System, method, and computer program product for determining placement of a small cell in a location within a cellular network
A system, method, and computer program product can determine a need to place a small cell in a particular location covered by a cellular network. Accordingly usage of a network resource by one or more user devices within the confinement of a particular location can be recorded. When the usage exceeds a predetermined threshold for that network resource, and upon determination that such an area could be better served by a small cell, a notification can be generated of the location and the one or more user devices so that such a small cell, such as, e.g., but not limited to, a femtocell, can be effectively placed in the location. In certain embodiments, an area representative of a plurality of user devices may be determined. In such embodiments, the location can be determined within the area.
1. A computerized method for determining the need to place a small cell in a geographic location within a cellular network for handling at least a portion of a cellular network traffic with respect to a cellular network resource, the method comprising:
identifying, by at least one computer processor, at least one user device, the at least one user device communicatively coupled to the cellular network resource via a cell of the cellular network;
determining, by the at least one computer processor, a physical geographic location of the at least one user device;
collecting information, by the at least one computer processor, related to usage of the cellular network resource by the at least one user device;
generating, by the at least one computer processor, an electronic notification to place a small cell in the physical geographic location, upon determination based on the collected information that a usage threshold relating to the cellular network resource was crossed,
wherein said usage threshold comprises at least one of:
a predetermined percentage, fraction, or portion of total available bandwidth within a given time period;
a single user device requiring greater than a predetermined percentage, fraction, or portion of total bandwidth within a given time period; or
a single user device requiring greater than a predetermined percentage, fraction, or portion of total available usage of the cellular network resource within a given time period; and
transmitting, by the at least one processor, said electronic notification to place said small cell in the physical geographic location,
wherein said small cell once placed comprises:
a cell in a cellular network served by a low power cellular base station,
said low power cellular base station covering a limited area, and
said small cell comprising at least one of:
a microcell,
a picocell, or
a femtocell; and
wherein said determining comprises:
determining, by the at least one processor, an area from a plurality of physical geographic locations of a plurality of said user devices, to be used to place said small cell within the area, and to be included in said electronic notification generated; and
storing a list of said plurality of said physical geographic locations in which to place said small cell.
2. The computerized method of claim 1 , further comprising determining, by the at least a processor, the usage threshold.
3. The computerized method of claim 2 , wherein determining the usage threshold further comprises determining, by the at least a processor, a bandwidth provided by the network resource to the at least a user device.
4. The computerized method of claim 2 , wherein determining the usage threshold further comprises determining, by the at least a processor, an amount of data provided by the cellular network resource to the at least a user device within a time frame.
5. The computerized method of claim 2 , wherein determining the usage threshold further comprises determining, by the at least a processor, the strength of the radio frequency (RF) signal provided to the at least a user device.
6. The computerized method of claim 1 , further comprising:
wherein said at least one user device comprises:
a plurality of said user devices; and
wherein said physical geographic location comprises:
a plurality of said physical geographic locations, each corresponding to each of said plurality of said user devices.
7. A system for determining the need to place a small cell in a location within a cellular network for handling at least a portion of cellular network traffic with respect to a cellular network resource, comprising:
a placement computing device comprising:
a computer processing unit;
a network interface communicatively coupled to the computer processing unit;
a memory communicatively coupled to the processing unit, the memory containing instructions that when executed by the computer processing unit configure the system to:
identify at least one user device, the at least one user device communicatively coupled to the cellular network resource via a cell of the cellular network;
determine a physical geographic location of the at least one user device;
collect information related to the usage of the cellular network resource by the at least one user device; and
generate an electronic notification to place a small cell in the physical geographic location, upon determination based on the collected information that a usage threshold of the cellular network resource was crossed,
wherein said usage threshold comprises at least one of:
a predetermined percentage, fraction, or portion of total available bandwidth within a given time period;
a single user device requiring greater than a predetermined percentage, fraction, or portion of total bandwidth within a given time period; or
a single user device requiring greater than a predetermined percentage, fraction, or portion of total available usage of the cellular network resource within a given time period; and
transmit said electronic notification to place said small cell in the physical geographic location,
wherein said small cell once placed comprises:
a cell in a cellular network served by a low power cellular base station,
said low power cellular base station covers a limited area, and
said small cell comprising at least one of:
a microcell,
a picocell, or
a femtocell; and
wherein said instructions to determine comprise:
instructions that when executed by the computer processing unit configure the system to:
determine an area from a plurality of said physical geographic locations of a plurality of user devices, to be used to place said small cell within the area, and to be included in said electronic notification generated; and
store a list in the memory of said plurality of said physical geographic locations in which to place said small cell.
