Access areas in a mobile system
View Patent ↗A method of managing access areas in a communication system is disclosed. In the method information regarding a detected access area is received from at least one mobile device, the detected access area being an access area that is not included in a set of available access areas. Potential of the detected access area is then predicted based on the information received from the at least one mobile device. A decision is then made, based on the predicted potential, if the detected access area can be included into the set of available access areas.
1. A method comprising:
receiving a handover message from at least one mobile device located in an area covered by the detected access area and an access area for which a set of available access areas is maintained, the detected access area being an access area that is not included in the set of available access areas;
determining, based on at least the handover message, a size of an overlap between the detected access area and the access area for which the set of available access areas is maintained;
predicting potential of the detected access area based on at least the handover message received from the at least one mobile device, wherein the predicted potential is determined based on the size of the overlap, wherein as the size increases, the predicted potential of the detected area increases a likelihood that the detected access area is added to the set of available access areas, wherein the predicting of the potential comprises weighting information included in the handover message, and wherein the information included in the handover message comprises a quantity of handover reports; and
deciding, based on the predicted potential, whether to include the detected access area in the set of available access areas.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , comprising ranking the access areas taking into account the predicted potential of the detected access area.
3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein predicting the potential comprises predicting the potential of a detected missing neighbor cell of a cellular system.
4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the detected access area comprises a detected missing neighbor of a cellular system, and the deciding comprises deciding if the detected missing neighbor can be included into a list of neighbor cells maintained for a cell that overlaps with said detected missing neighbor.
5. The method as claimed in claim 4 , comprising sending of the updated list of neighbor cells to mobile devices within said cell overlapping with the detected missing neighbor.
6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , comprising enabling reporting of handover messages for access areas that are not included in the set of available access areas.
7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the predicting of the potential comprises analyzing information received in handover reports and detected set reporting reports.
8. The method as claimed in claim 1 , comprising receiving and analyzing information of radio measurements from the at least one mobile device.
9. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the predicting comprises predicting of the potential by separately analyzing the detected access area in a plurality of subareas, wherein the performance in a first subarea is analyzed based on a different analysis than the performance in a second subarea.
10. The method as claimed in claim 1 , comprising: normalizing said information from the mobile device; and
predicting the potential of the detected access area based on the normalized information.
11. The method as claimed in claim 1 , comprising continuously managing the set of available access areas based on the predictions.
12. The method as claimed in claim 1 , comprising managing the set of available access areas only in response to a predefined event.
13. An apparatus comprising:
an interface configured to receive a handover message from at least one mobile device located in an area covered by the detected access area and an access area for which a set of available access areas is maintained, the detected access area being an access area that is not included in the set of available access areas; and
a processor configured to
determine, based on at least the handover message, a size of an overlap between the detected access area and the access area for which the set of available access areas is maintained,
predict potential of the detected access area based on at least the handover message received from the at least one mobile device, wherein the predicted potential is determined based on the size of the overlap, wherein as the size increases, the predicted potential of the detected area increases a likelihood that the detected access area is added to the set of available access areas, wherein the predicting of the potential comprises weighting information included in the handover message, and wherein the information included in the handover message comprises a quantity of handover reports, and
decide, based on the predicted potential, whether to include the detected access area in the set of available access areas.
14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the processor is configured to rank available access areas taking into account the predicted potential of the detected access area.
15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the detected access area comprises a detected missing neighbor cell of a cellular system.
16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the detected access area comprises a detected missing neighbor of a cellular system, and the processor is configured to decide if the detected missing neighbor can be included into a list of neighbor cells maintained for a cell that overlaps with said detected missing neighbour.
17. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the apparatus is configured to enable reporting of handover messages by mobile devices for access areas that are not included in the set of available access areas.
18. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 , configured to analyze information received in handover reports and detected set reporting reports.
19. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the processor is configured to predict the potential of a detected access area by analyzing the detected access area in a plurality of subareas, wherein the performance in a first subarea is analyzed based on a different analysis than the performance in a second subarea.
20. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 , configured to continuously manage the set of available access areas based on the predictions.
21. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 being provided in association with one of an access network controller of a communication system and an access network management tool.
22. A non-transitory computer program embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the computer program configured to provide a method comprising:
receiving a handover message from at least one mobile device located in an area covered by the detected access area and an access area for which a set of available access areas is maintained, the detected access area being an access area that is not included in the set of available access areas;
determining, based on at least the handover message, a size of an overlap between the detected access area and the access area for which the set of available access areas is maintained;
predicting potential of the detected access area based on at least the handover message received from the at least one mobile device, wherein the predicted potential is determined based on the size of the overlap, wherein as the size increases, the predicted potential of the detected area increases a likelihood that the detected access area is added to the set of available access areas, wherein the predicting of the potential comprises weighting information included in the handover message, and wherein the information included in the handover message comprises a quantity of handover reports; and
deciding, based on the predicted potential, whether to include the detected access area in the set of available access areas.