Method and system for remote monitoring and control of wireless cell-sites

• US 7,970,585 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2007
• Issued: 06/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Jullien, Vincent, Van Sloun, Bruce P., Nieman, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Charioui; Mohamed
• Application Number:
  US11/771,504
• Publication Number:
  US 20090006010A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,460 Days
• Field of Search: 702/63, 702/65, 702/67, 702/68, 702/80, 702/90, 702/99, 702/104, 702/116, 702/119, 702/122, 702/130, 702/179, 702/182, 702/184, 702/187, 702/188, 455/343.2, 320/132, 320/136, 340/541, 340/636.12
• US Class Current: 702/188
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/389 Measuring internal impedance, internal conductance or related variables
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/392 Determining battery ageing or deterioration, e.g. state of health
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2015 Redundant power supplies power supply failure G06F1/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0681 Configuration of triggering conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/147 for predicting network behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/149 for prediction of maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning

Abstract

A method and system for remotely monitoring and controlling one or more cell-sites are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes (a) receiving data indicative of a status of at least one battery of at least one cell-site at a remote processing device, where the status relates to at least one of a voltage status, a conductance status, and a temperature status. Additionally, the method includes (b) processing the data at the processing device, and (c) determining at least one further action that should be taken by the at least one cell-site in response to the data. Further, the method includes (d) sending from the processing device at least one control signal to the at least one cell-site configured to cause the at least one cell-site to take the at least one further action. Also, in other embodiments, the method involves remote monitoring and controlling of devices other than batteries.

Claims

1. A method of remotely monitoring and controlling at least one cell-site, the method comprising:

(a) receiving data indicative of a status of at least one battery of the at least one cell-site at a remote processing device, wherein the status relates to at least one of a voltage status, a conductance status, and a temperature status;

(b) processing the data at the remote processing device;

(c) determining at least one further action that should be taken by the at least one cell-site in response to the data; and

(d) sending from the remote processing device at least one control signal to the at least one cell-site configured to cause the at least one cell-site to take the at least one further action,

wherein the received data concerns the status of at least one battery of a first cell-site of the at least one cell-site, and the at least one control signal is sent to a second cell-site of the at least one cell-site.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one battery includes a plurality of backup batteries, and the data is received from the first cell-site of the at least one cell-site, wherein the first cell-site includes at least one cell-site controller that interfaces the plurality of backup batteries and obtains the data from the backup batteries.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first cell-site includes a battery monitoring system that includes the at least one cell-site controller.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the battery monitoring system further includes a router, wherein the at least one cell-site controller includes a plurality of cell-site controllers each of which is coupled to the router, wherein respective ones of the plurality of backup batteries are coupled to the respective cell-site controllers, and wherein a string of at least two of the backup batteries is coupled to at least one of the cell-site controllers.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of backup batteries are coupled to the respective cell-site controllers indirectly by way of a plurality of battery sensors that are respectively coupled to the respective backup batteries.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the battery monitoring system includes a web server, and the data is provided to the remote processing device in response to a web accessing operation of the web server by the remote processing device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one control signal is further sent to the first cell-site.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein if the received data indicates that the at least one battery is about to experience a failure, the at least one control signal is configured to cause an alarm condition to occur at the first cell-site.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one control signal is a command that a tilt of an antenna system of the second cell-site be adjusted.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the data is indicative of the conductance status of the at least one battery.

11. A method of remotely monitoring and controlling at least one cell-site, the method comprising:

(a) receiving data at a remote processing device, wherein the data is indicative of at least one of;

an operational status of the at least one cell-site; and

an operational status of at least one component of the at least one cell-site,

wherein the at least one component is selected from the group consisting of a battery,

a switchgear, an alarm, a timer, a door sensor, and a transceiver;

(b) processing the data at the remote processing device;

(c) determining at least one further action that should be taken by the at least one cell-site in response to the data; and

(d) sending from the remote processing device at least one control signal to the at least one cell-site configured to cause the at least one cell-site to take the at least one further action,

wherein the data is received from a first cell-site of the at least one cell-site, and the at least one control signal is sent to a second cell-site of the at least one cell-site.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the data is indicative of the operational status of the first cell-site of the at least one cell-site and wherein, if it is determined that the first cell-site is offline, the at least one control signal includes at least one tuning instruction.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the data is indicative of the operational status of the first cell-site of the at least one cell-site and wherein, if it is determined that the first cell-site is experiencing a power outage, the at least one control signal further includes an instruction to activate a generator of the first cell-site.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the data includes a door sensor signal and wherein, if it is determined that the door sensor signal is indicative of an unexpected door condition, the at least one control signal further includes an instruction to trigger an alarm of the first cell-site.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the data is indicative of the abnormal network traffic being experienced by the first cell-site, and wherein the at least one control signal further includes at least one tuning instruction.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the data includes statistics concerning operations of the at least one cell-site, and wherein in response to the receiving of the data the remote processing device updates a log with the statistics.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the data includes information regarding at least one backup battery of the at least one cell-site, and wherein in response to the receiving of the data the remote processing device determines a state-of-health of the at least one backup battery.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one control signal is a command that a tilt of an antenna system of the second cell-site be adjusted.

19. A system for remotely monitoring and controlling a plurality of cell-sites, the system comprising:

means for communicating with the plurality of cell-sites, and a processing device coupled to the means for communicating,

wherein the means for communicating is configured to receive data from a first cell-site of the plurality of cell-sites and convey the data to the processing device,

wherein the processing device is configured to analyze the received data and determine, based upon the analyzed data, an operational condition of at least one of the plurality of cell-sites, and

wherein the processing device generates a control signal to be provided to a second cell-site of the plurality of the cell-sites, the control signal including a command that a tilt of an antenna system of the second cell-site be adjusted.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the processing device operates in accordance with at least one software program implemented thereon, wherein the processing device analyzes the data to determine an operational condition of at least one battery of the plurality of cell-sites, and wherein the control signal is configured to cause at least one of a switching between a pair of power sources, an increase in monitoring of the at least one battery, and a reconfiguration of at least one antenna of the plurality of cell-sites.