System and method for selecting candidate cells for cell outage mitigation in communication networks

Abstract

Disclosed is a system (300) and a method (400) for selecting candidate cells for cell outage mitigation in a communication network. The method comprises identifying a list of a plurality of cells in the communication network using trace data and acquiring, from the trace data, performance metrics data of one or more neighboring cells (104, 106, 112) of a source cell (102) on which an outage event has occurred. Further, an offloading percentage of traffic of each neighbouring cell is calculated using the performance metrics data and the neighbouring cells are ranked in a descending order based on the offloading percentage. Furthermore, to mitigate outages in the network, a group of neighboring cells for which a value of the offloading percentage is greater than a predefined threshold value is selected as the candidates.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SELECTING CANDIDATE CELLS FOR CELL OUTAGE MITIGATION IN COMMUNICATION NETWORKSTECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of communication networks and systems. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a system and a method for selecting candidate cells for cell outage mitigation in a communication network.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The subject matter disclosed in the background section should not be assumed or construed to be prior art merely due to its mention in the background section. Similarly, any problem statement mentioned in the background section or its association with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed or construed to have been previously recognized in the prior art.

[0003] With the advent of technological advancement in the field of telecommunications, several wireless technologies have been developed to meet growing number of broadband subscribers for providing better applications and services. As mobile and cellular communication networks experience growing data demands, there is a strong emphasis on achieving maximum throughput for users and ensuring uninterrupted service. To maintain service quality, it is crucial to mitigate and rapidly address any service interruptions.

[0004] Nowadays, many communication networks are utilizing Self-Organizing Network (SON) technology, designed to reduce operational and capital expenditures through features such as self-configuration, self-optimization, and self-healing. Self-healing capabilities include detecting and addressing cell outages. A key component of addressing the cell outages in a communication network is Cell Outage Compensation (COC), which focuses on minimizing performance degradation caused by outages on cells. The COC involves multiple processesincluding restarting cells or implementing corrective measures to compensate for an affected area.

[0005] However, resolving underlying cause of an outage to fulfill a coverage gap is time-consuming and expensive, often requiring thorough data analysis, strategic planning, scheduling, and frequently, on-site maintenance, thus causing an adverse impact on network connectivity for users.

[0006] In light of the aforementioned challenges, there lies a need for a solution that can address the issue of cell outages within the communication networks effectively and efficiently.SUMMARY

[0007] The following embodiments present a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosed invention. This summary is not an extensive overview, and it is not intended to identify key / critical elements or to delineate the scope thereof. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

[0008] In an embodiment, disclosed herein is a method for selecting candidate cells for cell outage mitigation in a communication network. The method comprises identifying, by an identification engine using trace data, a list of a plurality of cells in the communication network. Further, the method comprises acquiring, an acquisition engine from a database the trace data, performance metrics data including Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) corresponding to one or more neighboring cells of a source cell among the plurality of cells on which an outage event has occurred. Based on the performance metrics data, the method comprises calculating, by a computation engine, an offloading percentage of traffic at each of the one or more neighboring cells. Thereafter, the method comprises ranking, by a correlation engine, each of the one or more neighboring cells in a decreasing order of the offloading percentage of the one or more neighboring cells. Furthermore, themethod comprises selecting, by a selection engine as the candidate cells, a first group of neighboring cells among the one or more neighboring cells for which a value of the offloading percentage is greater than a predefined threshold value.

[0009] In an aspect, the method comprises configuring, by a network communication manager, the selected candidate cells to provide one or more services to at least a part of a coverage area of the source cell.

[0010] In an aspect, to select the first group of neighbouring cells as the candidate cells, the method comprises comparing, by the correlation engine in the decreasing order of the offloading percentage, the offloading percentage of traffic of each of the one or more neighboring cells with the predefined threshold value. Thereafter, the method comprises discarding, by the selection engine based on the comparison, a second group of neighbouring cells among the one or more neighboring cells having the offloading percentage less than the predefined threshold value.

[0011] In an aspect, the discarding of the second group of neighbouring cells is indicative of an exclusion of a specific group of neighbouring cells from being considered for offloading the traffic from the source cell.

