Coverage adjustment in E-UTRA networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9538413-B2
Application number	US-201514843547-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 2, 2015
Priority date	Aug 3, 2012
Publication date	Jan 3, 2017
Grant date	Jan 3, 2017

Abstract

Embodiments of systems and techniques for coverage adjustment in evolved universal terrain radio access networks (E-UTRANs) are described. In some embodiments, a network management (NM) apparatus may receive data representative of first and second radio link failure (RLF) reports including information related to respective disconnections of first and second user equipment (UEs) from an E-UTRAN. The NM apparatus may identify a hole in a coverage area of the E-UTRAN based at least in part on the first and second RLF reports, and may perform an automated coverage and capacity optimization (CCO) action to reconfigure cell resources of the E-UTRAN based on the identified hole. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. One or more non-transitory computer readable media having program code that, when executed by one or more processors, causes a Coverage and Capacity Optimization (CCO) component to:
receive service performance data of one or more evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) cells, wherein each E-UTRAN cell of the one or more E-UTRAN cells is provided by at least one evolved nodeB (eNB);
identify a service-deficient area based on the service performance data;
control transmission of a first instruction to initiate performance of one or more minimization of drive tests (MDTs) by one or more eNBs associated with the identified service-deficient area;
control receipt of MDT data that is based on results of the one or more MDTs;
correlate the MDT data with the service performance data;
determine a coverage area to be adjusted based on the correlation; and
control transmission of a second instruction to alter a service parameter of at least one E-UTRAN cell of the one or more E-UTRAN cells to adjust the coverage area.

2. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 1 , wherein the program code, when executed, further causes the CCO component to:
correlate the service performance data with a same user session, a same geographic area, or environmental information.

3. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 1 , wherein the coverage area is a cell coverage area of the at least one E-UTRAN cell.

4. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 3 , wherein the second instruction is to instruct the at least one E-UTRAN cell to increase a size of the cell coverage area to extend the cell coverage area into a coverage hole between two or more E-UTRAN cells of the one or more E-UTRAN cells.

5. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 1 , wherein the service parameter is one or more of a size of the at least one E-UTRAN cell or capacity of the at least one E-UTRAN cell.

6. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 1 , wherein the service performance data comprises one or more of a number of active user equipment (UEs) in a given area, internet protocol (IP) throughput, upload or download physical resource block (PRB) usage, packet delay, drop rate, loss rate, or environmental information.

7. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the service performance data includes one or more measurements collected by one or more eNBs.

8. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 1 , wherein the service performance data further comprises one or more radio link failure (RLF) reports to indicate RLF data, wherein the RLF data comprises one or more of reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements, reference signal received quality (RSRQ) measurements, or radio resource control (RRC) failure events.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 8 , wherein the RSRP measurements include location information or the RSRQ measurements include location information.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 8 , wherein the program code, when executed, further causes the CCO component to:
correlate the MDT data with the RLF data and one or more of a number of active UEs in a given area, IP throughput, upload or download PRB usage, packet delay, drop rate, loss rate, or environmental information.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 1 , wherein one or more non-transitory computer readable media and the one or more processors are implemented in a network management (NM) apparatus.

12. An apparatus to be implemented in a network management (NM) computing device, the apparatus comprising:
one or more processors coupled with one or more computer readable media, the one or more processors are to execute program code to implement a Coverage and Capacity Optimization (CCO) component to:
receive, from one or more evolved nodeBs (eNBs), service performance data of one or more evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) cells provided by the one or more eNBs, wherein the service performance data includes one or more of a number of active user equipment (UEs) in a given area, internet protocol (IP) throughput, upload or download physical resource block (PRB) usage, packet delay, drop rate, loss rate, or environmental information;
identify a service-deficient area based on the service performance data;
transmit, to a set of eNBs of the one or more eNBs, a first instruction to initiate performance of one or more minimization of drive tests (MDTs) by the set of eNBs, wherein eNBs of the set of eNBs are associated with the identified service-deficient area;
determine a coverage area to be adjusted based on results of the one or more MDTs; and
transmit, to at least one eNB of the set of eNBs, a second instruction to adjust a service parameter of an E-UTRAN cell provided by the at least one eNB to adjust the coverage area.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein to determine the service-deficient area, the program code, when executed, further causes the CCO component to:
correlate the service performance data with a same user session, a same geographic area, or environmental information.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein
the coverage area is a cell coverage area of the E-UTRAN cell provided by the at least one eNB, and
the service parameter is one or more of a size of a coverage area of the E-UTRAN cell provided by the at least one eNB or a capacity of the E-UTRAN cell provided by the at least one eNB.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein at least a portion of the service performance data includes one or more measurements collected by the one or more eNBs and another portion of the service performance data includes one or more measurements collected by one or more UEs.

16. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the service performance data further includes one or more of reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements, reference signal received quality (RSRQ) measurements, or radio resource control (RRC) failure events, wherein the RSRP measurements include location information or the RSRQ measurements include location information, and wherein the program code, when executed, further causes the CCO component to:
correlate the results of the one or more MDTs with the service performance data.

17. One or more non-transitory computer readable media having program code that, when executed by one or more processors, causes a Coverage and Capacity Optimization (CCO) component to:
receive, from one or more evolved node Bs (eNBs), service performance data of one or more evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) cells provided by the one or more eNBs, wherein the service performance data includes one or more reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements, reference signal received quality (RSRQ) measurements, or radio resource control (RRC) failure events;
identify a service-deficient area based on a correlation of the service performance data with a same user session or a same geographic area;
transmit, to a set of eNBs of the one or more eNBs, a first instruction to initiate performance of one or more minimization of drive tests (MDTs) by the set of eNBs, wherein the set of eNBs are associated with the identified service-deficient area;
determine a coverage area to be adjusted based on results of the MDTs; and
transmit, to at least one eNB of the set of eNBs, a seco

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Chou Joey
• Mena Jorge

Classifications

• H04W12/06

  Authentication · CPC title

• H04L41/0659

  by isolating or reconfiguring faulty entities · CPC title

• H04L65/80

  Responding to QoS · CPC title

• H04W74/08

  Non-scheduled access, e.g. ALOHA (hybrid access H04W74/02) · CPC title

• G06F16/9535

  Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation · CPC title