Method and evolved node-b for geographic bin data collection and reporting

Abstract

Embodiments of an Evolved Node-B (eNB) and method for collecting and reporting data related to a coverage area in a wireless network are generally described herein. The eNB may be configured to track geographic bin information for one or more User Equipment (UEs). The eNB may comprise hardware processing circuitry configured to, for each of the UEs, measure an angle of arrival for the UE and a propagation delay for the UE, and to select a geographic bin for the UE from a set of candidate geographic bins. The hardware processing circuitry may be further configured to send, for each of the candidate geographic bins, performance data for the candidate geographic bin to the TCE when a number of UEs for which the candidate geographic bin is selected is not less than a UE distribution threshold.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus of an evolved Node-B (eNB) comprising:
 memory; and   processing circuitry connected with the memory and configured to:
 periodically perform bin measurements on signals from connected mode user equipment (UEs) in two-dimensional bins, the bins associated with an angle of arrival (AoA) and a Timing Advance (TA); 
 determine whether to take corrective action based on collected information of the bins; and 
 in response to a determination to take corrective action, take a corrective action indicated by the collected information. 
   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
 detect a change of at least one of UE distribution or environmental situation across the bins, and   in response to detection of the change, take a corrective action of cell size adaption based on a traffic demand distribution indicated by the change.   
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
 collect at least one of UE information, network information and environmental information; and   make an adjustment determination based on a UE distribution across the bins and the at least one of UE information, network information and environmental information.   
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the at least one of UE information, network information and environmental information comprises at least one of:
 signal power or signal quality received at a UE,   packet characteristics including throughput, delay, drop, loss rate and data volume,   Radio Link Failure (RLF) events, Radio Resource Control (RRC) setup failure reports and random access performance measurements.   
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the bins are uniformly scaled such that the bins are associated with the same propagation delay. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the bins are non-uniformly scaled such that the bins associated with longer propagation delays have smaller angular coverage values. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
 collect at least one of Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) measurements, Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) measurements, Radio Link Failure (RLF) event reports, Radio Resource Control (RRC) setup failure reports and random access performance measurements for UEs in at least some of the bins; and   correlate Minimization of Drive Testing (MDT) data and RLF report data to analyze whether a RLF is caused by an uplink coverage issue.   
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
 collect Inter-Radio Access Technology (RAT) measurements including Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) measurements, Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) measurements, cell identification, location, and time stamp at a time of Inter-RAT handover for UEs in at least some of the bins; and   identify a coverage hole through the Inter-RAT measurements.   
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
 receive a logged Resource Control Enforcement Function (RCEF) report from UEs in at least some of the bins that indicates failure by the UEs to establish an RRC connection; and   combine the RCEF report with measurement data that is connected to the failure, the measurement data comprising a Radio Link Failure (RLF) event report, Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) measurements, Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) measurements, and network conditions prior to and when the failure occurred to determine whether to take a corrective action of adjustment of the at least one of capacity, parameters or a coverage area.   
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
 collect information about radio quality and combine the information about radio quality with UE performance for UEs in at least some of the bins; and   based on the combination, decide whether to take a corrective action of change of at least one of a signal strength of a cell or of an interfering nearby cell to improve radio link quality.   
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
 determine a number of UEs within at least one of the bins; and   in response to a determination that the number of UEs exceeds a threshold for a particular bin, take further corrective action related to the UEs in the particular bin.   
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
 decode a Minimization of Drive Test (MDT) control message that includes an MDT activation parameter and a bin information element (IE) from a Mobility Management Entity (MME); and   separate a geographical area covered by the eNB into the bins based on the bin IE.   
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the bin IE comprises at least one of:
 an AoA scale parameter to configure a coverage area of the eNB into the bins, a value of the AoA scale parameter comprising at least one of an angle scale or angle resolution to divide the coverage area into the bins or a number of angles into which the coverage area is to be divided, and   a propagation delay scale parameter to configure the coverage area of the eNB into the bins and to characterize a distance between each bin and the eNB, a value of the propagation delay scale parameter comprising at least one of a propagation delay, a distance scale or resolution to divide the coverage area into the bins.   
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein:
 the bin IE comprises an angle of arrival window average parameter and a propagation delay window average parameter, the angle of arrival window average parameter and the propagation delay window average parameter comprising an angle scale, angle resolution, delay scale, delay resolution, and numbers that specify a window size in an angular or radial direction, and   the processing circuitry is further configured to average measurements taken in one or more adjacent bins by averaging individual bin averages of the bins across the one or more adjacent bins using a zoomed-out moving average, a number of adjacent bins to be used in the zoomed-out moving average indicated by the angle of arrival window average parameter and the propagation delay window average parameter.   
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein:
 the zoomed-out moving average of a set of bins is selected from among bins adjacent to and entirely surrounding a particular bin, bins adjacent to the particular bin only in a radial direction from the eNB and bins adjacent to the particular bin only in an angular direction from the eNB.   
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the bin IE comprises at least one of:
 a UE distribution compute parameter that indicates whether the eNB is to measure or perform computations related to a UE distribution,   a binary signal power indicator bin compute parameter and a binary signal quality indicator bin compute parameter that indicates whether the eNB is to perform averaging computations on a received signal power indicator or received signal quality indicator of UEs in each bin,   a UE distribution threshold that indicates a threshold in terms of number or percentage of UEs to determine whether to report data in a particular bin to other network components,   a signal power indicator bin threshold and a signal quality indicator bin threshold that indicates a threshold to determine whether to report data in the particular bin to other network components.   a periodicity reporting parameter that indicates a period to report data to a network component,   a zoom function container that indicates whether to zoom in or zoom out on particular bins, and   a binary detailed location report parameter that indicates whether the eNB is to include detailed location information of the bins when reporting data to another network component.   
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to at least one of:
 take a corrective action of restriction of transmission of bin performance data for a set of bins to reduce a transmission frequency or eliminate the transmission in response to a determination that a number of UEs in the bin is less than a UE distribution threshold, or   take a corrective action of restriction of transmission of bin performance data for a set of bins to reduce a transmission frequency or eliminate the transmission in response to a determination that at least one of a bin average or a zoomed-out average of at least one of received signal power indicators or received signal quality indicators of UEs in the set of bins is less than an associated signal power indicator bin threshold or signal quality indicator bin threshold.   
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the memory is configured to store the bin measurements prior to a determination of whether to take corrective action.   
     
