Title of Invention

"A METHOD FOR CONFIGURING BASE STATIONS"

Abstract

A method for providing configuration parameters to a base station (1, 2, 3, 4) in a wireless communication system, characterized in that the method comprises; (1) an operation and maintenance center determining whether the base station (1, 2, 3, 4) to be configured directly is connected to a Radio Network Controller (RNC); if the base station (1) to be configured is directly connected to the RNC, the operation and maintenance center establishing a default operation and maintenance channel between the operation and maintenance center and the base station (1) to be configured, and the operation and maintenance center providing configuration data for the base station (1) via the default operation and maintenance channel, and thus ending the configuring operation; (2) if the base station (2, 3, 4) to be configured is not directly connected to the RNC, the operation and maintenance center identifying one or more upper level base station(s) (1, 2) connected to the RNC, on a connection channel between the base station (2, 3, 4) and the operation and maintenance center, the operation and maintenance center establishing a default operation and maintenance channel between the operation and maintenance center and the base station (2, 3, 4) to be configured via the one or more upper level base station(s), (1, 2) and the operation and maintenance center providing configuration data for the base station through the default operation and maintenance channel, and thus ending the configuring operation.

Full Text

The present invention relates to a method for configuring base stations This invention relates to a method for configuring devices in wireless communication systems. In particular, it relates to a method for configuring base stations at far-end in WCDMA cellular mobile communication systems. Background of the Invention As wireless communication technology develops, communication networks become more and more sophisticated and bulky. As a result, the criteria for network maintainability become higher. However, due to default maintenance channels of base stations have not been defined in the protocols of 3G wireless communication networks for WCDMA communication systems, base stations cannot complete auto-con figuration, and thus it is impossible for base stations to complete far-end auto-configuration, which brings inconvenience to network maintenance. Presently, the following methods are mainly used to establish maintenance channels for base stations (NodeB): the first one is that maintenance personnel manually configures related data at base stations and base station controllers, so as to configure special operation and maintenance channels to solve base station startup problem. However, due to the fact that access devices are usually far away from the network in actual applications, the fatal defect of this method is that near-end base station configuration is in great difficulty, if the corresponding physical base station is far away from the base station controller or this base station is in a remote and/or desert area. Further, this method may cause high maintenance costs because construction of base stations may not keep in pace with construction of associated equipments. In addition, it is inconvenient for failure treatment. The second method is: At initial startup of all base stations, requests are submitted to the operation and maintenance center with factory-set PVCs and IP addresses, to obtain formal configuration data. For subsequent startups, the formally configured PVCs and IP addresses will be used to contact with the operation and maintenance center. In view that base stations use factory-set default configurations to initiate requests, while in actual cases configuration data are often incorrect or different from the factory-set configuration data after the base stations have been installed (for example, the master control board of a base station may be borrowed from another site, and so the default configuration data is different from that required by the current base station), and thus the base stations are unable to contact with the operation and maintenance center. If this method is used to start up a plurality of base stations simultaneously, it may cause IP addresses conflict. The third method is: base stations request for IP addresses from the operation and maintenance center through a specific protocol (e.g., BooTP protocol) after being powered on, and then establish special operation and maintenance channels. Or, base stations submit requests to the operation and maintenance center through a user-defined protocol, and then establish special operation and maintenance channels according to configuration data issued from the operation and maintenance center. The fatal defect of this method is that definition of MAC address for each base station will be very complex when UTRAN adopts chain-type or tree-type networking patterns. Summary of the Invention The purpose of this invention is to provide a method for configuring base stations, in a wireless communication system, which is easy to use, low in maintenance cost, and suitable for various networking patterns. To attain the above purpose, the method for configuring base stations of this invention comprises: (1) Determine whether a base station to be configured is directly connected to a RNC. If so, a default operation and maintenance channel will be established between an operation and maintenance center and the base station to be configured. The operation and maintenance center configures data for the base station via the default operation and maintenance channel, and thus to end the configuring operation; otherwise, (2) Identify upper-level base station(s) that connect(s) to the RNC on a connection channel between the base station and the operation and maintenance center. A default operation and maintenance channel between the operation and maintenance center and the base station to be configured will be established via the upper-level base station(s). The operation and maintenance center configures data for the base station via the default operation and maintenance channel, and thus to end the configuring operation. In the above step (1), establishing the operation and maintenance channel between the operation and maintenance center and the base station further comprises the following steps: (21) The operation and maintenance center establishes a route at the RNC; and (22) Via the route, the default IP address corresponding to the default IPOA (IP OVER ATM, IP: Internet Protocol, ATM: Asynchronous Transmission Mode) channel of the base station is mapped to a port of the base station that connects to the RNC, so that the operation and maintenance channel is established between the operation and maintenance center and the base station. The above step (1) further includes the following steps before ending the configuring operation: (31) The operation and maintenance center issues the configuration data required by the base station for normal operation to the base station via the operation and maintenance channel; whereas the base station obtains the IP address for normal operation and establishes an IPOA channel according to the IP address; and (32) The route established at the RNC by the operation and maintenance center in step (21) is deleted. In the above step (2), establishing the default operation and maintenance channel between the operation and maintenance center and the base station to be configured via the upper level base stations further comprises: (41) Switching output ports of all the upper level base stations to input ports; (42) The operation and maintenance center establishing a route at the RNC; and (42) Via