[0012] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, disclosed is system for selecting candidate cells for cell outage mitigation in a communication network. The system comprises an identification engine, an acquisition engine, a computation engine, a correlation engine, and a selection engine. The identification engine is configured to identify, using trace data, a list of a plurality of cells in the communication network. The acquisition engine is configured to acquire, from the trace data, performance metrics data including Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of one or more neighboring cells of a source cell on which an outage event has occurred. Based on the performance metrics data, the computation engine is configured to calculate an offloading percentage of traffic at each of the one or more neighboring cells. The correlation engine is configured to rank each of the one or more neighboring cells in a decreasing order of the offloading percentage of the one or more neighboring cells. The selection engine is configured to select, as thecandidate cells, a first group of neighboring cells among the one or more neighboring cells for which a value of the offloading percentage is greater than a predefined threshold value.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0013] Various embodiments disclosed herein will become better understood from the following detailed description when read with the accompanying drawings. The accompanying drawings constitute a part of the present disclosure and illustrate certain non-limiting embodiments of inventive concepts. Further, components and elements shown in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. For the purpose of consistency and ease of understanding, similar components and elements are annotated by reference numerals in the exemplary drawings.

[0014] FIG. 1 illustrates an example diagram of a cell map depicting an outage event on one or more source cells in a communication network, in accordance with an example embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0015] FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a communication environment, in accordance with an example embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0016] FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a system architecture depicting a server connected to cells in the communication environment for mitigating a cell outage occurred at a source cell, in accordance with an example embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0017] FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of a method for selecting candidate cells for mitigating the cell outage occurred at the source cell, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0018] Aspects of the present disclosure will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate one or more exampleembodiments. The embodiments are presented by way of example only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Rather, these descriptions are provided to ensure a clear and consistent understanding of the disclosed subject matter by those skilled in the art. It should be understood that the various embodiments described herein may be modified, combined, or adapted without departing from the overall scope and intent of the invention.

[0019] The following description presents various embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiments disclosed herein are presented as teaching examples and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. The present disclosure should in no way be limited to the illustrative implementations, drawings, and techniques illustrated below, including the exemplary design and implementation illustrated and described herein, but may be modified, omitted, or expanded upon without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0020] The following description contains specific information pertaining to embodiments in the present disclosure. The detailed description uses the phrases “in some embodiments” which may each refer to one or more or all of the same or different embodiments. The term “some” as used herein is defined as “one, or more than one, or all.” Accordingly, the terms “one,” “more than one,” “more than one, but not all” or “all” would all fall under the definition of “some.” In view of the same, the terms, for example, “in an embodiment” refers to one embodiment and the term, for example, “in one or more embodiments” refers to “at least one embodiment, or more than one embodiment, or all embodiments.”

[0021] The term “comprising,” when utilized, means “including, but not necessarily limited to;” it specifically indicates open-ended inclusion in the so-described one or more listed features, elements in a combination, unless otherwise stated with limiting language. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “includes,” “has,” “have,” “contains,” and other similar words are used in either the detailed description, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising.”

[0022] In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, various specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent, however, that embodiments of the present disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. Several features described hereafter can each be used independently of one another or with any combination of other features.

[0023] The description provided herein discloses exemplary embodiments only and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the present disclosure. Rather, the foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments will provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing any of the exemplary embodiments. Specific details are given in the following description to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it may be understood by one of the ordinary skilled in the art that the embodiments disclosed herein may be practiced without these specific details.

[0024] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. As used herein the description, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" include plural forms unless the context of the invention indicates otherwise.

[0025] The terminology and structure employed herein are for describing, teaching, and illuminating some embodiments and their specific features and elements and do not limit, restrict, or reduce the scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, unless otherwise defined, all terms, and especially any technical and / or scientific terms, used herein may be taken to have the same meaning as commonly understood by one having ordinary skill in the art.

[0026] Various aspects of the present disclosure illustrate a system and a method for selecting candidate cells for mitigating an outage occurred at one or more source cells within a communication network. The following description provides specific details of certain aspects of the disclosure illustrated in the drawings to provide a thorough understanding of those aspects. It should be recognized, however, that thepresent disclosure can be reflected in additional aspects and the disclosure may be practiced without some of the details in the following description.

[0027] Various aspects of the present disclosure provide a system and a method capable of validating neighboring cells for designating as potential candidates (candidate cells) for mitigating the outage occurred at the one or more source cells within the communication network.

[0028] The various aspects including the example aspects are now described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which the various aspects of the disclosure are shown. The disclosure may, however, be embodied in different forms and should not be construed as limited to the aspects set forth herein. Rather, these aspects are provided so that this disclosure is thorough and complete, and fully conveys the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.

