WO2015101802A1

WO2015101802A1 - A system for determining subscriber density on wireless networks

Info

Publication number: WO2015101802A1
Application number: PCT/IB2013/061434
Authority: WO
Inventors: Burak CAKMAK; Ayberk CANSEVER
Original assignee: Turkcell Teknoloji Arastirma Ve Gelistirme A.S.
Priority date: 2013-12-31
Filing date: 2013-12-31
Publication date: 2015-07-09

Abstract

The present invention is basically related to a system (1) for determining subscriber density on wireless networks by locating mass subscribers. The said system (1) comprises BSC (2), MSC (3), RNC (4), SGSN (5), activity listener (6), ratio determination unit (7) and subscriber locator (8).

Description

A SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING SUBSCRIBER DENSITY ON

WIRELESS NETWORKS

Technical Field

The present invention is basically related to a system for determining subscriber density on wireless networks by locating mass subscribers.

Background of the Invention

Wireless network operators provide many services to their subscribers including voice call, short messaging and data services. One of the very important challenges in wireless networks is to locate subscribers. Nature of wireless signals makes it hard to determine the location of the subscribers as these signals propagate as long as their strength allows. There are various ways to accurately locate these subscribers like timing advance or assisted GPS (Global Positioning System) with the help of satellites. However both of these methods can be used for individual usage and causes extra signaling loads on the network. While interested in interested in mass human groups rather than individuals, it is not feasible to query network for millions of subscribers. Using such active methods is not efficient to retrieve location of huge group of subscribers.

Although there are some implementations for determining subscriber dense in state of art, they do not seem efficient implementations since those are based on post processing CDR (Call Detail Record) files. Post processing CDR files method has disadvantages as CDR files are transferred and processed in longer periods and it is based on chargeable usage activities, not other location change activities. To overcome this problem in retrieving location of huge group of subscribers and determining subscriber density on wireless networks, a solution which does not depend on active retrieval of subscriber locations on network and will not introduce signaling load is needed. With the implementation of such a solution in mobile networks, mass subscribers can be located effectively by passively monitoring all the radio resources for specific network activities mass subscribers can be located effectively.

The United States patent document no. US8208943, an application in the state of the art, discloses a system and method for tracking crowds of users are provided. In one embodiment, a central system, which includes one or more servers, operates to obtain current locations for users of mobile devices. Based on the current locations of the users, the central system forms crowd of users. As a result of movement of the users and corresponding location updates, the crowds move and change over time. In order to track at least some of the crowds, crowd snapshots for those crowds are created over time and stored. The crowd snapshots preferably maintain anonymity of the users in the crowd at the time the crowd snapshots are created. Thereafter, the crowd snapshots may be used to generate crowd tracking data for select crowds.

Summary of the Invention

An objective of the present invention is to provide a system for determination of subscriber density in wireless networks by passively monitoring all the network resources for specific network activities and locating subscribers in geographical polygons.

Description of the Invention "A System for Determining Subscriber Density on Wireless Networks" realized to fulfill the objectives of the present invention is shown in the figures attached, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of the inventive system.

Figure 2 is a figure indicating coverage areas as described in description part

The components illustrated in the figures are individually numbered, where the numbers refer to the following:

1. System

2. BSC (Base Station Controller)

3. MSC (Mobile Switching Center)

4. RNC (Radio Network Controller)

5. SGSN (Serving GPRS Support Node)

6. Activity listener

7. Ratio determination unit

8. Sub scrib er 1 ocator A system (1) which enables determining subscriber density on a wireless network:

at least one BSC (2) which is a component which handles allocation of radio channels, receives measurements from the mobile stations of subscribers and controls handovers from BTS (Base Transceiver Station) to BTS,

- at least one MSC (3) which is the exchange and the standard component as primary service delivery node for GSM/CDMA, responsible for routing voice calls and SMS as well as other services., at least one RNC (4) which is a governing component in the UMTS radio access network (UTRAN) and is responsible for controlling the Node B ' s that are connected to it, at least one SGSN (5) which is the component responsible for the delivery of data packets from and to mobile stations within its geographical service area,

at least one activity listener (6) which detects subscribers' network activities from network interfaces and records IMSI of subscriber and

Network Cell ID (NWCI) information of network cell to a table which is called as terminal location table,

at least one ratio determination unit (7) which is the component responsible for producing ratio information for an individual network along with floor and ceiling percentage value of service quantity interval of a network cell to an individual network polygon which is a geographical polygon,

at least one subscriber locator (8) which is the component distributing subscribers into geographical polygons determined and used by ratio determination unit (7) to divide earth, by using terminal location table generated by activity listener (6) and ratio related information generated by ratio determination unit (7) (Figure 1).

