Optimizing remote antenna unit performance using an alternative data channel

• US 9,681,313 B2
• Filed: 04/15/2015
• Issued: 06/13/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Corning Optical Communications LLC (Corning Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Corning Optical Communications Wireless Ltd. (Corning Incorporated)
• Inventors: Malach, Adi
• Primary Examiner(s): MITCHELL, NATHAN A
• Application Number:
  US14/687,423
• Publication Number:
  US 20160309340A1
• Time in Patent Office: 790 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2609 Arrangements for range control, e.g. by using remote antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/20 using signal quality detector
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0057 Physical resource allocation for CQI
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0238 where the received signal is an unwanted signal, e.g. interference or idle signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/085 Access point devices with remote components
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method and system for monitoring and optimizing a network may include configuring a remote antenna unit with a first transceiver for uplinking and downlinking a signal of a cellular service and with a second transceiver for uplinking and downlinking of the signal of at least one of a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi or Zigbee service. Performance data is collected from at least one user equipment configured for connecting to the remote antenna unit. The collected performance data is routed to a performance data collector configured to aggregate the performance data. The aggregated performance data is correlated. The network is optimized based on the correlated performance data.

Claims

1. A network optimization system comprising:

a remote antenna unit comprising;

a transceiver configured for uplinking and downlinking a signal of a cellular service;

a transceiver configured for uplinking and downlinking a signal of at least one of a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi or Zigbee service;

a router configured to route performance data collected from at least one user equipment configured for connecting to the remote antenna unit, where the user equipment is configured to execute an instance of a data service configured to collect data on a performance of the network;

a performance data collector configured to aggregate the collected performance data; and

an optimizer controller configured to correlate the aggregated performance data to determine adjustments to the network optimization system based on the correlated performance data.

2. The network optimization system of claim 1, wherein the at least one user equipment includes a multiple application processor, a wireless service processor and a memory, each of the multiple application processor and the wireless service processor communicating data over a communication interface to the remote antenna unit, the multiple application processor configured to execute the instance of the data service for collecting data on the performance of the network.

3. The network optimization system of claim 1 wherein the optimizer controller is further configured for performing optimization activities.

4. The network optimization system of claim 3 wherein the optimization activities include instructing the remote antenna unit to change its power level in order to increase or decrease signal strength to the at least one user equipment or decrease interference level to another user equipment.

5. The network optimization system of claim 3 wherein the remote antenna unit is a first remote antenna unit and the optimization activities comprise instructing the router to change a routing to the at least one user equipment from the first remote antenna unit to a second remote antenna unit.

6. The network optimization system of claim 5 wherein the changed routing is for mitigating identified interferences.

7. The network optimization system of claim 1 wherein the remote antenna unit includes:

a first antenna configured for transmitting and receiving cellular signals from and to the cellular transceiver; and

a second antenna configured for transmitting and receiving the at least one of a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi or Zigbee signal from and to the Bluetooth or Wi-Fi service or Zigbee tranceiver.

8. The network optimization system of claim 1, wherein the collected performance data is accumulated and averaged over a period of time.

9. The network optimization system of claim 1 wherein the collected performance data is mapped as a heat map configured for use in optimizing the network.

10. The network optimization system of claim 9 wherein the mapping occurs in real time.

22. The network optimization system of claim 1 wherein the router is configured to route the collected performance data to the performance data collector.

23. The network optimization system of claim 1 wherein the remote antenna unit is configured to receive the performance data from the at least one user equipment and transmit the performance data using the transceiver configured for uplinking and downlinking the signal of the at least one of a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi or Zigbee service.

24. The network optimization system of claim 23 wherein the performance data is transmitted over a management channel configured to monitor or control at least one cellular service, wherein the performance data is transmitted using at least one of a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi or Zigbee service but is transmitted over at least one optical fiber cable that is also configured to transmit signals for at least one cellular service.

11. A method for optimizing a network, the method comprising:

configuring a remote antenna unit with a first transceiver for uplinking and downlinking a signal of a cellular service and with a second transceiver for uplinking and downlinking of the signal of at least one of a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi or Zigbee service;

collecting performance data from at least one user equipment configured for connecting to the remote antenna unit;

routing the collected performance data to a performance data collector configured to aggregate the performance data;

correlating the aggregated performance data; and

optimizing the network based on the correlated performance data.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of routing is performed by a router included in a head end unit.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein each of the at least one user equipment comprises a multiple application processor, a wireless service processor and a memory;

each of the multiple application processor, the wireless service processor and the memory configured for communicating data over a communication interface to the remote antenna unit, and the multiple application processor is configured to execute an instance of a data service, the data service configured to obtain data on a performance of the network through the remote antenna unit.

14. The method of claim 11, the step of optimizing comprising the further step of instructing the remote antenna unit to change a power level to increase or decrease signal strength of a downlink signal to a cellular service in order to decrease the interference.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the remote antenna unit being a first remote antenna unit, and wherein the step of optimizing comprising the further step of instructing the network to change routing of at least one of the user equipment and another of the at least one of the user equipment between the first remote antenna unit and a second remote antenna unit upon detection of an interference with the signal of a cellular service or the signal of at least one of a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi or Zigbee service.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the performance data concerns the remote antenna unit and a location of the at least one of the user equipment.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the performance data comprises at least one datum selected from the group consisting of signal strength, signal to noise ratio, uplink throughput, downlink throughput and data.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of accumulating and averaging the collected performance data over a period of time.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of mapping the performance data as a heat map.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of optimizing the network using the heat map.

21. The method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

connecting the network to at least one provider of a cellular service and at least one provider of the at least one of a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi or Zigbee service,

connecting a head end unit to the at least one provider of the cellular service and the at least one provider of the at least one of a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi or Zigbee service, and

connecting the head end unit to the at least one of the user equipment via a distribution network.

25. The method of claim 11 wherein the collecting the performance data from the at least one user equipment further comprises receiving the performance data at the remote antenna unit from the at least one user equipment and transmitting the performance data from the remote antenna unit to a router in a head-end unit using the second transceiver configured for uplinking and downlinking a signal of at least one of a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi or Zigbee service.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein transmitting the performance data comprises transmitting the performance data over a management channel configured to monitor or control at least one cellular service, wherein the performance data is transmitted using at least one of a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi or Zigbee service but is transmitted over at least one optical fiber cable that is also configured to transmit signals for at least one cellular service.