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AssigneeTelefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
InventorAnna-Sofie Bark
Estimating the term…
A method is disclosed for performing a reconfiguration of a cellular telecommunications network, for example in the event that a base station becomes inoperative, or if it becomes necessary to increase traffic capacity by splitting a cell. Each base station controller, and an operator support system, each include a database containing prestored sets of parameters or cell profiles. If one of these stored cell profiles is suitable for use in a reconfiguration, it can be selected at the operator support system, and then retrieved from the database in each affected base station controller. This avoids the need to carry out consistency checks on the cell profile, because it will have been checked before being stored. Moreover, only a simple command needs to be sent to the base station controller, and it is not necessary to transmit the complete file containing all of the cell parameters. Thus reconfigurations can be carried out more efficiently.
A method of reconfiguration in a cellular telephone network, the method comprising the steps of:
A method of reconfiguring a cellular telecommunications network including a plurality of base station controllers and a control location, the method comprising the steps of:
A method of reconfiguring a cellular telecommunications network including a plurality of base station controllers and a control location, the method comprising the steps of:
A method of operation of a cellular telephone network, the method comprising:
A base station controller, for use in a cellular telecommunications network, the base station controller comprising a database containing a plurality of cell profiles, and means for accessing the cell profiles in response to a command from a system controller indicative of a given cell profile so that reconfiguration may be performed by the base station controller without the base station controller having to receive said given cell profile from said system controller during said reconfiguration, and means for transmitting data to base stations.
A system controller, for use in a cellular telecommunications network, the system controller comprising a database containing a plurality of cell profiles, and means for accessing the cell profiles in response to a command from an operator, and means for transmitting data to base station controllers indicative of a given cell profile so that reconfiguration may be performed by base station controllers without the base station controllers having to receive said given cell profile from said system controller during said reconfiguration.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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No related US applications are recorded in the indexed filing history.
Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements: arrangements for optimising operational condition
Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements: arrangements for maintaining operational condition
Wireless communication networks
Term ended 18 Aug 2018 (estimated)
USPTO file history isn’t available for this patent, so only indexed dates are shown.
This invention relates to the management of a cellular radio telephone system. More particularly, the invention relates to a method of reconfiguration of such a system, for example as a result of changing traffic requirements, and to apparatus which permits the use of such a method.
A cellular mobile telecommunications system divides the geographical area which it covers into a plurality of cells. Each cell typically includes a base station (alternatively, each base station may serve more than one cell), and the different base stations are each connected to a base station controller which can transmit commands to the various base stations.
In use of such a system, situations arise in which it becomes necessary to reconfigure the system. For example, if a base station becomes inoperative, traffic in the cell or cells associated therewith must be reassigned to other base stations. On the other hand, cells may need to be split, either because of a general increase in the number of subscribers using the system, or because of a temporary increase in the number of subscribers present in one particular cell. Splitting the cell then increases the traffic capacity in the area served by that cell.
FIG. 1 is a block schematic diagram of a cellular communications network in accordance with the invention.
FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a reconfiguration process in accordance with another aspect of the invention.
The network of FIG. 1 includes an administration centre, or operator support system (OSS) 2, which communicates with the base station controllers (ESC) 4, 6, 8, of which only three are shown in the Figure.
Each base station controller communicates with respective base stations (BS) 10, 12, 14. Again, only three base stations are shown in FIG. 1, although it will be appreciated that these are representative of many more such base stations present in the network. Connected to the operator support system 2 is a terminal 16, for operator input of data, commands, etc.
It will be noted that the operator support system 2, and each base station controller 4, 6, 8 includes a respective database DB, which contains a set of files, each of which contains a default value for each of the cell parameters. The different files can contain profiles with different parameter values, to take account of the different ways in which the system may be reconfigured. The parameters making up a cell profile may include: cell measurement data, cell description data, signal strength data, base station power data, cell neighbouring relations, and cell configuration frequency data.