Patent ID: 8060079

Claim:
A method for prioritizing the optimization of a plurality of sectors in a cellular network, wherein the method is carried out by a radio access network (RAN) entity, the method comprising: for each given sector of the plurality of sectors, the RAN entity collecting data representing a throughput of the given sector; for each given sector of the plurality of sectors, the RAN entity collecting one or more performance metrics for the given sector; for each given sector of the plurality of sectors, the RAN entity identifying whether the given sector is a problem sector by determining whether the given sector includes a problem metric, wherein determining whether the given sector includes a problem metric comprises comparing a performance metric to a target metric and determining whether the performance metric deviates from the target metric; for each identified problem sector, the RAN entity calculating a weight for each performance metric of the problem sector by applying a minimum least squares error algorithm; for each identified problem sector, the RAN entity calculating an optimized throughput value by substituting a value of the problem metric with a specified target value; for each identified problem sector, the RAN entity calculating an extent to which the problem sector's optimized throughput value improves over the problem sector's throughput; the RAN entity prioritizing identified problem sectors in order of the calculated extents to which each problem sector's optimized throughput value improves over the throughput; and the RAN entity using the prioritized data to schedule maintenance improvements of the problem sectors.