Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Programming control
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-26
2002-01-15
Trost, William (Department: 2683)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Programming control
C455S423000, C455S507000, C370S230000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06339705
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the telecommunications field and, in particular, to a method and system for managing radio base station (RBS) resources in a cellular communications network.
2. Description of Related Art
The radio air interface of the upcoming third generation mobile communication systems is presently being defined by the standardization committees of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The ETSI third generation system is called the Universal Mobile Telephone System (UMTS), while the ITU system is called the International Mobile Telephone 2000 (IMT 2000).
FIG. 1
is a diagram that illustrates the nodes or network elements and certain interfaces in a third generation cellular radio network (e.g., UMTS) as presently defined by the ETSI.
In accordance with the ETSI definition, the network
100
shown in
FIG. 1
includes a mobile station
102
connected to one or more base stations
104
a-n
and/or
105
a-n
by a call control interface Uu
103
. Each base station
104
a-n
and
105
a-n
is connected to a radio network controller (RNC)
106
or
108
by a respective traffic control interface Iub
107
a-n
or
109
a-n
. The RNCs
106
and
108
are connected to each other by an RNC interface Iur
110
, and to a mobile services switching center (MSC)
112
by a respective traffic control interface Iu
111
and
113
. The traffic control interfaces Iub
107
a-n
and
109
a-n
function primarily for ordering the BSs to set up radio connections to one or more MSs.
In addition to the interfaces shown in
FIG. 1
, which are used for call control, connection control, and radio network control, the network
100
also includes interfaces (not shown) used for management of the resources of the network and the nodes. As such, the term “management” in this context includes all of the control functions that are not directly related to the handling of calls and connections, such as, for example, network and network element configuration, fault and alarm supervision, performance monitoring, and collection of performance statistics data.
The ETSI has decided that the interfaces shown in
FIG. 1
shall be standardized, so that it will be possible for a cellular network operator to purchase the network nodes (BSs, RNCs, MSC) from different system manufacturers (vendors). The process of standardizing the Iu, Iur and Iub traffic control interfaces has already begun. As such, these interfaces are based on known techniques, which have also been used for the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). All messages to be transferred over these interfaces are defined in the pertinent standard.
FIG. 2
is a diagram that illustrates a significant problem that exists for the developing third generation systems. Essentially, the problem is how to design the management interfaces, Mu, so that the management of a network with different vendors' BSs will be efficient.
FIG. 2
shows a portion of the network
100
in
FIG. 1
but in more detail. As shown in this illustrative example, the BSs
104
a
and
104
b
are from two different vendors and connected to another vendor's RNC (
106
). These connections have been made possible because the Iub interfaces
107
a
and
107
b
to the RNC
106
have been standardized and are exactly the same for both BSs. However, as described in more detail below, the management interfaces, Mub
1
(
116
a
) and Mub
2
(
116
b
), to a network operation center (e.g., Base Station Manager or BSM)
114
cannot be completely standardized. The above-described problem is further complicated, because the BSM
114
is from yet another different vendor.
For example, the messages to be transferred over the management interfaces, Mub, fall into two different categories: (1) standardized messages, which are used for the management of implementation-independent “managed objects”; and (2) vendor-specific messages, which are used for configuration, supervision and monitoring of the internal system components of the BSs, such as, for example, processors and switches. Currently, these messages cannot be specified in a standard, because the system components are implemented differently in the different vendors' BSs (and also in different types of BSs from a same vendor). One conclusion that can be made is that the interfaces, Mub
1
(
116
a
) and Mub
2
(
116
b
), can be used to transfer both standardized and vendor-specific messages. As such, each such Mub interface has one part that can be standardized, and one part that is different for BSs from different vendors.
Clearly, the network architecture shown in
FIG. 2
has a fundamental problem, in that the Mub interfaces between the BSs (
104
a
and
104
b
) and the BSM
114
are not completely standardized. Also, some of the messages to be conveyed over these management interfaces are vendor-specific. Consequently, it is virtually impossible to design one “state of the art” BSM that can handle the management of BSs of all different vendors.
A possible solution to the problem of non-standardized interfaces between such nodes is to split the Mub interfaces so that the standardized messages are sent to a common BSM, while the non-standard messages are sent to BSMs that are designed specifically for each type of BS provided by different system vendors. As such, what can be considered a “state of the art” third generation cellular network architecture is shown in FIG.
3
.
FIG. 3
is a diagram that illustrates a proposed standard architecture for a third generation cellular network referred to as the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). The proposed UTRAN network management architecture shown in
FIG. 3
includes a BSM System
115
in a multi-vendor UTRAN environment. The BSM System
115
includes a common BSM
common
114
from vendor
4
, a different BSM
1
118
from vendor
1
, and yet another different BSM
2
120
from vendor
2
. As shown, the main difference between the architectures shown in
FIGS. 2 and 3
is that
FIG. 3
splits the Mub interfaces so that the standardized messages are sent to a common BSM, while the non-standard messages are sent to the different vendors' BSMs. In other words, non-standard messages are sent between the BS
104
a
and the vendor-specific BSM
1
118
, and between the BS
104
b
and the vendor-specific BSM
2
120
via the management interfaces Mub
1
116
a
and Mub
2
116
b
, respectively. The standard messages are sent between the two BSs
104
a
and
104
b
and the common BSM
common
114
via the management interfaces Mub
1
116
a
and Mub
2
116
b
, respectively, and then split off and sent via a standard management interface Mub
standard
117
to the common BSM
common
114
.
FIG. 4
is a diagram that illustrates an existing Base Station Subsystem (BSS) management architecture for the GSM in a multi-vendor environment. Clearly, the proposed UTRAN BSM management architecture shown in FIG.
3
is much more advanced than the GSM BSS management architecture shown in FIG.
4
. For example, a GSM Abis interface contains both a standardized call handling interface (comparable to Iub in
FIG. 3
) and a management interface (comparable to Mub). However, the GSM network architecture is not very efficient, because the two BSMs (BSM
1
, BSM
2
) shown in
FIG. 4
must be implemented in the BSC node and it is not possible to implement them separately (unlike the configuration shown in FIG.
3
).
The GSM management architecture shown in
FIG. 4
has severe shortcomings. For example, as a practical matter, it is virtually impossible to connect different vendors' BSs to the same BSC (similar to an RNC in the UMTS). The reason for this shortcoming is that most cellular equipment manufacturers have designed their GSM systems so that the BSMs for their respective BSs are executed on a proprietary (non-standard) computer system. In most cases, this proprietary computer system is the same one used for the traffic control functions
Gesesse Tilahun
Jenkens & Gilchrist PC
Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
Trost William
LandOfFree
Management of multiple types of radio base stations in a... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Management of multiple types of radio base stations in a..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Management of multiple types of radio base stations in a... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2818291