System and method for implementing combined broadband and wireless self-organizing network (SON)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9867112-B1
Application number	US-201715675936-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Aug 14, 2017
Priority date	Nov 23, 2016
Publication date	Jan 9, 2018
Grant date	Jan 9, 2018

Abstract

Novel tools and techniques might provide for implementing combined broadband and wireless self-organizing network (“SON”) for provisioning of services. In some embodiments, a computing system might receive, from one or more first sensors and one or more second sensors, first operational states of fixed broadband network nodes and second operational states of wireless network nodes, respectively. The computing system might analyze the received first and second operational states, might determine an optimal network pathway and/or an optimal network backhaul pathway, and might establish the optimal network pathway and/or the optimal network backhaul pathway, through a determined combination of fixed and wireless network nodes, thereby implementing the combined broadband and wireless self-organizing network (“SON”) for provisioning of services.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
monitoring, with one or more first sensors, one or more first operational states of each of a plurality of fixed broadband network nodes between a service provider facility and a plurality of network interface devices located at a plurality of service areas;
monitoring, with one or more second sensors, one or more second operational states of each of a plurality of wireless network nodes, the plurality of wireless network nodes comprising a plurality of wireless access points and a plurality of wireless endpoint devices, the plurality of wireless endpoint devices being located at the plurality of service areas;
analyzing, with a computing system, the monitored one or more first operational states of each of the plurality of fixed broadband network nodes and the monitored one or more second operational states of each of the plurality of wireless network nodes;
determining, with the computing system, an optimal network pathway from the service provider facility to one or more wireless endpoint devices, through a determined first combination of fixed and wireless network nodes, based at least in part on the analysis of the monitored one or more first operational states and the monitored one or more second operational states, the determined first combination of fixed and wireless network nodes comprising one or more fixed broadband network nodes of the plurality of fixed broadband network nodes and one or more wireless network nodes of the plurality of wireless network nodes; and
establishing, with the computing system, the determined optimal network pathway from the service provider facility to the one or more wireless endpoint devices, through the determined first combination of fixed and wireless network nodes;
wherein determining and establishing the optimal network pathway from the service provider facility to the one or more wireless endpoint devices, through the determined first combination of fixed and wireless network nodes are performed differently for different types of network services provided.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein establishing the determined optimal network pathway from the service provider facility to the one or more wireless endpoint devices, through the determined first combination of fixed and wireless network nodes, comprises sending, with the computing system, instructions to one or more intermediary network switches to direct broadband traffic along the determined optimal network pathway from the service provider facility to the one or more wireless endpoint devices to provide broadband service to the one or more wireless endpoint devices.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, with the computing system, one or more optimal network backhaul pathways to the service provider facility, through a determined second combination of fixed and wireless network nodes, based on the analysis of the monitored one or more first operational states and the monitored one or more second operational states, the determined second combination of fixed and wireless network nodes comprising at least one fixed broadband network node of the plurality of fixed broadband network nodes and at least one wireless network node of the plurality of wireless network nodes; and
establishing, with the computing system, the determined one or more optimal network backhaul pathways from the at least one wireless endpoint device to the service provider facility, through the determined second combination of fixed and wireless network nodes.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the monitored one or more first operational states and the monitored one or more second operational states each comprises bandwidth usage and bandwidth capacity, wherein determining the one or more optimal network backhaul pathways comprises determining, with the computing system, the one or more optimal network backhaul pathways based on available bandwidth exceeding subscribed-to bandwidth for each of a plurality of customers.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein establishing the determined one or more optimal network backhaul pathways from the at least one wireless endpoint device to the service provider facility comprises sending, with the computing system, instructions to intermediary network switches to direct backhaul traffic along the determined one or more optimal network backhaul pathways from the at least one wireless endpoint device to the service provider facility to provide backhaul service.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining the optimal network pathway and determining the one or more optimal network backhaul pathways are initiated in response to each of one or more trigger events.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the one or more trigger events each comprises one of a sudden statistically significant change in network performance characteristics, a change in network performance characteristics that exceed predetermined threshold levels, a seasonal change in wireless propagation characteristics, a weather-related change in wireless propagation characteristics, a network service fault at one or more fixed broadband network nodes of the plurality of fixed broadband network nodes, a network service fault at one or more wireless network nodes of the plurality of wireless network nodes, a completed sales transaction with a customer for provisioning of network services to the customer, or a change in network usage that exceeds specified levels.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of fixed broadband network nodes are associated with fixed broadband services comprising at least one of a passive optical network (“PON”) service, a gigabit PON (“GPON”) service, an Ethernet fiber line service, an Ethernet PON (“EPON”) service, a next generation PON (“NGPON”) service, a second generation NGPON or 40 Gigabit-capable PON (“NGPON2”) service, a digital subscriber line (“DSL”) service, an asymmetric DSL (“ADSL”) service, a symmetric DSL (“SDSL”) service, a high speed voice and data link service, a rate-adaptive DSL (“RADSL”) service, a very high bit rate DSL (“VDSL,” “VDSL2,” or “VDSL2-Vplus”), a uni-DSL (“UDSL”) service, a frequency division vectoring service, a microwave radio service, a millimeter-wave radio service, a free-space optical service, a data over cable service interface specification (“DOCSIS”)—based cable service, or a fixed backhaul wireless service.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of wireless network nodes are associated with wireless communications comprising at least one of machine-to-machine Internet of Things (“IoT”) communications, Bluetooth communications, Z-wave communications, ZigBee communications, WiFi communications, or cellular network communications.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
repeating the processes of:
monitoring the one or more first operational states of each of the plurality of fixed broadband network nodes;
monitoring the one or more second operational states of each of the plurality of wireless network nodes; and
analyzing the monitored one or more first operations states of each of the plurality of fixed broadband network nodes and the monitored one or more second operational states of each of the plurality of wireless network nodes;

determining, with the computing system, a second optimal network pathway from the service provider facility to one or more wireless endpoint devices, through a determined third combination of fixed and wireless network nodes, based on the repeated analysis of the monitored one or more first operational states and the monitored one or more second operational states;
determining, with the computing system, whether the optimal network pathway and the second optimal network

Assignees

• Centurylink Ip Llc

Inventors

• Schwengler Thomas
• Opferman Stephen

Classifications

• H04W24/02

  Arrangements for optimising operational condition · CPC title

• H04L45/28

  using route fault recovery · CPC title

• H04W84/18

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

• H04L45/22 Primary

  Alternate routing · CPC title

• H04L41/12

  Discovery or management of network topologies · CPC title