[0029] In the disclosure, various embodiments are described using terms used in some communication standards (e.g., 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), Extensible Radio Access Network (xRAN), and Open-Radio Access Network (O- RAN)), but these are merely examples for description. Various embodiments of the disclosure may also be easily modified and applied to other communication systems.

[0030] In order to facilitate an understanding of the disclosed invention, a number of terms are defined below.

[0031] In the present disclosure, a “source cell” refers to a cell experiencing an outage event, rendering it unable to provide normal / standard service. This outage event may occur due to hardware failures software errors or external factors the outage may be latent (“sleeping cell” scenario), where the source cell transmits but fails to accept user access or handovers and causes interference in the communication network.

[0032] “Neighboring cells” refers to those cells that are adjacent to the source cell, forming a ring of potential compensators. The neighboring cells share geographical boundaries with the source cell and are pre-configured as neighbors via manualplanning or Automatic Neighbor relations (ANR). During an outage the neighboring cells must maintain Physical Cell Identity (PCI) uniqueness to avoid conflicts and adjust coverage (example, via power adjustments or antenna tilt) to extend service into outage zone.

[0033] A “candidate cell” refers to a neighboring cell capable of temporarily replacing the source cell’s coverage.

[0034] The “outage event” signifies a total loss of service at the source cell. The outage events are critical as they indicate complete service disruption at any cell in the communication network, requiring immediate remediation.

[0035] The term “cell outage mitigation” refers to a network operation performed in response to a partial or complete service degradation or failure of the source cell in the communication network. The affected traffic and service coverage of the source cell are redistributed or relocated to one or more neighboring cells (referred to as “the candidate cells”) to maintain service continuity and minimize Quality of Service (QoS) impact to the UEs.

[0036] The term “offloading percentage” refers to a predetermined or calculated ratio (expressed as a percentage) of total data volume or user sessions in the source cell that is redirected to the neighboring cells during a specified period, as governed by network offloading policies or load balancing rules or operations.

[0037] The term “coverage area” refers to a geographical region or a special zone within which a particular cell of the communication network is capable of providing radio connectivity and service to the UEs with a signal quality above a predefined threshold level. The coverage area of a cell in the communication network is determined based on factors such as, but not limited to, transmission power, antenna configuration, terrain, propagation conditions, and network planning parameters.

[0038] The following description provides specific details of certain aspects of the disclosure illustrated in the drawings to provide a thorough understanding of thoseaspects. It should be recognized, however, that the present disclosure can be reflected in additional aspects and the disclosure may be practiced without some of the details in the following description.

[0039] Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 through FIG. 4, discussed below, and the one or more embodiments used to describe the principles of the present disclosure are by way of illustration only and should not be construed in any way to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably arranged system or device.

[0040] FIG. 1 illustrates an example diagram of a cell map 100 depicting an outage event on one or more source cells in a communication network, in accordance with an example embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1, the cell map 100 includes a plurality of cells 102 through 112 (hereinafter also referred to as “gNBs” or “base stations”) along with approximate cell coverage areas of respective cells which is represented by hexagonal shapes.

[0041] In an aspect of the present disclosure, if any of the cells 102 or 108 (hereinafter referred to as “source cell 102” or “source cell 108”) experiences an outage, one or more of cells 104, 106, 110, 112, and 114 (hereinafter also referred to as “neighboring cells”) may be reconfigured to compensate for the loss of coverage of the source cell 102 or the source cell 108. For example, the neighboring cells 104, 106, and 112 may compensate for outage of the source cell 102. In another example, the neighboring cells 104, 106, and 114 can be utilized to compensate for the outage of the source cell 108.

[0042] In view of the aforementioned example scenario depicted in FIG. 1, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a method and a system that can identify and validate appropriate neighboring cells as the candidate cells for managing the outages at the source cells within the communication network and optimizing network performance for enhancing user experience.

[0043] FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a communication environment 200, in accordance with an example embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the communication environment 200 shown in FIG. 2 is for illustration only. Other embodiments of the communication environment 200 may be used without departing from the scope of this disclosure.

[0044] As shown in FIG. 2, the communication environment 200 (interchangeably referred to as “communication network 200) includes the gNBs 102-106 in communication with multiple User Equipment’s (UEs) (202, 204, 206, 208, 210, and 212) described below. The gNB 102 also communicates with a network 220, such as the Internet, a proprietary Internet Protocol (IP) network, or other data network. The gNBs 102-106 also communicates with a server 230 configured to identify and validate the appropriate neighboring cells as the candidate cells for managing the outages at the source cells within the communication environment 200.

