Geographic relocation processing of wireless communication equipment

• US 8,131,301 B1
• Filed: 10/20/2009
• Issued: 03/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Xie, Feng, Ahmed, Syed U., Lall, Abhishek, Climaco, Jorge T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gelin, Jean A
• Assistant Examiner(s): TAYLOR, NATHAN SCOTT
• Application Number:
  US12/582,479
• Time in Patent Office: 868 Days
• Field of Search: 455450-453, 455/446, 455/437, 370/254
• US Class Current: 455/446
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/08 Reselecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/20 Selecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

What is disclosed is a method of operating a processing system to relocate wireless communication equipment. The method includes receiving customer data and performance data for wireless communication equipment located at a plurality of potential donor sites, and receiving geographic information for a target relocation site. The method also includes processing the customer data, the performance data, and the geographic information to determine a relocation score for each of the wireless communication equipment located at the plurality of potential donor sites, and selecting wireless communication equipment of at least one of the plurality of potential donor sites for relocation to the target relocation site based upon the relocation score.

Claims

1. A method of operating a processing system to relocate wireless communication equipment, the method comprising:

receiving customer data and performance data for wireless communication equipment located at a plurality of potential donor sites;

receiving geographic information for a target relocation site;

processing the customer data, the performance data, and the geographic information to determine a relocation score for each of the wireless communication equipment located at the plurality of potential donor sites;

selecting wireless communication equipment of at least one of the plurality of potential donor sites for relocation to the target relocation site based upon the relocation score;

wherein selecting wireless communication equipment of the one of the plurality of potential donor sites for relocation to the target relocation site based upon the relocation score comprises;

determining underutilized wireless communication equipment across the plurality of potential donor sites based upon the relocation score; and

selecting the most underutilized wireless communication equipment of the plurality of potential donor sites for relocation to the target relocation site;

wherein the wireless communication equipment comprises carrier equipment for a sector of a base station.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the customer data, the performance data, and the geographic information to determine the relocation score comprises:

normalizing the customer data, the performance data, and the geographic information to associated maximum values of the customer data, the performance data, and the geographic information of a wireless communication network comprising the target relocation site and the plurality of potential donor sites; and

compositing the normalized customer data, performance data, and geographic information to determine the relocation score.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer data comprises churn data, wherein the churn data comprises a quantity of customers homed at each of the plurality of potential donor sites that discontinue service with the service provider of the plurality of potential donor sites.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer data comprises a quantity of customers homed at each of the plurality of potential donor sites with a threshold level of positive credit history.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance data comprises traffic loading of each of the plurality of potential donor sites.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance data comprises data related to blocked calls and dropped calls of each of the plurality of potential donor sites.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the geographic information comprises relocation costs associated with individually relocating wireless communication equipment of each of the plurality of potential donor sites to the target relocation site.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the geographic information comprises a geographic distance of the target relocation site from each of the plurality of potential donor sites.

9. A processing system to relocate wireless communication equipment, comprising:

a communication interface configured to receive customer data and performance data for wireless communication equipment located at a plurality of potential donor sites;

wherein the wireless communication equipment comprises carrier equipment for a sector of a base station;

the communication interface configured to receive geographic information for a target relocation site;

a relocation processor configured to process the customer data, the performance data, and the geographic information to determine a relocation score for each of the wireless communication equipment located at the plurality of potential donor sites; and

the relocation processor configured to select wireless communication equipment of at least one of the plurality of potential donor sites for relocation to the target relocation site based upon the relocation score;

the relocation processor configured to determine underutilized wireless communication equipment across the plurality of potential donor sites based upon the relocation score; and

the relocation processor configured to select the most underutilized wireless communication equipment of the plurality of potential donor sites for relocation to the target relocation site.

10. The processing system of claim 9, comprising:

the relocation processor configured to normalize the customer data, the performance data, and the geographic information to associated maximum values of the customer data, the performance data, and the geographic information of a wireless communication network comprising the target relocation site and the plurality of potential donor sites; and

the relocation processor configured to composite the normalized customer data, performance data, and geographic information to determine the relocation score.

11. The processing system of claim 9, wherein the customer data comprises churn data, wherein the churn data comprises a quantity of customers homed at each of the plurality of potential donor sites that discontinue service with the service provider of the plurality of potential donor sites.

12. The processing system of claim 9, wherein the customer data comprises a quantity of customers homed at each of the plurality of potential donor sites with a threshold level of positive credit history.

13. The processing system of claim 9, wherein the performance data comprises traffic loading of each of the plurality of potential donor sites.

14. The processing system of claim 9, wherein the performance data comprises data related to blocked calls and dropped calls of each of the plurality of potential donor sites.

15. The processing system of claim 9, wherein the geographic information comprises relocation costs associated with individually relocating wireless communication equipment of each of the plurality of potential donor sites to the target relocation site.

16. The processing system of claim 9, wherein the geographic information comprises a geographic distance of the target relocation site from each of the plurality of potential donor sites.