Abstract:
Systems and methods for monitoring a paging signal from a mobile switch to a cellular transmitter for occurrences of congestion. The system includes a switch; a cell site in communication with the switch, for broadcasting a page received from the switch to a cellular device configured to receive the page; and a monitoring module in communication with the switch for monitoring occurrences of paging congestion between the switch and the cell site.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates generally to mobile communications and, more particularly, to a system and method for monitoring paging signals transmitted from a mobile switch to a cell site for occurrences of congestion.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Background  
           [0004]    As mobile telephones have grown from mere voice communications devices to sophisticated appliances for paging, text functions and Internet access, bandwidth management has become a critical function for providing Quality of Service (QoS). A wireless communications network typically includes a mobile switch, a paging area, and a cellular device such as a cellular telephone. The mobile switch manages traffic between cellular users. The paging area includes a plurality of cellular telephone transmitters, or cell sites, that cover a certain geographical area. In operation, the mobile switch directs a page, addressed to a certain cellular device, to the appropriate paging area. A cell site, within the paging area, then broadcasts the page, causing, for example, a cellular phone to ring. In practice, network congestion occurs between the mobile switch and a cell site, due in part to limited bandwidth between the switch and the cell site. Such congestion may cause pages sent from the switch to a targeted cellular device, via the cell site, to be lost. Lost pages cause users of cellular devices, such as cellular phones, to miss calls because the phone fails to ring. Paging congestion, therefore, significantly affects QoS. Additionally, paging congestion can lead to substantial revenue losses for telecommunications service providers that fail to collect for unconnected calls.  
           [0005]    A mobile switch may communicate with a cell site over a T-1 line. A T-1 line is a commonly used digital line that bundles 24 channels called DS0s, where each DS0 is capable of transmitting 64 kbps, for an overall transmission rate of 1.5 Mbps. Some wireless communication networks, however, may limit paging communications to just one of the 24 channels in a T-1 line, reserving the other 23 channels for transmitting voice data. The growing popularity of cellular phones has caused the DS0 channel dedicated to paging to operate at or beyond its 64 kbps capacity. New services, such as short messaging service and message waiting indicators on cellular phones, also share the same DS0.  
           [0006]    A network diagnostic tool is needed that enables service providers to identify, and even quantify, instances of paging congestion. Such a system needs to provide sufficient flexibility to identify paging congestion problems that exceed certain quantitative thresholds. Such a system also needs to provide a notification system in which certain network operators receive timely alerts when a paging congestion problem occurs. The present invention satisfies this need.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    The present invention is directed to systems and methods for monitoring a paging signal from a mobile switch to a cellular transmitter for occurrences of congestion. According to one embodiment, the system comprises a switch; a cell site in communication with the switch, for broadcasting a page received from the switch to a cellular device configured to receive the page; and a monitoring module in communication with the switch for monitoring occurrences of paging congestion between the switch and the cell site.  
           [0008]    The present invention may be used, for example, to monitor pages transmitted from the mobile switch but not received by the cell site. In the case of a cellular phone, pages transmitted from the mobile switch cause the receiving cellular phone to ring. Lost pages, however, cause customers to miss calls. The present invention may be used, for example, as a statistical tool for identifying operational problems that might otherwise go unnoticed. In addition to statistical benefits, the present invention may also be used to notify network operators of paging congestions problems. Finally, the present invention may also be used as a loss of revenue indicator by quantifying the number of lost pages that resulted in, for example, unconnected calls.  
           [0009]    These and other benefits of the present invention will be apparent from the detailed description below. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES  
       [0010]    For the present invention to be understood clearly and readily practiced, the present invention will be described in conjunction with the following FIGURE, wherein:  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a cellular communications system according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0012]    It is to be understood that the figures and descriptions of the present invention have been simplified to illustrate elements that are relevant for a clear understanding of the present invention while eliminating, for purposes of clarity, other elements. For example, certain system details and modules of certain intelligent platforms are not described herein. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize, however, that these and other elements may be desirable in a typical network. A discussion of such elements is not provided because such elements are well known in the art and because they do not facilitate a better understanding of the present invention.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a cellular communications system  10  according to one embodiment of the present invention for monitoring paging congestion between a mobile switch and a cell site. The system  10  includes a page-monitoring module  12 , a mobile switch  14 , a public switched telephone network (PSTN)  16 , a cell site  18 , and a cellular device  20 . The monitoring module  12 , as described further hereinbelow, receives reports of missed pages from the mobile switch  14  and outputs a notification  22  to network operators  24 , such as by email or page, when the number of missed pages due to paging congestion exceeds a predetermined amount. The mobile switch  14  is the bridge between the PSTN  16  and the cell site  18  that ultimately makes the wireless connection to the user&#39;s cellular device  20 .  
         [0014]    The monitoring module  12 , which communicates with the paging queue of mobile switch  14 , may be implemented on an intelligent platform such as, for example, a computer, such as a workstation or a personal computer, a microprocessor, a network server, or an application specific integrated circuit, using any suitable type of computer instruction. Module  12  may also be implemented as software code to be executed by the system  10  using any suitable computer language such as, for example, microcode, and may be stored in, for example, an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), or can be configured into the logic of the system  10 . According to another embodiment, module  12  may be implemented as software code to be executed by the system  10  using any suitable computer language such as, for example, Java, Perl, C or C++ using, for example, conventional or object-oriented techniques. The software code may be stored as a series of instructions or commands on a computer readable medium, such as random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), a magnetic medium such as a hard-drive or a floppy disk, or an optical medium such as CD-ROM. According to one embodiment, module  12  may be integrated with the hardware or software of the mobile switch  14 .  
         [0015]    According to one embodiment, the mobile switch  14  may be in communication with the module  12 , the PSTN  16 , and the cell site  18  via a communications network  25  including, individually or in combination, a wireline network or a wireless network. The communications network may include, for example, individually or in combination, a plain old telephone system (POTS), a public switched telephone network (PSTN), a wireless telephone network, the Internet, an intranet, a LAN, or a WAN, using, for example, packet-switching or circuit switching transmission modes. According to another embodiment, the mobile switch  14  may be part of a mobile switching center (MSC) in communication with the module  12  and the cell site  16 .  
         [0016]    According to one embodiment, the monitoring module  12  is configured to count the number of occurrences of paging congestion between the mobile switch  14  and the cell site  18 . An occurrence of paging congestion refers to an instance where, for example, a cellular phone customer did not receive notification of an incoming call. For example, when the mobile switch  14  receives an incoming call directed to the cellular device  20 , the mobile switch  14  issues a page  26  to the cellular device  20  via the cell site  18 . Normally, when the cellular device  20  receives the page  26 , the cellular device  20  rings, notifying the cellular subscriber of an incoming call. During instances of paging congestion between the mobile switch  14  and the cell site  18 , however, the page  26  may be lost. According to such an embodiment, module  12  may count the lost pages over a predetermined time interval.  
         [0017]    According to another embodiment, module  12  may use the lost page information to perform some corrective action. For example, module  12  may notify network operators  24  when the number of lost pages reaches a predetermined limit, such as 100 lost pages in one hour. According to such an embodiment, module  12  may issue notification  22  to the network operators  24 , such as by electronic mail or by page, via, for example, a wide area network (WAN)  28 . The notification  22  may include, for example, the number of pages lost over some time interval. Notifications may also include information to facilitate troubleshooting, such as the location of paging congestion. The location may be designated by, for example, paging area.  
         [0018]    It should be understood that the invention is not limited by the foregoing description of preferred embodiments, but embraces all such alterations, modifications, and variations in accordance with the spirit and scope of the appended claims.