Geographical Area Network Management Service Intermediary
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing complexity of network management systems due to the introduction of new technologies and geographical variations in network services makes it challenging to efficiently discover and collect management data and services related to specific geographical areas, especially in multi-vendor networks where consumers lack detailed knowledge of underlying network entities.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus and method that request and provide indications of network functions, management services, and radio cells related to a geographical area by evaluating criteria such as coverage area overlap and antenna location, allowing for the collection of management data without requiring detailed knowledge of the underlying network infrastructure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If manual connection of management tools is used to establish the management pyramid, then the system structure is simple and stable, but the device complexity increases and adaptability to geographical areas decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a service consumer and service producer architecture as an intermediary layer between management tools and network functions. The service consumer requests management data and services related to specific geographical areas, while the service producer provides these services by querying network functions and collecting data from radio cells. This intermediary mechanism enables automatic geographical area-based management without requiring manual configuration of complex tool connections, thus improving adaptability while managing device complexity.
2Ease of operation
If detailed knowledge of underlying network entities is required, then the measurement precision of network entity identification is high, but the ease of operation decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a self-service mechanism where the service producer automatically queries network functions and collects management data from radio cells based on geographical area criteria without requiring the service consumer to have detailed knowledge of network entities. The system autonomously performs entity identification, data collection, and filtering, thus improving ease of operation while preventing loss of network entity information through automated tracking and management.
Solution Approach 2:
The service producer acts as an intermediary that shields the service consumer from complex network entity details. The intermediary handles the complexity of querying network functions, evaluating geographical area criteria, and collecting data from multiple radio cells, allowing the consumer to operate with simplified interfaces while the system maintains complete information about underlying network entities.
3Productivity
If manual data collection from each network function is performed, then the measurement precision is high, but the productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple data collection operations into a unified service producer architecture that handles multiple network functions and radio cells simultaneously. Instead of manually collecting data from each network function separately, the service producer consolidates queries and data collection processes, automatically evaluating geographical area criteria across multiple entities. This merging approach significantly improves productivity while maintaining measurement precision through systematic evaluation of all relevant network entities.
Data Source
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AI summary
Method comprising: receiving a request to start collection of management data for a geographical area; for each of one or more radio cells: checking whether the respective radio cell fulfills at least one of one or more criteria; determining one or more network functions serving the respective radio cell if the respective radio cell fulfills the at least one of the one or more criteria; triggering the determined one or more network functions to start collection of the management data for the respective radio cell; wherein each of the one or more criteria is only fulfilled if the respective radio cell is related to the geographical area.