Patent ID: 9516600
Filing Date: 2016-12-06
CPC Classification: H04W

Claim Text:
1. A method of assigning downlink transmit power levels to a plurality of radio nodes (RNs) in a radio access network (RAN) deployed in a defined environment, comprising: (a) assigning initial power levels to each of the RNs in the deployed RAN; (b) for each cell associated with the RNs, counting a number of first events indicating that UEs receiving a signal from their serving cells with a signal strength below a specified value have entered a coverage hole; (c) for each cell associated with the RNs, counting a number of second events indicating that UEs have re-established a previous connection on one of the cells; (d) for each pair of cells i and j in the RAN, identifying a coverage hole between a cell i and a cell j in the RAN if a number of first events counted for cell i exceeds a threshold level and a number of second events counted for re-establishment of a previous connection on cell j from a disconnect on cell i exceeds another threshold level; and (e) for each of the identified coverage holes, increasing the downlink transmit power level of at least one of the RNs associated with the pair of cells between which the coverage hole has been identified.