Method and device for evaluating network performance

• US 9,883,444 B2
• Filed: 07/17/2014
• Issued: 01/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Zhao, Dong, Song, Ping, Zhang, Kai, Zou, Lan
• Primary Examiner(s): Arevalo, Joseph
• Application Number:
  US14/334,290
• Publication Number:
  US 20140329528A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,293 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561, 455436, 455411, 455405, 455446, 4554562, 455 451
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/00835 Determination of neighbour cell lists
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0085 Hand-off measurements

Abstract

The present application provides a method and device for evaluating network performance, which relate to the field of communications technologies. The method includes: obtaining statistical data characterizing network performance; according to the statistical data, obtaining performance of neighbor relationship adjustment, or obtaining a degree to which the neighbor relationship adjustment affects the network performance. The present application determines impact of ANR algorithm on a network or a UE by collecting related status data, and solves a problem that whether degradation of UE performance or user experience is caused by the ANR algorithm cannot be determined in the prior art. Then a factor of ANR operation may be excluded from numerous factors which may affect a system or user experience, analysis capability of automatic troubleshooting is improved, and problem solving capability of operators is improved.

Claims

1. A method for evaluating network performance, comprising:

obtaining statistical data characterizing network performance, wherein the statistical data comprises the number of unknown physical cell identifiers (PCIs) triggered by an event or periodically; and

obtaining performance of automatic neighbor relationship adjustment according to the statistical data, or obtaining a degree to which the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment affects the network performance according to the statistical data, wherein the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment is used to automatically discover, add and delete a neighbor cell and the number of unknown PCIs is used to indicate the number of cells with new PCIs found by the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment;

wherein one or more data in the statistical data forms a preset condition for measuring whether the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment achieves an operating requirement target or meets a specified requirement of the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment, and the method further comprises;

judging whether the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment achieves the operating requirement target according to the preset condition, or measuring a degree to which the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment meets the specified requirement according to the preset condition;

if the operating requirement target is achieved or the specified requirement is met, terminating the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment; and

if the operating requirement target is not achieved or the specified requirement is not met, activating the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment, or continuing the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment which has been started.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the obtaining statistical data characterizing network performance comprises:

receiving telephone traffic data, neighbor relationship data or coverage data reported by a user equipment (UE), and obtaining the statistical data characterizing the network performance according to the telephone traffic data, the neighbor relationship data or the coverage data;

collecting telephone traffic data, neighbor relationship data or coverage data from a network element, and obtaining the statistical data characterizing the network performance according to the telephone traffic data, the neighbor relationship data or the coverage data;

or

receiving the statistical data characterizing the network performance reported by a UE and/or a network element, wherein the network element comprises a base station or a maintenance and management unit.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the obtaining performance of automatic neighbor relationship adjustment according to the statistical data comprises:

obtaining the performance of the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment according to first statistical data in the statistical data, wherein the first statistical data comprises one or more of the following data;

the number of PCI conflict cells, the number of unknown PCIs triggered by an event or periodically, the number of handover target cells as conflict cells, the number of successful handover of a new unknown neighbor cell, the number of overshoot coverage cells, the number of neighbor cells in an NCL, the number of NRTs, and the number of reading a GCI.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the obtaining a degree to which the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment affects the network performance according to the statistical data comprises:

obtaining the degree to which the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment affects the network performance according to second statistical data in the statistical data.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the obtaining the degree to which the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment affects the network performance according to second statistical data in the statistical data comprises:

obtaining difference between impact of the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment on the network performance and impact of another self-organizing network optimization on the network performance according to the second statistical data in the statistical data, wherein the second statistical data comprises one or more of the following data;

the number of PCI conflict cells, the number of unknown PCIs triggered by an event or periodically, the number of handover target cells as conflict cells, the number of successful handover of a new unknown neighbor cell, the number of overshoot coverage cells, the number of reading a GCI, the number of successfully reading a GCI, the delay/average delay of reading a GCI, and the number of UEs specified to perform automatic neighbor relationship measurement.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the obtaining the degree to which the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment affects the network performance according to second statistical data in the statistical data comprises:

obtaining difference between impact of the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment on a network and impact of a mobility optimization function on the network according to the second statistical data, or determining that a problem of the network performance is caused by the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment or mobility adjustment according to the second statistical data, wherein the second statistical data comprises one or more data of the number of PCI conflict cells, the number of handover target cells as conflict cells, the number of new unknown neighbor cells triggered by an event, and the number of unknown PCIs triggered by an event or periodically.

7. The method according to claim 4, wherein the obtaining the degree to which the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment affects the network performance according to second statistical data in the statistical data comprises:

obtaining an evaluation parameter of impact of the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment on UE performance, user experience or user quality of service according to the second statistical data in the statistical data, wherein the second statistical data comprises one or more of the following data;

the number of overshoot coverage cells, the number of reading a GCI, the number of successfully reading a GCI, the delay or average delay of reading a GCI, and the number of UEs specified to perform automatic neighbor relationship measurement.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the statistical data is a self-organizing network target (SON target), or the statistical data is a statistical item of performance measurement (PM).