     
         19 . A method of obtaining User Equipment (UE) data, the method comprising:
 collecting information about UEs in a geographical area, the information comprising reference signal measurement and number of active UEs;   filtering the UE data from the UEs using a plurality of two-dimensional bins associated with a combination of an angle of arrival (AoA) and a Timing Advance of an uplink transmission of the UEs; and   determining that an additional action is to be taken based on a UE distribution within the bins and the reference signal measurements.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 detecting a change of at least one of the UE distribution or environmental situation, and   in response to detection of the change, periodically adapting cell sizes based on a traffic demand distribution indicated by the change.   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 collecting at least one of UE information, network information and environmental information; and   making an adjustment determination based on the UE distribution and the at least one of UE information, network information and environmental information.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the at least one of UE information, network information and environmental information comprises at least one of:
 signal power or signal quality received at a UE,   packet characteristics including throughput, delay, drop, loss rate and data volume,   Radio Link Failure (RLF) events, Radio Resource Control (RRC) setup failure reports and random access performance measurements.   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 collecting at least one of Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) measurements, Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) measurements, Radio Link Failure (RLF) event reports, Radio Resource Control (RRC) setup failure reports and random access performance measurements for UEs in at least some of the bins; and   correlating Minimization of Drive Testing (MDT) data and RLF report data to analyze whether a RLF is caused by an uplink coverage issue.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 collecting Inter-Radio Access Technology (RAT) measurements including Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) measurements, Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) measurements, cell identification, location, and time stamp at a time of Inter-RAT handover for UEs in at least some of the bins; and   identifying a coverage hole through the Inter-RAT measurements.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 receiving a logged Resource Control Enforcement Function (RCEF) report from UEs in at least some of the bins that indicates failure by the UEs to establish an RRC connection; and   combining the RCEF report with measurement data that is connected to the failure, the measurement data comprising a Radio Link Failure (RLF) event report, Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) measurements, Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) measurements, and network conditions prior to and when the failure occurred to determine whether to adjust the at least one of capacity, parameters or a coverage area.   
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 collecting information about radio quality and combine the information about radio quality with UE performance for UEs in at least some of the bins; and   based on the combination, deciding whether to change at least one of a signal strength of a cell or of an interfering nearby cell to improve radio link quality.   
     
