more user devices, that is being handed over from the cell to a further cell, of the plurality cells.

5. The method of claim 1, where identifying the one more flows of packets further includes:

inspecting a respective portion of each of the plurality of packets, where the respective portion does not include a payload portion of each of the plurality of packets.

6. The method of claim 1, where obtaining the information associated with the one or more flows of packets further includes:

obtaining, from a particular flow of packets of the one or more flows of packets, information associated with a user device, of the one or more user devices, where the information associated with the user device includes at least one of;

a device identifier associated with the user device,

a source address associated with the user device, or

an indication of whether the user device is actively communicating with the service provider network.

7. The method of claim 1, where obtaining the information associated with the one or more flows of packets further includes:

obtaining, from a particular flow of packets, of the one or more flows of packets, information associated with the cell, where the information associated with the cell includes at least one of;

an identifier associated with the cell,

an identifier associated with a base station, of a plurality of base stations associated with the RAN, with which the cell is associated,

information that identifies a first set, of the one or more user devices, that have been handed over, from one or more of the plurality of cells, to the cell, or

other information that identifies a second set, of the one or more user devices, that are to be hand over from the cell to another one or more of the plurality of cells.

8. The method of claim 7, where transmitting the information associated with the one or more flows enables a second server, associated with the service provider network, to determine whether the quantity of user devices is increasing, decreasing, or is neither increasing nor decreasing based on:

a first quantity of user devices corresponding to the first set of the one or more user devices that have been handed over to the cell, and

a second quantity of user devices corresponding to the second set of the one or more user devices that are to be handed over to the other one or more of the plurality of cells.

9. The method of claim 8, where transmitting the information associated with the one or more flows enables the second server to forecast whether the traffic load is expected to increase, decrease, or remain approximately the same based on:

a first quantity of bandwidth relating to flows of packets associated with the first quantity of user devices, and

a second quantity of bandwidth relating to other flows of packets associated with the second quantity of user devices.

10. The method of claim 1, where obtaining the information associated with the one or more flows of packets further includes:

obtaining information associated with one or more types of flows, where the information associated with the one or more types of flows includes a respective quantity of bandwidth associated with each of the one or more types of flows, and where the one or more types of flows include at least one of;

a first type of flow that corresponds to streaming video,

a second type of flow that corresponds to progressively downloaded video,

a third type of flow that corresponds to calls,

a fourth type of flow that corresponds to an instant messaging protocol,

a fifth type of flow that corresponds to an email-based messaging protocol, or

a sixth type of flow that corresponds to Internet website browsing.

11. The method of claim 10, where transmitting the information, associated with the one or more flows, further includes:

transmitting, to a second server associated with the service provider network, the information associated with the one or more types of flows, where transmitting the information associated with the one or more types of flows enables the second server to identify which of the types of flows is causing the congestion in the cell.

12. The method of claim 1, where transmitting the information associated with the one or more flows enables a second server, associated with the service provider network, to:

display, via a user interface (UI), the information associated with the one or more flows or information associated with the cell that is congested,

where the UI includes information associated with a geographical area within which the RAN is located and information associated with a network topology associated with the RAN.

13. A computing device associated with a service provider network, the computing device comprising:

a memory to store policy information associated with a radio access network (RAN) via which a plurality of user devices communicate with the service provider network; and

one or more processors to;

monitor traffic being transported via one or more cells, associated with the RAN, that serve the plurality of user devices,

obtain traffic information associated with a cell, of the one or more cells, as a result of monitoring the traffic, where the traffic information includes information associated with;

each of one or more user devices, of the plurality of user devices, that are communicating via the cell,

a quantity of bandwidth, that corresponds to one or more traffic flows, associated with the one or more user devices, or

one or more traffic types being served by the cell,

determine that a condition, associated with the cell, exists when the quantity of bandwidth is greater than a bandwidth threshold, associated with the cell, obtained from the policy information,

where determining that the condition exists enables an operation to be performed on all or a portion of the one or more traffic flows, corresponding to a particular traffic type, of the one or more traffic types, to mitigate or remedy the condition.

14. The computing device of claim 13, where the one or more processors are further to:

determine that another condition, associated with the cell, exists when a quantity of the one or more user devices is greater than another threshold.

15. The computing device of claim 13, where the one or more processors are further to:

retrieve historical information associated with the RAN,

obtain, from the historical information, information identifying a first quantity of user devices that were being served by the cell at a prior point in time,

determine that a quantity of user devices, being served by the cell, is increasing, when the first quantity of user devices is less than a second quantity of user devices, associated with the one or more user devices, and

forecast that another condition, associated with the cell, will exist at a future point in time based on the determination that the quantity of user devices is increasing.