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the statistical data further comprises at least one of the following data:

the number of PCI conflict cells, the number of new unknown neighbor cells triggered by an event, the number of successful handover of a new unknown neighbor cell, the number of handover target cells as conflict cells, the number of overshoot coverage cells, the number of reading a global cell identity (GCO), the number of successfully reading a GCI, the number of UEs specified to perform automatic neighbor relationship measurement, delay or average delay of reading a GCI, the number of neighbor cells in a neighbor cell list (NCL), and the number of neighbor relationship tables (NRTs).

10. A device for evaluating network performance, comprising a processing hardware platform executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium functions as a plurality of modules, the plurality of modules comprising:

a data obtaining module, configured to obtain statistical data characterizing network performance, wherein the statistical data comprises the number of unknown physical cell identifiers (PCIs) triggered by an event or periodically; and

a performance obtaining module, configured to obtain performance of automatic neighbor relationship adjustment according to the statistical data, or obtain a degree to which the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment affects the network performance according to the statistical data, wherein the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment is used to automatically discover, add and delete a neighbor cell and the number of unknown PCIs is used to indicate the number of cells with new PCIs found by the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment;

wherein one or more data in the statistical data forms a preset condition for measuring whether the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment achieves an operating requirement target or meets a specified requirement of the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment, and the plurality of modules further comprises;

a control module, configured to judge whether the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment achieves the operating requirement target according to the preset condition, or to measure a degree to which the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment meets the specified requirement according to the preset condition;

wherein,

if the operating requirement target is achieved or the specified requirement is met, the control module is further configured to terminate the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment; and

if the operating requirement target is not achieved or the specified requirement is not met, the control module is further configured to activate the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment, or to continue the automatic neighbor cell relationship adjustment which has been started.

11. The device according to claim 10, wherein the data obtaining module comprises:

a first data obtaining unit, configured to receive telephone traffic data, neighbor relationship data or coverage data reported by a user equipment (UE), and obtain the statistical data characterizing the network performance according to the telephone traffic data, the neighbor relationship data or the coverage data, or configured to collect, from a network element, telephone traffic data, neighbor relationship data or coverage data, and obtain the statistical data characterizing the network performance according to the telephone traffic data, the neighbor relationship data or the coverage data;

or

a second data obtaining unit, configured to receive the statistical data characterizing the network performance reported by a UE and/or a network element, wherein the network element comprises a base station or a maintenance and management unit.

12. The device according to claim 10, wherein the performance obtaining module comprises:

a first performance obtaining unit, configured to obtain the performance of the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment according to first statistical data in the statistical data, wherein the first statistical data comprises one or more of the following data;

the number of PCI conflict cells, the number of unknown PCIs triggered by an event or periodically, the number of handover target cells as conflict cells, the number of successful handover of a new unknown neighbor cell, the number of overshoot coverage cells, the number of neighbor cells in an NCL, the number of NRTs, and the number of reading a GCI.

13. The device according to claim 10, wherein the performance obtaining module comprises:

a second performance obtaining unit, configured to obtain the degree to which the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment affects the network performance according to second statistical data in the statistical data.

14. The device according to claim 13, wherein the second performance obtaining unit is configured to obtain difference between impact of the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment on the network performance and impact of another self-organizing network optimization on the network performance according to the second statistical data in the statistical data, wherein the second statistical data comprises one or more of the following data:

the number of PCI conflict cells, the number of unknown PCIs triggered by an event or periodically, the number of handover target cells as conflict cells, the number of successful handover of a new unknown neighbor cell, the number of overshoot coverage cells, the number of reading a GCI, the number of successfully reading a GCI, the delay/average delay of reading a GCI, and the number of UEs specified to perform automatic neighbor relationship measurement.

15. The device according to claim 13, wherein the second performance obtaining unit is configured to obtain difference between impact of the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment on a network and impact of a mobility optimization function on the network according to the second statistical data, or determine that a problem of the network performance is caused by the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment or mobility adjustment according to the second statistical data, wherein the second statistical data comprises one or more data of the number of PCI conflict cells, the number of handover target cells as conflict cells, the number of new unknown neighbor cells triggered by an event, and the number of unknown PCIs triggered by an event or periodically.

16. The device according to claim 13, wherein the second performance obtaining unit is configured to obtain an evaluation parameter of impact of the automatic neighbor relationship adjustment on UE performance, user experience or user quality of service according to the second statistical data in the statistical data, wherein the second statistical data include one or more of the following data:

the number of overshoot coverage cells, the number of reading a GCI, the number of successfully reading a GCI, the delay or average delay of reading a GCI, and the number of UEs specified to perform automatic neighbor relationship measurement.

17. The device according to claim 10, wherein the statistical data is a self-organizing network target (SON target) or the statistical data is a statistical item of performance measurement (PM).

18. The device according to claim 10, wherein the statistical data further comprises at least one of the following data:

the number of PCI conflict cells, the number of new unknown neighbor cells triggered by an event, the number of successful handover of a new unknown neighbor cell, the number of handover target cells as conflict cells, the number of overshoot coverage cells, the number of reading a global cell identity (GCO), the number of successfully reading a GCI, the number of UEs specified to perform automatic neighbor relationship measurement, delay or average delay of reading a GCI, the number of neighbor cells in a neighbor cell list (NCL), and the number of neighbor relationship tables (NRTs).