METHODS AND APPARATUS TO DISCOVER SPECTRUM USAGE OF MOBILE CARRIERS

• US 20150063154A1
• Filed: 11/10/2014
• Published: 03/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Ngai, Dominic H.
• Granted Patent: US 9,763,123 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0061 of neighbour cell information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0085 Hand-off measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/12 using downlink control channel

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for determining reliability of wireless carriers. An example method includes extracting channel information from messages transmitted to mobile devices at a plurality of locations to determine a quantity of available channels, segregating the extracted channel information into a first group corresponding to channels of a first carrier and a second group corresponding to channels of a second carrier, and determining, with a processor, a relative reliability between the first carrier and the second carrier based on a respective quantity of channels in the first group and the second group.

Claims

1. A method to determine reliability of a wireless carrier comprising:

extracting channel information from messages transmitted to mobile devices at a plurality of locations to determine a quantity of available channels;

segregating the extracted channel information into a first group corresponding to channels of a first carrier and a second group corresponding to channels of a second carrier; and

determining, with a processor, a relative reliability between the first carrier and the second carrier based on a respective quantity of channels in the first group and the second group.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the channel information comprises at least one of a base station identifier, a network identifier, or a sector identifier.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising, associating geographic locations with the plurality of locations.

4. A method as defined in claim 3, wherein the geographic locations identify at least one of base station locations or global positioning satellite measurements from the mobile devices.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the relative reliability is further based on at least one of a quantity of available control channels, a quantity of available communication channels, a quantity of available shared channels, or a quantity of total available channels.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein segregating the extracted channel information comprises segregating the extracted channel information based on network identification numbers embedded in the messages.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the extracted channel information comprises a quantity of handoff channels used by neighboring cells in a global system for mobile communications network (GSM).

8. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising identifying available channels for a handoff command.

9. A tangible computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed, cause a processor to at least:

segregate channel information extracted from messages transmitted to mobile devices at a plurality of locations into a first group corresponding to channels of a first carrier and a second group corresponding to channels of a second carrier; and

determine a relative reliability between the first carrier and the second carrier based on a respective quantity of channels in the first group and the second group.

10. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 9, wherein the channel information comprises at least one of a base station identifier, a network identifier, or a sector identifier.

11. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to at least associate geographic locations with the plurality of locations.

12. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to identify, via the geographic locations, at least one of base station locations or global positioning satellite measurements from the mobile devices.

13. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to determine the relative reliability based on at least one of a quantity of available control channels, a quantity of available communication channels, a quantity of available shared channels, or a quantity of total available channels.

14. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to segregate the extracted channel information based on network identification numbers embedded in the messages.

15. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 9, wherein the channel information comprises a quantity of handoff channels used by neighboring cells in a global system for mobile communications network (GSM).

16. A tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to identify available channels for respective ones of the mobile devices at respective ones of the plurality of locations in response to a handoff command.

17. An apparatus to determine reliability of a wireless carrier, comprising:

an analyzer to segregate channel information extracted from messages transmitted to mobile devices at a plurality of locations into a first group associated with a first carrier and a second group associated with a second carrier; and

a mapper to determine a relative reliability between the first carrier and the second carrier based on a respective quantity of channels in the first group and the second group.

18. An apparatus as defined in claim 17, wherein the analyzer is to identify at least one of a base station identifier, a network identifier, or a sector identifier from the channel information.

19. An apparatus as defined in claim 17, wherein the mapper is to associate geographic locations with the plurality of locations.

20. An apparatus as defined in claim 19, wherein the geographic locations are identified by at least one of base station locations or global positioning satellite measurements from the mobile devices.

21. An apparatus as defined in claim 17, wherein the mapper is further to determine the relative reliability based on at least one of a quantity of available control channels, a quantity of available communication channels, a quantity of available shared channels, or a quantity of total available channels.

22. An apparatus as defined in claim 17, wherein the analyzer is further to segregate the extracted channel information based on network identification numbers embedded in the messages.

23. An apparatus as defined in claim 17, wherein the channel information comprises a quantity of handoff channels used by neighboring cells in a global system for mobile communications network (GSM).

24. An apparatus as defined in claim 17, wherein the mapper is to identify available channels for a handoff command.