BSC (2) is the component which handles allocation of radio channels, receives measurements from the mobile phones and controls handovers from BTS to BTS.

BTS (Base Transceiver Station) is the component which contains the equipment for transmitting and receiving radio signals, antennas and equipment for encrypting and decrypting communications with the BSC (2).

BSC (2) is the component which communicates with MSC (3) over "A" interface and with SGSN (5) over Gb interface. MSC (3) is the exchange and the standard component which is the primary service delivery node for GSM/CDMA, responsible for routing voice calls and SMS as well as other services. RNC (4) is a governing component in the UMTS radio access network (UTRAN) and is responsible for controlling the Node B's that are connected to it. RNC (4) is the component which acts similarly to BSC (2).

Node B is a term used in UMTS equivalent to the BTS description used in GSM. Node B functions similar to BTS but conduct communication with RNC (4) instead of BSC (2).

RNC (4) is the component which communicates with MSC (3) over IuCs interface and with SGSN (5) over IuPs interface.

SGSN (5) is the component which is responsible for the delivery of data packets from and to mobile stations within its geographical service area. Its (5) tasks include packet routing and transfer, mobility management (attach/detach and location management) logical link management, and authentication and charging functions.

Activity listener (6) is the component which detects network activities from following GSM/UMTS interfaces, in preferred embodiment of the invention: · IuCs Interface: The interface between the RNC (4) and MSC (3).

• IuPs Interface: The interface between the RNC (4) and the SGSN (5).

• A Interface: The interface between the BSC (2) and MSC (3).

• Gb Interface: Interface between the BSC (2) and the SGSN (5) where the transmission protocol could be Frame Relay or IP. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the network activities monitored from interfaces above by activity listener (6) are as follows:

• Location updates between two routing areas

· Voice call initiations

• Sending SMS/MMS

• Data session initiations

When such an activity is determined by activity listener (6), activity listener (6) records IMSI and Network Cell ID (NWCI) information to a table which is called as terminal location table. This table can be retrieved for a period of time by subscriber locator (8) to obtain the list of subscribers with their unique IMSI information. Regarding to last activity of the subscriber, Network Cell ID field is updated by activity listener (6).

Table 1 - An exemplary terminal location table

Ratio determination unit (7) is the component which is responsible for producing ratio information along with floor and ceiling percentage value of service quantity interval of a network cell to an individual network polygon which is a geographical polygon. Ratio information describes how much service is given by a unique network cell to an individual GSM network polygon in percentage. While determining ratio, ratio determination unit (7) considers different types of clutters in the network coverage area of unique network cell. In preferred embodiment of the invention, ratio determination unit (7) considers road line length and population as clutter information and firstly determines information below to determine ratio:

• Real total area of geographical shape that the cell has coverage on (A).

· Real total road line length of area A (R).

• Real total population who lives in area A (P).

• Intersection area of geographical shape that is enlightened by cell coverage (a).

• Road line length of area a (r).

• Population of area a (p).

While determining real total area of geographical shape that the cell has coverage on (A), ratio determination unit (7) considers geographical shapes like hills and mountains. Real total area of geographical shape that the cell has coverage on (A) is determined for each specific BTS or Node B.

In preferred embodiment of the invention, ratio determination unit (7) uses rectangular grids as geographical polygon to divide earth and each grid is labelled uniquely by ratio determination unit (7). Said label corresponds to the geographical polygon ID. Intersection area of geographical shape that is enlightened by cell coverage (a) is determined for every grid inside the cell coverage of a specific BTS or Node B. Ratio determination unit (7) may use any type of polygon to divide earth in different embodiments of the invention. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention where coverage belongs to a BTS, illustration about area (A), area (a) and grids as type of polygon can be seen in Figure 2.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention where road line length and population information are considered clutter information by ratio determination unit (7), said unit (7) determines ratio of a specific grid for network activities received from a specific BTS or Node B by using these values and a function using a/A, p/P and r/R as variables as below:

Ratio = f(a/A, p/P, r/R).

Such function may apply to both linear and non-linear regression approaches.

In preferred embodiment of the invention, ratio determination unit (7) determines BAS ratio and BIS ratio according to ratio of a specific geographical polygon.

