Femtocell measurements for macro beam steering

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9980285-B2
Application number	US-201715453841-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 8, 2017
Priority date	Oct 13, 2011
Publication date	May 22, 2018
Grant date	May 22, 2018

Abstract

Attachment data collected by a set of femto access points (FAPs) is utilized to localize, predict, and/or weight potential wireless communication traffic within and between areas. Moreover, the attachment data can be indicative of user equipment (UE) density/traffic within coverage areas of respective femtocells. The attachment data can be consolidated and analyzed to identify location and motion of a UE “swarm”. Moreover an automatic cell planning (ACP) component can be employed to utilize the attachment data for determining an optimal macro site and optimal antenna setting(s) that facilitate steering/tuning the macro antenna beam to focus upon the swarm area. In addition, the ACP component can facilitate reconfiguration of the macro antenna beam as reported swarm concentrations shift between the FAPs.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
receiving request data indicative of access requests from respective user equipment for connection to a femto access point device of a network during a specified time period; and
directing, to a network device of the network, frequency data representing a frequency of the access requests,
wherein the frequency data is employable to facilitate steering of a direction of an antenna beam of an antenna of a macro access point device of the network, towards an area associated with the femto access point device, and
wherein subsequent to steering of the direction, facilitating a measurement of a radio environment of the femto access point device in response to receiving, from a user identity associated with the femto access point device, authorization data that authorizes the measurement.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the receiving comprises receiving the request data indicative of the access requests from the respective user equipment that have been authorized to communicate via the femto access point device.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the receiving comprises receiving the request data indicative of the access requests from the respective user equipment that have been prohibited from communication via the femto access point device.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the receiving comprises receiving the request data indicative of the access requests from the respective user equipment having respective identifiers that are not stored within an access control data structure employable to control access to the femto access point device.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the directing comprises directing the frequency data in response to determining that the frequency data satisfies a defined frequency criterion.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the frequency data is employable to facilitate updating a parameter associated with a bearing of the antenna.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the macro access point device is determined to be located within a defined distance from the femto access point device.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the frequency data is employable to facilitate updating a parameter associated with a tilt of the antenna.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the facilitating the measurement comprises determining signal strength data indicative of a strength of a signal transmitted from the macro access point device.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the facilitating the measurement comprises determining downlink data indicative of a downlink rate of a signal transmitted from the macro access point device.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
directing, to the network device, measurement data indicative of the measurement.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the frequency data is employable to facilitate updating a transmission power of the antenna.

13. A method, comprising:
receiving, by a system comprising a processor, request data indicative of access requests from respective user equipment for connection to a femto access point device of a network; and
directing, by the system, attachment data to a network device of the network, wherein the attachment data represents a number of the access requests received by the femto access point device during a specified time period,
wherein the attachment data is employable to facilitate steering of a direction of an antenna beam of an antenna of a macro access point device of the network, towards an area associated with the femto access point device,
wherein subsequent to steering of the direction a measurement of a radio environment of the femto access point device is facilitated, and wherein the measurement is facilitated in response to receiving, from a user identity associated with the femto access point device, authorization data that authorizes the measurement.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the directing comprises directing the attachment data in response to determining that the number of the access requests is greater than a defined threshold.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the measurement generates measurement data and the method further comprises:
facilitating, by the system, a transmission of the measurement data to the network device.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the measurement data comprises determining signal strength data indicative of a strength of a signal transmitted from the macro access point device.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the measurement data comprises downlink data indicative of a downlink rate of a signal transmitted from the macro access point device.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the facilitating the transmission comprises facilitating the transmission to initiate an increase in a capacity of the macro access point device.

19. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
receiving request data indicative of access requests from respective user equipment to couple to a femto access point device of a network; and
facilitating a transmission of attachment data to a network device of the network,
wherein the attachment data represents a number of the access requests received by the femto access point device during a specified time period,
wherein the attachment data is employable to facilitate steering of a direction of an antenna beam of an antenna of a macro access point device of the network, towards an area associated with the femto access point device,
wherein subsequent to steering of the direction a measurement of a radio environment of the femto access point device is facilitated, and
wherein the measurement is facilitated in response to determining that authorization data that authorizes the measurement has been received from a user identity associated with the femto access point device.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the attachment data is employable to increase a capacity of the macro access point device.

Assignees

• At & T Mobility Ii Llc

Inventors

• Brisebois Arthur
• Causey Mark
• Luu Adrianne

Classifications

• H04W84/045

  using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B · CPC title

• H04W8/22

  Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities · CPC title

• H04B7/0617

  for beam forming · CPC title

• H04W24/02

  Arrangements for optimising operational condition · CPC title

• H04W16/28 Primary

  using beam steering · CPC title