[0045] The gNB 102 provides wireless broadband access to the network 220 for a first plurality of UEs within a coverage area of the gNB 102. Each UE among the first plurality of UEs may correspond, but not limited to, a mobile device, a cell phone, a wireless laptop, a wireless PDA, or the like. In a non-limiting example, the first plurality of UEs includes the UE 202 and the UE 204. Similarly, the gNBs 104 and 106 provides wireless broadband access to the network 220 for a second and third plurality of UEs within a coverage area of the gNB 104. The second plurality of UEs includes the UE 206 and the UE 208 and the third plurality of UEs includes the UE 210 and the UE 212. In some embodiments, the gNBs 102-106 may communicate with each other and with the UEs 202-212 using a communication technique, such as a 5thGeneration 5G / New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), or other wireless communication techniques. In an example embodiment, the gNB 102 may be referred to as “ the source cell 102” and the gNBs 104 and 106 may be referred to as “ the neighboring cells 104 and 106” of the gNB 102.

[0046] The term “base station” may refer to any component (or collection of components) configured to provide wireless access to a network, such as Transmit Point (TP), Transmit-Receive Point (TRP), an Evolved Base Station (eNodeB or eNB), a 5G / NR base station (gNB), a macrocell, a femtocell, a Wi-Fi Access Point (AP), or other wirelessly enabled devices. The base stations may provide wireless access in accordance with wireless communication protocols, e.g., 5G / NR 3GPP New Radio interface / access (NR), LTE, LTE-A, High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac, etc. For the sake of convenience, the terms “base station” and “gNB” are used interchangeably in the present disclosure to refer to network infrastructure components that provide wireless access to remote terminals. Further, depending on the network type, the term “user equipment” or “UE” may refer to any component such as “mobile station,” “subscriber station,” “remote terminal,” “wireless terminal,” “receive point,”. For the sake of convenience, the terms “user equipment” and “UE” are used in this disclosure to refer to remote wireless equipment that wirelessly accesses the base station.

[0047] Extents of the coverage areas of the gNBs 102-106 are shown as approximately circular or hexagonal for the purposes of illustration and explanation only. It should be clearly understood that the coverage areas associated with gNBs 102-106 may have other shapes, including irregular shapes, depending upon the configuration of the gNBs, and variations in the radio environment associated with natural and man-made obstructions.

[0048] Although FIG. 2 illustrates one example of the communication environment 200, various changes may be made to FIG. 2. For example, the communication environment 200 may include any number of gNBs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement. Further, the gNB 102 may communicate directly with any number of UEs and provide those UEs with wireless broadband access to the network 220. Further, the gNBs 102-106 may provide access to other or additional external networks, such as external telephone networks or other types of data networks.

[0049] FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a system architecture 300 of the server 230 for mitigating the cell outage occurred at the source cell, in accordance with an example embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the server 230 as shown in FIG. 3 is for illustration only. However, the server 230 may come in a wide variety of configurations, and FIG. 3 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of the server 230.

[0050] As shown in FIG. 3, the server 230 includes one or more processors 302 (hereinafter may also be referred to as a “processor 302” or “at least one processor 302”), a memory 304, an interface(s) 306, a network communication manager 308, a console host 310, processing engine(s) 350, and a database 360.

[0051] The processor 302 may include various processing circuitry and communicates with the memory 304, the network communication manager 308, the console host 310, and the database 360. The processor 302 may be implemented as one or more microprocessors, microcomputers, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, processing units, or a general-purpose processor, such as, for example, and without limitation, a central processing unit (CPU), an application processor (AP), a dedicated processor, a graphics-only processing unit such as a graphics processing unit (GPU) or the like, a programmable logic device, or any combination thereof that manipulate data based on operational instructions. Among other capabilities, the processor 302 is configured to fetch and execute computer-readable instructions stored in the memory 304 to perform various processes.

[0052] The memory 304 stores a set of instructions required by the processor 302 of the server 230 for controlling its overall operations. The memory 304 may include non-volatile storage elements. Examples of such non-volatile storage elements may include magnetic hard discs, optical discs, floppy discs, flash memories, or forms of electrically programmable memories (EPROM) or electrically erasable and programmable (EEPROM) memories. In addition, the memory 304 may, in some examples, be considered a non-transitory storage medium. The "non-transitory" storage medium is not embodied in a carrier wave or a propagated signal. However,the term "non-transitory" should not be interpreted as the memory 304 is nonmovable. In some examples, the memory 304 may be configured to store larger amounts of information. In certain examples, a non-transitory storage medium may store data that can, over time, change (e.g., in Random Access Memory (RAM) or cache). The memory 304 may be an internal storage unit or an external storage unit of the server 230, cloud storage, or any other type of external storage.