8. The system of claim 7 , further comprising instructions that when executed by the processing unit configure the system to determine the usage threshold.
9. The system of claim 8 , further comprising instructions that when executed by the processing unit configure the system to determine a bandwidth provided by the network resource to the at least a user device.
10. The system of claim 8 , further comprising instructions that when executed by the processing unit configure the system to determine an amount of data provided by the network resource to the at least a user device within a time frame.
11. The system of claim 8 , further comprising instructions that when executed by the processing unit configure the system to determine the strength of the radio frequency (RF) signal provided to the at least a user device.
12. The system of claim 7 , further comprising:
wherein said at least one user device comprises:
a plurality of said user devices; and
wherein said physical geographic location comprises:
a plurality of said physical geographic locations, each corresponding to each of said plurality of said user devices.
13. A computer program product embodied on a nontransitory computer accessible medium, the computer program product comprising instructions, which when executed by a computer processing unit, performs a method of determining the need to place a small cell in a geographic location within a cellular network for handling at least a portion of a cellular network traffic with respect to a cellular network resource, the method comprising:
identifying at least one user device, the at least one user device communicatively coupled to the cellular network resource via a cell of the cellular network;
determining a physical geographic location of the at least one user device;
collecting information related to usage of the cellular network resource by the at least one user device; and
generating an electronic notification to place a small cell in the physical geographic location, upon determination based on the collected information that a usage threshold relating to the cellular network resource was crossed,
wherein said usage threshold comprises at least one of:
a predetermined percentage, fraction, or portion of total available bandwidth within a given time period;
a single user device requiring greater than a predetermined percentage, fraction, or portion of total bandwidth within a given time period; or
a single user device requiring greater than a predetermined percentage, fraction, or portion of total available usage of the cellular network resource within a given time period; and
transmitting, by the at least one processor, said electronic notification to place said small cell in the physical geographic location,
wherein said small cell once placed comprises:
a cell in a cellular network served by a low power cellular base station,
said low power cellular base station covering a limited area, and
said small cell comprising at least one of:
a microcell,
a picocell, or
a femtocell; and
wherein said determining comprises:
determining an area from a plurality of said physical geographic locations of a plurality of said user devices, to be used to place said small cell within the area, and to be included in said electronic notification generated; and
storing a list of said plurality of said physical geographic locations in which to place said small cell.
14. The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises: determining the usage threshold.
15. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the determining the usage threshold of the method further comprises determining a bandwidth provided by the network resource to the at least a user device.
16. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the determining the usage threshold of the method further comprises determining an amount of data provided by the cellular network resource to the at least a user device within a time frame.
17. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein determining the usage threshold of the method further comprises determining the strength of the radio frequency (RF) signal provided to the at least a user device.
18. The computer program product of claim 13 , further comprising:
wherein the method comprises wherein said at least one user device comprises:
a plurality of said user devices; and
wherein said physical geographic location comprises:
a plurality of said physical geographic locations, each corresponding to each of said plurality of said user devices.
19. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
wherein each of said user devices is associated with both of:
said cellular network; and
a small cell network of said small cell added in response to said generated notification; and
wherein said identifying, said determining, said collecting, said generating, and said transmitting are performed by the at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is part of a placement server device coupled to said cellular network and said small cell network.
20. The computerized method of claim 19 ,
wherein said physical geographic location for placement of said small cell network is indoors; and
wherein said small cell network is not a Wi-Fi network.