BAS RATIO: floor percentage value of service quantity interval of a network cell to an individual network polygon

BIT RATIO: ceiling percentage value of service quantity interval of a network cell to an individual network polygon

Steps conducted by ratio determination unit (7) to determine BAS ratio and BIT ratio are as follows:

- ordering network cells according to their ratio in a descending manner

- assigning 0 to BAS ratio of the network cell whose ratio is lowest

- determining BIT ratio of network cell whose ratio is the lowest in following manner:

BAS RATIO(lowest) = 0

BIT_RATIO(lowest)=ratio(lowest)+BAS_RATIO(lowest)=ratio(lowest)

- determining BAS ratio and BIT ratio values of the remaining network cells of a network cell in following manner:

0 < n <= (Network polygon count of a network cell serving)

BAS RATIO(n) = BIT_RATIO(n - 1)

BIT RATIO(n) = ratio(n) + B AS RATIO(n) Subscriber locator (8) is the component which distributes subscribers into geographical polygons determined and used by ratio determination unit (7) to divide earth, by using terminal location table generated by activity listener (6) and ratio related information generated by ratio determination unit (7). In this manner, subscriber locator (8) retrieves table related to network activities detected by activity listener (6) and receives ratio information which is the rate described by how much service is given by a unique network cell to an individual network polygon in percentage, BAS ratio and BIT ratio values from ratio determination unit (7) and accordingly distributes subscribers geographically.

Subscriber locator (8) uses a metadata containing following information to locate subscribers and determine subscriber density:

• Unique Network Cell Id (NWCI = Composition of Cell ID and location area code): unique composition of network cell ID and location area code (LAC).

• Geographical polygon ID: unique identifier of the network polygon

• Ratio: a value which describes how much service is given by a unique network cell to an individual network polygon in percentage After receiving ratio, BAS ratio and BIT ratio information from ratio determination unit (7), subscriber locator (8) retrieves information for a period of time for subscribers who are served by a specific cell from terminal location table generated by activity listener (6) and generates a new table for subscribers by arranging subscribers in a sequence. In preferred embodiment of the invention subscribers are represented by their respective IMSI information. After arrangement, each subscriber is located in a polygon that is used by ratio determination unit (7) to divide earth. Steps conducted by subscriber locator (8) to locate subscribers in polygons are as follows: - retrieving all subscribers served by a network cell from terminal location table generated by activity listener (6) for a specific time

- assigning a sequence number to all subscriber records where sequence number starts from 1 and increments by 1

- determining the ordering factor of every individual row as follows:

ordering factor = (sequence number of a record / max(sequence number)) * 100

- determining the network polygon by comparing the ordering factor with BAS RATIO and BIT RATIO of the polygon. The rule is as follows:

BAS RATIO(polygon) <= ordering factor < BIT RATIO(polygon)

Since all subscribers are located in appropriate geographical network polygon by subscriber locator (8), the density of subscribers can be determined by using the number of subscribers in each network polygon and in related network cell. It is possible to develop various embodiments of the inventive system (1) especially with different network types and network polygon shapes considering geographical shapes, it cannot be limited to examples disclosed herein and it is essentially according to claims.

Claims

A system (1) which enables determining subscriber density on a wireless network comprising

at least one MSC (3) which is the exchange and the standard component as primary service delivery node for GSM/CDMA, responsible for routing voice calls and SMS as well as other services., at least one RNC (4) which is a governing component in the UMTS radio access network (UTRAN) and is responsible for controlling the Node B's that are connected to it,

at least one SGSN (5) which is the component responsible for the delivery of data packets from and to mobile stations within its geographical service area,

at least one activity listener (6) which detects subscribers' network activities from network interfaces,

at least one ratio determination unit (7) which is the component responsible for producing ratio information for an individual network polygon,

at least one subscriber locator (8) which is the component distributing subscribers into geographical polygons and characterized by

at least one activity listener (6) which detects subscribers' network activities from network interfaces and records IMSI of subscriber and Network Cell ID (NWCI) information of network cell to a table which is called as terminal location table,

at least one ratio determination unit (7) which is the component responsible for producing ratio information along with floor and ceiling percentage value of service quantity interval of a network cell to an individual network polygon which is a geographical polygon, at least one subscriber locator (8) which is the component distributing subscribers into geographical polygons determined and used by ratio determination unit (7) to divide earth, by using terminal location table generated by activity listener (6) and ratio related information generated by ratio determination unit (7).

A system (1) according to Claim 1, characterized by BSC

(2) which communicates with MSC (3) over "A" interface and with SGSN (5) over Gb interface.

A system (1) according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, characterized by RNC (4) which communicates with MSC (3) over IuCs interface and with SGSN (5) over IuPs interface.

