Characterizing cable leakage interference priorities on LTE

• US 9,100,290 B2
• Filed: 05/24/2012
• Issued: 08/04/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ComSonics, Inc.
• Original Assignee: ComSonics, Inc.
• Inventors: Couch, Kenneth W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Simon
• Application Number:
  US13/479,572
• Publication Number:
  US 20130316750A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,167 Days
• Field of Search: 455/67.11, 455423-425, 455/562.1, 455/67.13, 370/241, 370/242, 370244-245
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/345 Interference values signal-to-interference ratio [SIR] or carrier-to-interference ratio [CIR] H04B17/336
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0609 based on severity or priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0618 based on the physical or logical position
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters

Abstract

A method and structure for conforming to cable leakage compliance level requirements includes calculating, using a processor on a computer, a priority of repairs for cable leakage over a cable operator service area. A result of the priority calculation is provided, thereby permitting higher priority leaks to be identified and repaired. The calculating of priority includes storing geographical locations of cell towers affecting a service area being evaluated, receiving data related to cable leakage sources, receiving data related to wireless service quality, if available, and exercising, using the processor on the computer, a prioritizing algorithm that calculates a relative severity of each cable leakage source.

Claims

1. A method of conforming to cable leakage compliance level requirements, said method comprising:

calculating, using a processor on a computer, a relative severity/priority of repairs for cable leakage over a cable operator service area, said cable operator providing a cable TV service; and

providing a result of said relative severity/priority calculation, thereby permitting higher priority leaks to be identified and repaired,

wherein said calculating of relative severity/priority comprises;

storing geographical locations of transmission facilities for cellular services affecting a service area being evaluated, said cellular services comprising at least LTE (Long Term Evolution)/3G cellular services;

receiving data related to cable leakage sources;

receiving data related to wireless service quality, if available; and

exercising, using said processor on said computer, a prioritizing algorithm that calculates a relative severity of each said cable leakage source.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said received data is preliminarily normalized.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said prioritizing algorithm is formulated to provide an emphasis to service areas having received data indicating a poor wireless service quality.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said relative severity is based upon, for each detected cable leakage source, a combination calculation comprising at least one of:

an uplink RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) level;

an RRC (Radio Resource Control) Reestablishment to Connect count in a given cellular site;

a downlink RSSI level;

a downlink Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) of an LTE/3G signal; and

an Adjacent Channel Power Level (ACPL) of an LTE/3G signal.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein a priority of leakage repair is calculated by sorting, for all detected cable leakage sources, the combination calculation results.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said computer comprises a server having a role for at least one of a centralized data collection for said service area and a centralized calculation for said service area.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said received data related to said cable leakage sources comprises data reported from at least one of:

test data from at least one measurement taken from said service area for locating said cable leakage sources;

a calculation of distance between said cable leakage sources and cellular transmission facilities in areas of said cable leakage sources;

test data from at least one measurement taken from said service area related to said downstream measurement key performance indicators (KPIs); and

data provided by the wireless carriers as related to uplink wireless service quality in areas of said cable leakage sources or measured data from said cellular transmission facilities in areas of said cable leakage sources.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said received data comprises one or more of:

a Leakage Power Level, referenced to 10 feet from a source of leakage;

an Adjacent Channel Power Level (ACPR), measured from a center of an LTE/3G downlink and an adjacent channel at a defined resolution bandwidth (RBW);

a Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) of LTE/3G downlink signaling;

a Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) of LTE/3G uplink signaling;

a Radio Resource Control (RRC) Reestablishment to Connect count;

an uplink data throughput measurement;

a Bit Error Rate (BER) measurement on the uplink or downlink signaling;

a Signal to Noise plus Interference (SINR) on the uplink or downlink signaling;

an Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) of an LTE/3G signal; and

a distance of a leak to surrounding cellular sites.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said prioritizing algorithm provides a priority of leakage repair by one of:

sorting, over a set of detected leaks, a calculation using said received data, as normalized and as weighted for each of a parameter in said data, said sorting thereby establishing a relative priority of the set of detected leaks; and

assigning each said detected leak to a specific category of priority of leakage repair, based upon a result of exercising the prioritizing algorithm for data of that detected leak, a plurality of possible different categories having been predetermined.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said transmission facilities for cellular services comprise at least one of:

LTE/3G cellular towers; and

LTE/3G small cells comprising any of femtocells, picocells, and microcells.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory that stores geographical locations of transmission facilities for LTE (Long Term Evolution) and 3G cellular service affecting a service area being evaluated and data related to cable leakage sources of a cable network providing cable TV service in said service area; and

a processor exercising a relative severity/prioritizing algorithm that calculates a relative severity/repair priority of each said cable leakage source.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, as comprising a centralized server servicing and collecting data for said service area.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising an interface to a transceiver that communicates with at least one of:

test data from at least one measurement taken from said service area for locating said cable leakage sources;

test data measuring downlink signal quality over said service area;

uplink data provided by the wireless carriers using said LTE/3G transmission facilities or measured from said LTE/3G transmission facilities; and

locations of wireless carrier LTE/3G transmission facilities that might be affected by said cable leakage sources,

wherein said LTE/3G transmission facilities comprise LTE/3G cellular towers and/or LTE/3G small cells comprising any of femtocells, picocells, and microcells located in said service area.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising an interface to permit a user to retrieve at least one of:

calculation results of said prioritizing algorithm;

said locations of cable leakage sources; and

said geographical locations of transmission facilities affecting a service area being evaluated or said data related to cable leakage sources, in a format requested by said user.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein a priority of leakage repair is calculated by sorting, for all detected cable leakage sources, a calculation based on a combination of parameters measuring wireless service in an area of each detected cable leakage source.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said received data comprises one or more of:

a Leakage Power Level, referenced to 10 feet from a source of leakage;

an Adjacent Channel Power Level, measured from a center of an LTE/3G downlink and an adjacent channel at a defined resolution bandwidth (RBW);

a Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) of LTE/3G downlink signaling;

a Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) of LTE/3G uplink signaling;

a Radio Resource Control (RRC) Reestablishment to Connect count;

an Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) of an LTE/3G signal; and

a distance of a leak to surrounding cellular sites.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said prioritizing algorithm provides a priority of leakage repair by one of:

sorting, over a set of detected leaks, a calculation using said received data, as normalized and as weighted for each parameter, said sorting thereby establishing a relative priority of the set of detected leaks; and

assigning each said detected leak to a specific category of priority of leakage repair, based upon a result of exercising the prioritizing algorithm on data for that detected leak, a plurality of possible different categories having been predetermined.

18. A non-transitory, computer-readable, storage medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform a method of calculating a priority of repairs for cable leakage, said method comprising:

storing geographical locations of transmission facilities for LTE (Long Term Evolution) and 3G cellular service affecting a service area being evaluated;

receiving data related to at least one of cable leakage sources of a cable network providing cable TV service in said service area and wireless service measurements in areas of said cable leakage sources; and

exercising, using a processor on a computer, a prioritizing algorithm that calculates a relative severity of each said cable leakage source.

19. The storage medium of claim 18, as comprising one of:

a memory device storing said instructions as a program currently being executed by said computer;

a memory device storing said instructions as a program capable of being executed by said computer;

a memory device storing said instructions and intended to interface with said computer for purpose of downloading said instructions onto a memory of said computer; and

a memory device on a server on a network storing said instructions and intended to interface with said computer for purpose of downloading said instructions onto a memory of said computer via the network.

20. The storage medium of claim 18, as comprising a memory device on a centralized server servicing and collecting data for said service area.