16. The computing device of claim 13, where, when monitoring the traffic being transported via the one or more cells, the one or more processors are to:

monitor one or more interfaces between base stations, with which the one or more cells are associated, and the service provider network, where the one or more interfaces include;

a first interface associated with one or more signal bearers that transport the one or more traffic flows via the service provider network, and

a second interface associated with control signals that controls the one or more signal bearers to establish or execute communication sessions that enable the one or more user devices to communicate with the service provider network.

17. The computing device of claim 13, where, when obtaining the traffic information associated the cell, the one or more processors are further to:

identify, as a result of monitoring the traffic, a first quantity of user devices, of the one or more user devices, that are being transferred from at least one other cell, of the one or more cells, to the cell,

identify, as a result of monitoring the traffic, a second quantity of user devices, of the one or more user devices, that are being transferred from the cell to at least one further cell, of the one or more cells,

determine that a quantity of user devices, of the one or more user devices, is increasing when the first quantity of user devices is greater than the second quantity of user devices, and

forecast that another condition, associated with the cell, will exist at a future point in time based on the quantity of user devices and the determination that the quantity of user devices is increasing.

18. The computing device of claim 13, where the operation includes:

reducing a data rate, associated with the all or the portion of the one or more traffic flows, to a level that remedies the condition, and

where reducing the data rate to the level that remedies the condition causes the quantity of bandwidth to be reduced to another level that is less than the bandwidth threshold.

19. The computing device of claim 13, where the operation includes at least one of:

compressing packets associated with the all or the portion of the one or more traffic flows, or

resizing the packets, associated with the all or the portion of the one or more traffic flows, relative to a maximum transmission unit associated with the service provider network or the RAN, and

where compressing the packets or resizing the packets causes the quantity of bandwidth to be reduced to another level that is less than the bandwidth threshold.

20. The computing device of claim 13, where the one or more processors are further to:

display, via a user interface (UI), at least one of the traffic information, information associated with the condition, or information associated with the cell, where the UI includes;

information associated with a geographical area within which the RAN is located, and

information associated with a network topology associated with the RAN.

21. A content distribution system, associated with a service provider network, the content distribution system comprising:

a first server to monitor traffic, associated with a plurality of user devices, that is being transported between the plurality of user devices and the service provider network via a radio access network (RAN), where the first server is to;

identify, from the traffic, a flow of packets associated with a user device, of the plurality of user devices, as a result of monitoring the traffic,

obtain, from the flow of packets, information associated with the flow, where the information associated with the flow includes at least one of;

information associated with the user device,

information associated with a cell, within the RAN, that is serving the user device, or

information relating to a traffic load associated with the cell, and

output the information associated with the flow; and

a second server to;

receive the information associated with the flow from the first server,

determine that a condition exists, within the RAN, when a total traffic load, associated with the cell, is greater than a threshold, where the total traffic load is based on the traffic load, and one or more other traffic loads associated with one or more other user devices being served by the cell, and

output a notification that indicates that the condition exists and that enables the condition to be remedied based on the information associated with the flow.

22. The content distribution system of claim 21, where, when outputting the notification that indicates that the condition exists, the second server is further to:

display, via a user interface (UI), information associated with a geographical area within which the RAN is located, information associated with a network topology that corresponds to the RAN, and information associated with the flow,

where the information associated with the network topology is displayed, via the UI, as a plurality of objects that correspond to a plurality of cells within the RAN, and

where the information associated with the flow enables one of the plurality of objects, that corresponds to the cell, to be distinguished from other objects of the plurality of objects.

23. The content distribution system of claim 21, further comprising:

a third server to;

receive the notification that the condition exists within the RAN, and

perform an operation to mitigate or remedy the condition by reducing the total traffic load associated with the cell.

24. The content distribution system of claim 23, where, when performing the operation to mitigate or remedy the condition, the third server is further to:

reduce a quantity of bandwidth associated with the flow of packets or one or more other flows of packets, where the one or more other flows of packets correspond to the one or more other user devices.

25. The content distribution system of claim 23, where, when performing the operation to mitigate or remedy the condition, third server is further to:

compress packets associated with a portion of the total traffic load,

resize the packets, associated with the portion of the total traffic load, relative to a maximum transmission unit (MTU) associated with the service provider network or the RAN, or

reduce a data rate associated with the portion of the total traffic load, and

where the portion of the traffic load corresponds to a particular type of flow, the particular type of flow including at least one of;

streaming video content,

progressively downloaded video content,

streaming audio content, or

data content associated with a bandwidth that is greater than another threshold.