A system (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized by activity listener (6) which detects network activities from following GSM/UMTS interfaces: IuCs Interface which is the interface between the RNC (4) and MSC

(3), IuPs Interface which is the interface between the RNC

(4) and the SGSN (5), A Interface which is the interface between the BSC (2) and MSC (3) and Gb Interface which is the interface between the BSC (2) and the SGSN

(5) where the transmission protocol could be Frame Relay or IP.

A system (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized by activity listener (6) which monitors the following network activities from interfaces: location updates between two routing areas, voice call initiations sending SMS/MMS, data session initiations.

6. A system (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized by activity listener (6) which records IMSI and Network Cell ID (NWCI) information to a table which is called as terminal location table when a network activity is determined.

7. A system (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized by activity listener (6) which updates Network Cell ID field of terminal location table regarding to last activity of the subscriber.

8. A system (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized by ratio determination unit (7) responsible for producing ratio information which describes how much service is given by a unique network cell to an individual network polygon in percentage.

9. A system (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized by ratio determination unit (7) which considers different types of clutters in the network coverage area of unique network cell while determining ratio.

10. A system (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized by ratio determination unit (7) firstly determining following information to determine ratio information: real total area of geographical shape that the cell has coverage on (A), real total road line length of area A (R), real total population who lives in area A (P), intersection area of geographical shape that is enlightened by cell coverage (a), road line length of area a (r) and population of area a (p).

11. A system (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized by ratio determination unit (7) which considers geographical shapes like hills and mountains while determining real total area of geographical shape that the cell has coverage on (A).

12. A system (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized by ratio determination unit (7) which determines real total area of geographical shape that the cell has coverage on (A) for each specific BTS or Node B.

13. A system (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized by ratio determination unit (7) which uses rectangular grids as geographical polygon to divide earth and labels each grid uniquely with a label which corresponds to the geographical polygon ID.

14. A system (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized by ratio determination unit (7) which determines intersection area of geographical shape that is enlightened by cell coverage (a) for every polygon inside the cell coverage of a specific BTS or Node B.

15. A system (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized by ratio determination unit (7) which may use any type of polygon to divide earth.

16. A system (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized by ratio determination unit (7) which determines ratio of a specific grid for network activities received from a specific BTS or Node B by a function using (a/ A), (p/P) and (r/R) as variables.

17. A system (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized by ratio determination unit (7) which determines ratio of a specific grid for network activities received from a specific BTS or Node B by a function that may apply to both linear and non-linear regression approaches.

18. A system (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized by ratio determination unit (7) which determines BAS ratio and BIS ratio according to ratio of a specific geographical polygon where BAS ratio is floor percentage value of service quantity interval of a network cell to an individual network polygon and BIT ratio is ceiling percentage value of service quantity interval of a network cell to an individual network polygon

19. A system (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized by ratio determination unit (7) which conducts following steps to determine BAS ratio and BIT ratio:

- ordering network cells according to their ratio in a descending manner - assigning 0 to BAS ratio of the network cell whose ratio is lowest

BAS RATIO(lowest) = 0

BIT_RATIO(lowest)=ratio(lowest)+BAS_RATIO(lowest)=ratio(lowest) - determining BAS ratio and BIT ratio values of the remaining network cells of a network cell in following manner:

0 < n <= (Network polygon count of a network cell serving)

BAS RATIO(n) = BIT_RATIO(n - 1)

BIT RATIO(n) = ratio(n) + B AS RATIO(n)

20. A system (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized by subscriber locator (8) which retrieves table related to network activities detected by activity listener (6) and receives ratio information which is the rate described by how much service is given by a unique network cell to an individual network polygon in percentage, BAS ratio and BIT ratio values from ratio determination unit (7) and accordingly distributes subscribers geographically.

21. A system (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized by subscriber locator (8) which uses a metadata containing following information to locate subscribers and determine subscriber density: Unique Network Cell Id (NWCI = Composition of Cell ID and location area code) which is a unique composition of network cell ID and location area code (LAC), Geographical polygon ID which is a unique identifier of the network polygon and Ratio which is a value which describes how much service is given by a unique network cell to an individual network polygon in percentage

22. A system (1) according to any of preceding claims, characterized by subscriber locator (8) which conducts following steps to locate subscribers in polygons:

- retrieving all subscribers served by a network cell from terminal location table generated by activity listener (6) for a specific time

- determining the ordering factor of every individual row as follows:

ordering factor = (sequence number of a record / max(sequence number)) * 100

BAS RATIO(polygon) <= ordering factor < BIT RATIO(polygon)