[0053] The Interface(s) 306 may include suitable logic, circuitry, a variety of interfaces, and / or codes that may be configured to receive input(s) and present (or display) output(s) on the server 230. The variety of interfaces may include interfaces for data input and output devices, referred to as I / O devices, storage devices, and the like. For example, the I / O interface may have an input interface and an output interface. The interface(s) 306 may facilitate communication of the server 230 with various devices coupled to it. The interface(s) 306 may also provide a communication pathway for one or more components of the server 230. Examples of such components include, but are not limited to, the processing engine(s) 350 and the database 360.

[0054] The network communication manager 308 may manage communications with the gNBs 102-106 and the UEs 202-212 (e.g., via one or more wired backhaul links). For example, the network communication manager 308 may manage the transfer of data communications for the gNBs 102-106 and the UEs 202-212. The network communication manager 308 may include a communication interface including an electronic circuit specific to a standard that enables wired or wireless communication. The communication interface may be configured for communicating internally between internal hardware components and with external devices via one or more networks.

[0055] The console host 310 may include suitable logic, instructions, and / or codes for executing various operations of one or more computer executable applications to host a console on an external device, by way of which the server 230 can betriggered to identify and select the candidate cells for mitigating the outage at the source cells 102 and 108 within the communication environment 200.

[0056] In an embodiment, the processing engine(s) 350 may be implemented as a combination of hardware and programming (for example, programmable instructions) to implement one or more functionalities of the processing engine(s) 350. In non-limiting examples, described herein, such combinations of hardware and programming may be implemented in several different ways. For example, the programming for the processing engine(s) 350 may be processor-executable instructions stored on a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium and the hardware for the processor 302 may comprise a processing resource (for example, one or more processors), to execute such instructions. In the present examples, the machine-readable storage medium may store instructions that, when executed by the processing resource, implement the processing engine(s) 350. In such examples, the server 230 may also comprise the machine-readable storage medium storing the instructions and the processing resource to execute the instructions, or the machine- readable storage medium may be separate but accessible to the server 230 and the processing resource. In other examples, the processing engine(s) 350 may be implemented using an electronic circuitry.

[0057] The database 360 is managed by the processor 302 and configured to store the input data including, but not limited to, trace data including network status information and performance metrics data of each of the gNBs and UEs in the communication environment 200. Further, the database 360 may be configured to handle data comprising tables dedicated for storing Key Performance Indicator (KPI) values corresponding to the KPIs included in the performance metrics data.

[0058] In an exemplary embodiment, the processing engine(s) 350 may include one or more engines selected from any of an identification engine 312, an acquisition engine 314, a computation engine 316, a correlation engine 318, a selection engine 320, and other units / engines 322. The other units / engines 322 may include, but are not limited to, a monitoring engine, an execution engine, and the like.

[0059] In an embodiment, the processors 302, using the identification engine 312, is configured to identify a list of cells in the communication environment 200 based on trace data. The trace data is collected at the server 230 by aggregating signaling and user plane data reported from various network elements, such as base stations (e.g., gNBs), core network nodes, and UEs. The server 230 may initiate or receive periodic or event triggered trace sessions, where raw protocol level information such as Radio Resource Control (RRC) messages, Non-Access Stratum (NAS) signaling, and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) payloads is captured and transmitted to the server 230 for post processing. In a non -limiting example, the trace data may include, but not limited to, timestamped logs, cell identifiers, UE context, handover events, and traffic volume indicators which are stored and analyzed to extract performance metrics, such as offloading related KPIs that helps in enabling decision making for network optimization tasks such as the cell outage mitigation.

[0060] In an embodiment, the processors 302, using the acquisition engine 314, is configured to acquire, from the trace data , performance metrics data comprising the KPIs of one or more neighboring cells of each of the source cells 102 and 108 on which the outage event have been occurred within the communication environment 200. In a non-limiting example, the performance metrics data may include, but not limited to, information and KPIs related to voice and data traffic volume including payload volume, handover success rate, Connection Setup Success Rate (CSSR), radio resource utilization, dropped call rates, packet loss and latency, throughput, Quality of Service (QoS) metrics, cell load, RRC connection attempts and success, user throughput, scheduling block utilization, Physical Resource Block (PRB) utilization, and an average number of active users per Transmission Time Interval (TTI).

