The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 06, 2001
Filed:
Apr. 28, 1999
Donald V. Hanley, McKinney, TX (US);
Nortel Networks Limited, Montreal, CA;
Abstract
The present invention is a centralized RF management system that controls RF channels in a cellular network. An RF management system is provided that combines multiple parameters in a way to improve the overall quality of service offered to mobile subscribers, while at the same time greatly simplifying the operator's RF engineering activities. The present invention is based on a “Quality Map” or Q-Map of the system. The Q-Map identifies, for a particular mobile at a particular point in time, the estimated quality of service the mobile would receive on each available RF channel in each available mode (i.e. analog, digital) at each available power level. The Q-map is created and updated based on information available from the cellular system, including signal strength measurements, interference, call activity and so on. In addition, each mobile is assigned a quality value (Q-value) that reflects it current quality of service. When a mobile unit's Q-value falls below an operator defined threshold (Q-min), the mobile unit's current Q-map is searched for the highest channel/mode/power level combination. If that Q-map value is greater than the mobile units current Q-value, then the unit is instructed to take the appropriate action (handoff, change mode, change power level, or a combination of these), resulting in an improved quality of service for the mobile.