# US 12,604,210 B2 · Small cell deployment > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,604,210 B2 - Document ID: US12604210B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 18/448,711 - Filed: 2023-08-11 - Published: 2024-03-21 - Granted: 2026-04-14 - Earliest claimed: 2022-08-11 - Applicants: IONX Networks Limited - Inventors: Andrew Guy Hobbs; Paul Nicholas Senior - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12604210B2 ## CPC - H04W 16/18: Network planning tools - H04B 17/328: {Reference signal received power [RSRP]; Reference signal received quality [RSRQ]} - H04B 17/336: Signal-to-interference ratio [SIR] or carrier-to-interference ratio [CIR] - H04W 24/02: Arrangements for optimising operational condition - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) - H04B: TRANSMISSION ## Abstract A computer-implemented method for determining information for the deployment of one or more small cells into an existing MNO network, the method comprising: retrieving a spatial map of building locations; retrieving a plurality of sensor data on the MNO network collected from a plurality of mobile network devices, wherein the sensor data comprises a measurement location; processing the plurality of sensor data and the spatial map of building locations to generate a spatial map of performance and/or usage characteristics of the MNO network. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A computer-implemented method for determining information for the deployment of one or more small cells into an existing Mobile Network Operator (MNO) network, the method comprising: retrieving a spatial map of building locations; retrieving a plurality of sensor data on the MNO network collected from a plurality of mobile network devices, wherein the sensor data comprises a measurement location; processing the plurality of sensor data and the spatial map of building locations to generate a spatial map of performance and/or usage characteristics of the MNO network; generating a deployment plan based on the generated spatial map of performance and/or usage characteristics of the MNO network, wherein the deployment plan identifies locations for adding one or more cell sites; and generating a predicted spatial map of characteristics after deployment of the one or more cell sites based on the plurality of sensor data, the spatial map of building locations and a predictive model. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the plurality of sensor data comprises accessing a database storing one or more of the plurality of sensor data and/or comprises receiving one or more of the plurality of sensor data from one or more of the plurality of mobile network devices. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor data comprises one or more of frequency band, Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), downloaded bits per second, uploaded bits per second, downloaded bits, uploaded bits, and carrier identification. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensor data comprises more than 1 billion measurement points. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of the plurality of mobile network devices comprise user equipment and/or small cells. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the processing comprises homogenising the sensor data into a standardised format. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the processing comprises extrapolating from the plurality of sensor data to measurement locations beyond the measurement location present in the plurality of sensor data. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the processing comprises correlating between two or more types of sensor data to generate a synthetic measurement. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristics comprise coverage, signal quality, percentage dropped traffic, average traffic, peak traffic and/or network usage. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor data comprises a measurement time, and wherein the characteristics are generated as a time-varying spatial map, and optionally wherein the spatial map is generated by time of day, and/or the spatial map is generated by time and day of the week, and/or the spatial map is generated by time of year. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising retrieving a spatial map of weather conditions, wherein the characteristics are generated as a weather-varying spatial map and wherein the generation of the spatial map is generated by processing the spatial map of weather conditions in conjunction with the plurality of sensor data and the spatial map of building locations. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the spatial map of performance and/or usage characteristics of the MNO network provides characteristics at a configurable hexbin, per building or finer granularity. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein sensor data is collected on a plurality of MNO networks and the spatial map of performance and/or usage characteristics of the MNO network is generated for each MNO network. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more cell sites are one or more small cell sites. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the deployment plan specifies locations for the one or more cell sites where the MNO network has one or more poor performance characteristics, and optionally wherein sensor data is collected on a plurality of MNO networks and the spatial map of characteristics is generated for each MNO network, and wherein the deployment plan specifies locations for the one or more cell sites where two or more of the MNO networks have one or more poor performance characteristics. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: retrieving a second plurality of sensor data on the MNO network collected from a plurality of mobile network devices after deployment of one or more cell sites into the MNO network, wherein the sensor data comprises a measurement location; processing the second plurality of sensor data and the spatial map of building locations to generate a second spatial map of second performance and/or usage characteristics of the MNO network; and optionally further comprising generating a comparative spatial map of differences in characteristics between the spatial map and the second spatial map. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, further comprising: generating a comparative map of the differences in characteristics between the predicted spatial map and the second spatial map; and optionally further comprising updating the predictive model using the comparative map of the differences in characteristics between the predicted spatial map and the second spatial map. ### Claim 18 A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions for controlling an electronic device to: retrieve a spatial map of building locations; retrieve a plurality of sensor data on a Mobile Network Operator (MNO) network collected from a plurality of mobile network devices, wherein the sensor data comprises a measurement location; process the plurality of sensor data and the spatial map of building locations to generate a spatial map of performance and/or usage characteristics of the MNO network; generate a deployment plan based on the generated spatial map of performance and/or usage characteristics of the MNO network, wherein the deployment plan identifies locations for adding one or more cell sites; and generate a predicted spatial map of characteristics after deployment of the one or more cell sites based on the plurality of sensor data, the spatial map of building locations and a predictive model. ### Claim 19 An electronic device comprising: processing circuitry to perform data processing; and data storage storing at least one computer program for controlling the processing circuitry to: retrieve a spatial map of building locations; retrieve a plurality of sensor data on a Mobile Network Operator (MNO) network collected from a plurality of mobile network devices, wherein the sensor data comprises a measurement location; process the plurality of sensor data and the spatial map of building locations to generate a spatial map of performance and/or usage characteristics of the MNO network; generate a deployment plan based on the generated spatial map of performance and/or usage characteristics of the MNO network, wherein the deployment plan identifies locations for adding one or more cell sites; and generate a predicted spatial map of characteristics after deployment of the one or more cell sites based on the plurality of sensor data, the spatial map of building locations and a predictive model.