[0061] In an embodiment, the processor 302, using the computation engine 316, calculates an offloading percentage of traffic at the one or more neighboring cells of each of the source cells 102 and 108 based on the performance metrics data. In anon-limiting example, the offloading percentage of the traffic at the one or more neighboring cells can be calculated as shown below in equation (1):Offloading percentage (%) = (post tilting traffic of neighbor cell - average traffic of neighbor cell before tilt) / average traffic of outage cell *100 ... (1)

[0062] In an embodiment, the processor 302, using the correlation engine 318, ranks each of the one or more neighboring cells in descending order of the calculated offloading percentage of the one or more neighboring cells. In an embodiment, the processor 302, using the correlation engine 318, compares the calculated offloading percentage of the respective neighboring cells with a predefined threshold value to check whether any of the neighboring cells is the potential candidate for mitigating the outage of any of the source cells 102 or 108. The calculated offloading percentage of each neighboring cell is compared in order of the ranking. In a nonlimiting example, the predefined threshold value is equal to 10%. In another nonlimiting example, the predefined threshold value may be a tunable threshold that is configurable based on network conditions, operator policies, or historical performance data. In some embodiments the tunable threshold may be defined as a dynamic parameter that may be adjusted annually by a network operator or automatically by a network management system in response to network traffic trends, time variations, or outage severity levels.

[0063] In an embodiment, if the result of the comparison indicates that a value of the offloading percentage of a neighboring cell with the highest ranking is greater than the predefined threshold value, then the processor 302 selects, via the selection engine 320, a group of neighboring cells with the highest ranking as the candidate cells for mitigating the outage occurred at the source cell 102. In particular, the processor 302 selects, via the selection engine 320 as the candidate cells, the group of neighboring cells for which a value of the offloading percentage is greater than the predefined threshold value. Once the candidate cells are selected, the processor 302, using the network communication manager 308, may configure the selectedcandidate cells to provide one or more services to at least a part of a coverage area of the source cell 102 at which the outage has been occurred.

[0064] In an embodiment, the processor 302, using the selection engine 320, discards remaining neighboring cells (another group of neighbouring cells) that have the offloading percentage less than the predefined threshold value. The discarding of the neighboring cells is indicative of an exclusion of a group or a set of neighboring cells within the communication environment 200 from being considered for offloading the traffic from the source cell 102.

[0065] In some embodiments, the processor 302 may also determine if the outage appears again on the source cell 102 and compares the offloading percentage of each of the neighboring cells with the predefined threshold value to select one or more of the neighboring cells as the candidate cells or to exclude a group of the neighboring cells from being considered for offloading the traffic from the source cell 102. In particular, if it is determined that the outage appears again on the source cell 102 and the offloading percentage of the highest ranked neighboring cells is greater than 10%, then the processor 302, via the selection engine 320, designates, as the potential candidates for offloading traffic of the source cell 102. However, if the offloading traffic of one or more of the neighboring cells is negligible (less than 10%), then the processor 302, using the selection engine 320, discards those neighboring cells during the selection and does not consider them as the potential candidates for mitigating the outage at the source cell 102, and refrain from performing further actions for spreading a coverage of that neighboring cell. This can help in reduction of interference as well as utilization of the neighboring cell itself. Also, as a result any adverse impact on the network can be avoided.

[0066] In operation, the processor 302 validates whether the neighboring cell on which the traffic is to be offloaded to full fill the coverage gap due to outage in the vicinity is really fulfilling the coverage gap or not. If the traffic to be offloaded on the neighboring cell is not able to full fill the coverage gap due to the outage, the processor 302 discards such neighboring cells as the potential candidates foroffloading, as the offloading of traffic on such neighboring cells may unnecessarily cause adverse impact in the network due to spreading the coverage of that neighboring cell to full fill the coverage gap.

[0067] Although FIG. 3 illustrates one example of the server 230, various changes may be made to FIG. 3. For example, the server 230 may include any number of components in addition to the components shown in FIG. 3. Further, various components in FIG. 3 may be combined, further subdivided, or omitted and additional components may be added according to particular needs.

[0068] In an alternate embodiment, each module of the processing engine(s) 350 (i.e., the identification engine 312, the acquisition engine 314, the computation engine 316, the correlation engine 318, and the selection engine 320) is configured to independently perform various operations of the processor 302, as described herein, without deviating from the scope of the present disclosure. Additionally, different engines shown in FIG. 3 may be split into two or more modules each operating independently in communication with one another, optionally in a distributive manner, with shared responsibilities. Furthermore, multiple instances of the engines may be implemented for selecting the candidate cells for mitigating the cell outage occurred at the source cell or multiple modules can be combined into a single module to perform all corresponding functions described herein.

