Method for VoLTE voice quality fault localization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10693937-B2
Application number	US-201716304801-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 12, 2017
Priority date	Jun 16, 2016
Publication date	Jun 23, 2020
Grant date	Jun 23, 2020

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for identifying a source of quality degradation for a media call flowing in a first direction and a second direction between a mobile-originating user equipment (UE) and a mobile-terminating (MT) UE are presented. In an example method, a network node obtains a set of multiple rules specified respectively for multiple candidate sources of quality degradation for the media call in the first direction. These rules indicate whether a particular candidate source is an actual source of quality degradation based on values of certain key performance indicators (KPIs). The network node identifies, from among the multiple candidate sources of quality degradation, one or more sources of quality degradation by evaluating one or more rules from the set of multiple rules.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method, implemented at a network node, for identifying a source of quality degradation for a media call flowing in a first direction from a first call leg to a second call leg via a gateway (GW) domain and in a second direction from the second call leg to the first call leg via the GW domain, wherein the first call leg extends from a first user equipment (UE) to a first interface of the GW domain via a first radio access network, wherein the second call leg extends from a second interface of the GW domain to a second UE via a second radio access network, the method comprising:
obtaining a set of multiple rules specified respectively for multiple candidate sources of quality degradation for the media call in the first direction, wherein the set of multiple rules includes two or more items from the following list:
the first UE is a source of quality degradation if a first Key Performance Indicator (KPI) indicating performance of the media call at the first UE in the first direction does not satisfy a first performance criterion defined for the first KPI;
the first leg in the first direction is a source of quality degradation if a second KPI indicating performance of the media call at the first interface of the GW domain does not satisfy a second performance criterion defined for the second KPI;
the GW domain is a source of quality degradation if a third KPI indicating performance of the media call at the second interface of the GW domain does not satisfy a third performance criterion defined for the third KPI, but the second KPI does satisfy the second performance criterion;
the GW domain is a source of quality degradation if the second KPI is worse than the third KPI;
the second leg in the first direction is a source of quality degradation if a fourth KPI indicating performance of the media call at the second radio access network does not satisfy a fourth performance criterion defined for the fourth KPI, but the third KPI does satisfy the third performance criterion; and/or
the second UE is a source of quality degradation if the second KPI satisfies the second performance criterion and the fourth KPI satisfies the fourth performance criterion, but a fifth KPI indicating performance of the media call at the second UE in the first direction does not satisfy a fifth performance criterion defined for the fifth KPI;

identifying, from among the multiple candidate sources of quality degradation, one or more sources of quality degradation by evaluating one or more rules from the set of multiple rules.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising obtaining information indicating whether:
the first KPI satisfies the first performance criterion;
the second KPI satisfies the second performance criterion;
the third KPI satisfies the third performance criterion;
the second KPI is worse than the third KPI;
the fourth KPI satisfies the fourth performance criterion; and/or
the fifth KPI satisfies the fifth performance criterion.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the obtaining the information comprises receiving at least some of the information from a probe agent device, an intermediate network node, a media GW, a radio base station, the first UE, and/or the second UE.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the obtaining the information comprises:
receiving the different KPIs; and
determining at least some of the information at the network node by comparing the different KPIs to different corresponding thresholds.

5. The method of claim 1 :
wherein each of the different KPIs represents a parameter selected from different possible parameters;
wherein the different possible parameters comprise parameters that are each indicative of media flow quality in either the first direction or the second direction and are each based on media flow data measurements performed by a particular device at a particular interface.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the device is a radio base station, the first UE, the second UE, or a media gateway.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first UE is a mobile-originating UE and the second UE is a mobile-terminating UE.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first direction is a mobile-terminating (MT)-to-mobile-originating (MO) direction and the second direction is a MO-to-MT direction.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first UE is a mobile-terminating UE and the second UE is a mobile-originating UE.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first direction is a mobile-terminating (MT)-to-mobile-originating (MO) direction and the second direction is a MO-to-MT direction.

11. A network node for identifying a source of quality degradation for a media call flowing in a first direction from a first call leg to a second call leg via a gateway (GW) domain and in a second direction from the second call leg to the first call leg via the GW domain, wherein the first call leg extends from a first user equipment (UE) to a first interface of the GW domain via a first radio access network, wherein the second call leg extends from a second interface of the GW domain to a second UE via a second radio access network, the network node comprising:
processing circuitry;
memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the network node is operative to:
obtain a set of multiple rules specified respectively for multiple candidate sources of quality degradation for the media call in the first direction, wherein the set of multiple rules includes two or more items from the following list:
the first UE is a source of quality degradation if a first Key Performance Indicator (KPI) indicating performance of the media call at the first UE in the first direction does not satisfy a first performance criterion defined for the first KPI;
the first leg in the first direction is a source of quality degradation if a second KPI indicating performance of the media call at the first interface of the GW domain does not satisfy a second performance criterion defined for the second KPI;
the GW domain is a source of quality degradation if a third KPI indicating performance of the media call at the second interface of the GW domain does not satisfy a third performance criterion defined for the third KPI, but the second KPI does satisfy the second performance criterion;
the GW domain is a source of quality degradation if the second KPI is worse than the third KPI;
the second leg in the first direction is a source of quality degradation if a fourth KPI indicating performance of the media call at the second radio access network does not satisfy a fourth performance criterion defined for the fourth KPI, but the third KPI does satisfy the third performance criterion; and/or
the second UE is a source of quality degradation if the second KPI satisfies the second performance criterion and the fourth KPI satisfies the fourth performance criterion, but a fifth KPI indicating performance of the media call at the second UE in the first direction does not satisfy a fifth performance criterion defined for the fifth KPI;

identify, from among the multiple candidate sources of quality degradation, one or more sources of quality degradation by evaluating one or more rules from the set of multiple rules.

12. The network node of claim 11 , wherein the instructions are such that the network node is operative to obtain information indicating whether:
the first KPI satisfies the first performance criterion;
the second KPI satisfies the second performance criterion;
the third KPI satisfies the third performance criterion;
the second KPI is worse than the third KPI;
the fourth KPI satisfies the fourth performance criterion; and/or
the

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Rácz András
• Reider Norbert

Classifications

• H04W24/02 Primary

  Arrangements for optimising operational condition · CPC title

• H04L41/0677

  Localisation of faults · CPC title

• H04L65/80 Primary

  Responding to QoS · CPC title

• H04W24/08

  Testing, {supervising or monitoring} using real traffic · CPC title