Self-organizing network mechanism for energy saving during an outage

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10506460-B2
Application number	US-201414496185-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 25, 2014
Priority date	Aug 30, 2012
Publication date	Dec 10, 2019
Grant date	Dec 10, 2019

Abstract

Described herein is a self-organizing network (SON) configured to receive information indicating that access network equipment is experiencing a power outage. In response, the SON determines at least one of a time since the power outage, a present configuration of the access network equipment, a characteristic of the access network equipment, or a value of a performance indicator associated with the access network equipment. The SON then generates an updated configuration of the access network equipment based at least in part on the at least one of the time since the power outage, the present configuration of the access network equipment, the characteristic of the access network equipment, or the value of the performance indicator. Further, the SON then provides the updated configuration to the access network equipment.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving, by one or more self-organizing network (SON) tools executing via a SON automation engine on one or more SON computing devices, information indicating that a base station of a telecommunication network is experiencing a power outage but is continuing to operate on at least one of reduced or backup power due to 1) a loss of a main power supply and a corresponding use of a backup power supply, or 2) an available power level dropping below a threshold, wherein the information is received by the one or more SON tools via an application programming interface (API) for SONs that is exposed to the one or more SON tools by the SON automation engine;
retrieving, by the one or more SON tools via the API from an equipment data store of the one or more SON computing devices, a present configuration of the base station and one or more characteristics of the base station including at least one of backup power resources of the base station, cellular technologies supported by the base station, or a size of a cell serviced by the base station;
receiving, by the one or more SON tools via the API from a consolidation engine executing on the one or more SON computing devices, at least one performance indicator associated with the base station, including at least one of a battery level, a fuel level, a generator status, or a backup power supply status;
generating, by the one or more SON tools, an updated configuration of the base station based at least in part on the present configuration of the base station, the one or more characteristics of the base station, and the at least one performance indicator, wherein the updated configuration reduces power requirements of the base station during the power outage; and
providing, by the one or more SON tools, the updated configuration to the base station via the API.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more SON tools receives the information indicating that the base station is experiencing the power outage as an alert from a component of the one or more SON computing devices, wherein the component of the one or more SON computing devices generates the alert based on the at least one performance indicator or other information from the base station.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more SON tools receives the information indicating that the base station is experiencing the power outage as the at least one performance indicator, and determines that the at least one performance indicator indicates that the base station is experiencing the power outage based on a comparison of the at least one performance indicator to one or more power outage thresholds or models.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one performance indicator further includes a signal-to-noise ratio, a bit error rate, a frame error rate, a number of carriers, a number of connections, cellular technology types of the connections, a maximum transmit power, or a maximum bit rate.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the updated configuration causes the base station to perform at least one of turning off air conditioning, turning off a main power supply, adjusting a voltage of a backup power supply, disconnecting 2G, 3G, 4G, LTE, or other cellular or wireless services, shutting down one or more carriers, reducing a maximum transmit power, or adjusting a maximum bit rate.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising periodically, by the one or more SON tools, receiving subsequent information indicating that the base station is continuing to experience the power outage, and in response generating subsequent updated configurations and providing the subsequent updated configurations to the base station to progressively degrade service capabilities of the base station to further reduce the power requirements of the base station.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more SON tools includes a first SON tool configured to receive the information indicating that the base station is experiencing the power outage, a second SON tool configured to perform at least one of retrieving the one or more characteristics of the base station from the equipment data store or receiving the at least one performance indicator, a third SON tool configured to generate the updated configuration, and a fourth SON tool configured to provide the updated configuration to the base station.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the API allows the first SON tool, the second SON tool, the third SON tool, the fourth SON tool, the equipment data store, and the consolidation engine to communicate within the one or more SON computing devices.

9. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having stored thereon programming instructions configured to cause one or more self-organizing network (SON) tools executing via a SON automation engine on one or more SON computing devices to perform operations comprising:
receiving, via an application programming interface (API) for SONs that is exposed to the one or more SON tools by the SON automation engine, information indicating that a base station of a telecommunication network is experiencing a power outage but is continuing to operate on at least one of reduced or backup power due to 1) a loss of a main power supply and a corresponding use of a backup power supply, or 2) an available power level dropping below a threshold;
retrieving, via the API from an equipment data store of the one or more SON computing devices, a present configuration of the base station and one or more characteristics of the base station including at least one of backup power resources of the base station, cellular technologies supported by the base station, or a size of a cell serviced by the base station;
receiving, via the API from a consolidation engine executing on the one or more SON computing devices, at least one performance indicator associated with the base station, including at least one of a battery level, a fuel level, a generator status, or a backup power supply status;
generating an updated configuration of the base station based at least in part on the present configuration of the base station, the one or more characteristics of the base station, and the at least one performance indicator, wherein the updated configuration reduces power requirements of the base station during the power outage; and
providing the updated configuration to the base station via the API.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9 , wherein the one or more SON tools receives the information indicating that the base station is experiencing the power outage as:
an alert from a component of the one or more SON computing devices, wherein the component of the one or more SON computing devices generates the alert based on the at least one performance indicator or other information from the base station, or
the at least one performance indicator, wherein the one or more SON tools determine that the at least one performance indicator indicates that the base station is experiencing the power outage based on a comparison of the at least one performance indicator to one or more power outage thresholds or models.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9 , wherein the at least one performance indicator further includes a signal-to-noise ratio, a bit error rate, a frame error rate, a number of carriers, a number of connections, cellular technology types of the connections, a maximum transmit power, or a maximum bit rate.

12. The o

Assignees

• T Mobile Usa Inc

Inventors

• Tapia Pablo

Classifications

• H04L41/0816 Primary

  the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events · CPC title

• H04L41/20

  Network management software packages · CPC title

• H04W52/0203

  in the radio access network or backbone network of wireless communication networks · CPC title

• H04L41/082

  the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality · CPC title

• H04W84/18

  Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks · CPC title