[0069] FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of a method 400 for selecting the candidate cells among the neighboring cells of the source cell 102 or 108 for mitigating the cell outage occurred at the source cell 102 or 108, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method 400 comprises a series of operation steps indicated by blocks 402 through 414. The method 400 starts at block 402. The operation steps are described with reference to the source cell 102. However, the embodiment of the method 400 can be applied to the source cell 108 or any other source cells that may be present in the communication environment 200 without departing from the scope of this disclosure.

[0070] At the block 402, the identification engine 312 identifies, using the trace data, the list all the cells available in the communication network.

[0071] At block 404, the acquisition engine 314 acquires, from the trace data, the performance metrics data comprising the KPIs of the neighboring cells of the source cell 102 on which the outage event has occurred. In a non-limiting example, the KPIs such as, but not limited to, payload volume (in bytes), the RRC connection attempts and success, the user throughput, the scheduling block utilization, the PRB utilization, and the average number of active users per TTI.

[0072] At block 406, the computation engine 316 calculates the offloading percentage of the traffic at each of the neighboring cells of the source cell 102 based on the performance metrics data.

[0073] At block 408, the correlation engine 318 ranks each of the neighboring cells in the decreasing order of the offloading percentage of the neighboring cells calculated by the computation engine 316.

[0074] At block 410, the correlation engine determines, for each of the neighboring cells nearby the source cell 102, whether the offloading percentage is less than the predefined threshold value. If a result of the determination at the block 410 is yes, then the flow of the method 400 proceeds to block 412. If a result of the determination at the block 410 is No, then the flow of the method 400 proceeds to block 414.

[0075] At the block 412, the the selection engine 320 excludes all neighboring cells having offloading % less than the predefined threshold value (i.e., for example, less than 10%) if the outage event re-occurs on the same source cell (i.e., the source cell 102).

[0076] At the block 414, the the selection engine 320 selects all neighboring cells having offloading % more than the predefined threshold value (i.e., for example,greater than 10%) if the outage event re-occurs on the same source cell (i.e. the source cell 102).

[0077] At block 416, the network communication manager 308 configures the neighboring cells selected as the candidate cells to provide the one or more services to at least the part of the coverage area of the source cell 102 at which the outage has been occurred.

[0078] Now, referring to the technical abilities and advantageous effect of the present disclosure, operational advantages that may be provided by embodiments disclosed herein may include identifying appropriate neighboring cells as candidates for managing outages, thus provides an advantage of averting adverse network impacts caused by unnecessary actions.

[0079] As disclosed above, by selecting the candidates by ranking the neighboring cells in a decreasing order of the offloading percentage further provides potential advantages such as, but not limited to, avoiding unnecessary corrective actions, and streamlining the resolution process, thereby helps in maintaining optimal network functionality with minimal disruption.

[0080] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the methodology described herein in the present disclosure may be carried out in other specific ways than those set forth herein in the above disclosed embodiments without departing from essential characteristics and features of the present invention. The above-described embodiments are therefore to be construed in all aspects as illustrative and not restrictive.

[0081] The drawings and the forgoing description give examples of embodiments. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that one or more of the described elements may well be combined into a single functional element. Alternatively, certain elements may be split into multiple functional elements. Elements from one embodiment may be added to another embodiment. For example, orders of processes described herein may be changed and are not limited to the mannerdescribed herein. Any combination of the above features and functionalities may be used in accordance with one or more embodiments.

[0082] In the present disclosure, each of the embodiments has been described with reference to numerous specific details which may vary from embodiment to embodiment. The foregoing description of the specific embodiments disclosed herein may reveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others may, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and / or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications are intended to be comprehended within the meaning of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and is not limited in scope.LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0083] The following list is provided for convenience and in support of the drawing figures and as part of the text of the specification, which describe innovations by reference to multiple items. Items not listed here may nonetheless be part of a given embodiment. For better legibility of the text, a given reference number is recited near some, but not all, recitations of the referenced item in the text. The same reference number may be used with reference to different examples or different instances of a given item. The list of reference numerals is:100 - Cell map102-112 - GNodeBs (gNBs) / base stations / nodes102, 108 - Source cells104, 106, 110, 112, 114 - Neighboring cells200 - Communication environment / communication network202-212 - User Equipment’s (UEs)220 - Network230 - Server300 - System architecture302 - Processor304 - Memory306 - Interface(s)308 - Network communication manager 310 - Console host312 - Identification engine314 - Acquisition engine316 - Computation engine318 - Correlation engine 320 - Selection engine322 - Other units / engines350 - Processing engine(s)360 - Database400 - Method for selecting candidate cells among neighboring cells of the source cell for mitigating the cell outage occurred at the source cell