     
         27 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors to perform operations for collecting and sending geographic bin performance data, the operations to configure the one or more processors to:
 periodically perform bin measurements on signals from connected mode user equipment (UEs) in two-dimensional bins, the bins associated with an angle of arrival (AoA) and a Timing Advance (TA); and   adapt at least one of cell coverage or capacity based on collected information in the bins, the collected information comprising a UE distribution in the bins.   
     
     
         28 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to  claim 27 , wherein the operations to further configure the one or more processors to:
 determine a number of UEs within at least one of the bins; and   in response to a determination that the number of UEs exceeds a threshold for a particular bin, take action related to the UEs in the particular bin.   
     
     
         29 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to  claim 27 , wherein the operations to further configure the one or more processors to:
 decode a Minimization of Drive Test (MDT) control message that includes an MDT activation parameter and a bin information element (IE) from a Mobility Management Entity (MME); and   separate a geographical area covered by the eNB into the bins based on the bin IE,   wherein the bin IE comprises at least one of:
 an AoA scale parameter to configure a coverage area of the eNB into the bins, a value of the AoA scale parameter comprising at least one of an angle scale or angle resolution to divide the coverage area into the bins or a number of angles into which the coverage area is to be divided, and 
 a propagation delay scale parameter to configure the coverage area of the eNB into the bins and to characterize a distance between each bin and the eNB, a value of the propagation delay scale parameter comprising at least one of a propagation delay, a distance scale or resolution to divide the coverage area into the bins. 
   
     
     
         30 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to  claim 29 , wherein:
 the bin IE comprises an angle of arrival window average parameter and a propagation delay window average parameter, the angle of arrival window average parameter and the propagation delay window average parameter comprising an angle scale, angle resolution, delay scale, delay resolution, and numbers that specify a window size in an angular or radial direction, and   the operations to further configure the one or more processors to average measurements taken in one or more adjacent bins by averaging individual bin averages of the bins across the one or more adjacent bins using a zoomed-out moving average, a number of adjacent bins to be used in the zoomed-out moving average indicated by the angle of arrival window average parameter and the propagation delay window average parameter, the zoomed-out moving average using a set of bins selected from among bins adjacent to and entirely surrounding a particular bin, bins adjacent to the particular bin only in a radial direction from the eNB and bins adjacent to the particular bin only in an angular direction from the eNB.   
     
     
         31 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to  claim 29 , wherein the operations to further configure the one or more processors to at least one of:
 restrict transmission of bin performance data for a set of bins to reduce a transmission frequency or eliminate the transmission in response to a determination that a number of UEs in the bin is less than a UE distribution threshold, or   restrict transmission of bin performance data for a set of bins to reduce a transmission frequency or eliminate the transmission in response to a determination that at least one of a bin average or a zoomed-out average of at least one of received signal power indicators or received signal quality indicators of UEs in the set of bins is less than an associated signal power indicator bin threshold or signal quality indicator bin threshold.