Claims

We Claim:

1. A method (400) for selecting candidate cells for cell outage mitigation in a communication network (100, 200), the method comprising: identifying, by an identification engine (312) using trace data, a list of a plurality of cells (102-114) in the communication network; acquiring, by an acquisition engine (314) from the trace data, performance metrics data including Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) corresponding to one or more neighboring cells of a source cell (102, 108) among the plurality of cells (102- 114) on which an outage event has occurred; calculating, by a computation engine (316), an offloading percentage of traffic at each of the one or more neighboring cells (104, 106, 110, 112, 114) based on the performance metrics data; ranking, by a correlation engine (318), each of the one or more neighboring cells in a decreasing order of the offloading percentage of the one or more neighboring cells; and selecting, by a selection engine (320) as the candidate cells, a first group of neighboring cells among the one or more neighboring cells for which a value of the offloading percentage is greater than a predefined threshold value.

2. The method (400) as claimed in claim 1, further comprising configuring, by a network communication manager (308), the selected candidate cells to provide one or more services to at least a part of a coverage area of the source cell.

3. The method (400) as claimed in claim 1, wherein, to select the first group of neighboring cells as the candidate cells, the method comprises: comparing, by the correlation engine (318) in the decreasing order of the offloading percentage, the offloading percentage of traffic at each of the one or more neighboring cells with the predefined threshold value; and discarding, by the selection engine (320) based on the comparison, a second group of neighboring cells among the one or more neighboring cells that have the offloading percentage less than the predefined threshold value.

4. The method (400) as claimed in claim 3, wherein the discarding of the second group of neighboring cells is indicative of an exclusion of a specific group of neighboring cells from being considered for offloading the traffic from the source cell.

5. A system (300) for selecting candidate cells for cell outage mitigation in a communication network (100, 200), the system (300) comprising: an identification engine (312) configured to identify, using trace data, a list of a plurality of cells (102-114) in the communication network; an acquisition engine (314) configured to acquire, from the trace data, performance metrics data including Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of one or more neighboring cells of a source cell (102, 108) among the plurality of cells (102- 114) on which an outage event has occurred; a computation engine (316) configured to calculate an offloading percentage of traffic at each of the one or more neighboring cells (104, 106, 110, 112, 114) based on the performance metrics data; a correlation engine (318) configured to rank each of the one or more neighboring cells in a decreasing order of the offloading percentage of the one or more neighboring cells; and a selection engine (320) configured to select, as the candidate cells, a first group of neighboring cells among the one or more neighboring cells for which a value of the offloading percentage is greater than a predefined threshold value.

6. The system (300) as claimed in claim 5, further comprising a network communication manager (308) configured to configure the selected candidate cells to provide one or more services to at least a part of a coverage area of the source cell.

7. The system (300) as claimed in claim 5, wherein to select the first group of neighboring cells as the candidate cells: the correlation engine (318) is configured to compare, in the decreasing order of the offloading percentage, the offloading percentage of traffic at each of the one or more neighboring cells with the predefined threshold value; and the selection engine (320) is configured to discard, based on the comparison, a second group of neighboring cells among the one or more neighboring cells that have the offloading percentage less than the predefined threshold value.

8. The system (300) as claimed in claim 7, wherein the discarding of the second group of neighboring cells is indicative of an exclusion of a specific group of neighboring cells from being considered for offloading the traffic from the source cell.

9. A computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions that are stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium and that, when executed by at least one processor performs operations comprising: identifying, using trace data, a list of a plurality of cells in a communication network; acquiring, from the trace data, performance metrics data including Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) corresponding to one or more neighboring cells of a source cell among the plurality of cells on which an outage event has occurred; calculating an offloading percentage of traffic at each of the one or more neighboring cells based on the performance metrics data; ranking each of the one or more neighboring cells in a decreasing order of the offloading percentage of the one or more neighboring cells; and selecting, as candidate cells, a group of neighboring cells among the one or more neighboring cells for which a value of the offloading percentage is greater than a predefined threshold value.

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