the route, the default IP address corresponding to the default IPOA channel of the base station to be configured is mapped to a port of the upper level base station that directly connects to the RNC, so that the operation and maintenance channel between the operation and maintenance center and the base station to be configured is established. The above step (2) further includes the following steps before ending the configuring operation: (31) The operation and maintenance center issues the configuration data required by the base station for normal operation to the base station via the operation and maintenance channel; whereas the base station obtains the IP address for normal operation and establishes an IPOA channel according to the IP address; and (32) The route established at the RNC by the operation and maintenance center in step (42) is deleted. This invention can establish default operation and maintenance channels between an operation and maintenance center and base stations to be configured according to the factory-set default IPOA channels and corresponding PVCs. By using the default operation and maintenance channels, to configure data for the base stations, the base stations can obtain IP addresses for normal operation from the configuration data, so as to establish IPOA channels for normal operation according to the IP addresses. This invention can configure base stations at far-end, i.e., the operation and maintenance center configures data for the base stations at far-end. Further, this invention is applicable to various networking patterns, such as star-type, chain-type, and tree-type networks. Furthermore, it can prevent IP address conflicts during base station configuration process. Therefore, the method described in this invention can simplify base station configuration, and reduce development and maintenance costs. Brief Description of Drawings Fig.l shows a flow chart of an embodiment of this invention. Fig.2 is a schematic diagram of configuring a base station directly connected to a RNC through a default channel according to this invention. Fig.3 is a schematic diagram of configuring a base station indirectly connected to a RNC through a default channel according to this invention. Embodiments of the Invention Hereunder the invention is further described with reference to the attached drawings. This invention is mainly based on the following presumptions: 1. ATM transmission technology is used between a base station and a base station controller; 2. Physical connection between a base station and a base station controller is ready. This invention avoids complexity for applying IP addresses by using default PVCs and default IP addresses. In addition, it solves the problem of establishing operation and maintenance channels in chain-type and/or tree-type networking patterns. With an operation and maintenance center configures data for base stations via IP routes, problems such as configuration data of base stations being different from the factory-set ones and IP .addresses conflict when several base stations start up simultaneously can be solved. Fig. 1 shows a flow chart of an embodiment of this invention. As shown in Fig.l, step 1 is to determine whether a base station to be configured is directly connected to a RNC. The base station to be configured includes: newly-built base station, base station with no configuration data, and base station with incorrect configuration data due to various reasons. If the base station is directly connected to the RNC, then in step 9, an operation and maintenance center would create a route at the RNC; and in step 10, the operation and maintenance center maps the default IP address corresponding to the default IPOA channel of the base station to a port of the base station that connects to the RNC via the route, so that a default operation and maintenance channel is established between the operation and maintenance center and the base station to be configured. Thereafter, in step 11, the operation and maintenance center issues the configuration data to the base station for normal operation through the default operation and maintenance channel. After the configuration data is sent, the base station obtains an IP address for normal operation from the acquired configuration data, and then establishes an IPOA channel for normal operation according to the IP address (step 12). Finally, in step 13, the route created at RNC by the operation and maintenance center in step 9 is deleted, and thus to end the configuring operation. If in step 1, the base station to be configured is determined as indirectly connecting to the RNC, then step 2 identifies upper level base stations that connect to the RNC on a connection channel between the base station and the operation and maintenance center. Then, in step 3, output ports of all the upper level base stations are switched to input ports, so as to complete PVC switching required for establishing a default operation and maintenance channel. In step 4, the operation and maintenance center creates a route at RNC. In step 5, the operation and maintenance center maps the default IP address corresponding to the default IPOA channel of the base station to be configured to a port of the upper level base station that directly connects to RNC, so that an operation and maintenance channel between the operation and maintenance center and the base station to be configured is established. Then in step 5, the operation and maintenance center sends configuration data to the base station through the above operation and maintenance channel. After the configuration data is sent, in step 6, the base station obtains the IP address for norma] operation from the configuration data and establishes an IPOA channel for normal operation according to the IP address. Finally, in step 7, the route created at RNC by the operation and maintenance center in step 4 is deleted, and thus to end the configuring operation. Hereunder the invention is further described in the embodiments. Fig.2 is a schematic diagram of configuring a base station (NodeB) that directly connects to RNC through a default channel according to the present invention. Fig. 2 shows the procedure for configuring NodeB (1) that directly connects to RNC. Firstly, a default IPOA channel and its matched PVC have been set when a base station leaves factory, i.e., PVC from the interface (Iub interface) between RNC and NodeB to the base station control module. Assuming the JP address is 10.11.121.1; the VPI/VCI of Iub interface is 1/1 (usually the PVC is fixed at ATM port 1 of the Iub interface); the default IPOA channel and its matched PVC would be kept after the base station has correctly configured (in fact, at this time NodeB has two IPOA entities, in which one is active, and the other one is standby). Considering the case of NodeB (1) startup: due to operation and maintenance center knows connection of the NodeB, i.e., which physical port of RNC that the NodeB corresponds to, in case the NodeB has to be configured because the data of the NodeB are incorrect and there are no maintenance personnel/maintenance means available nearby, the operation and maintenance center needs to create a route at RNC and maps the destination IP address 10.11.121.1 to the corresponding RNC port. Thus, a special operation and maintenance channel can be established between the operation and maintenance center and NodeB (1). Then, the operation and maintenance center configures correct data for NodeB (1). After NodeB (1) obtains the IP address for normal operation from the configuration data, assuming the IP address is 20.1.2.1, NodeB (1) would establish an IPOA channel for normal operation according to that IP address, and then the route created at RNC will be deleted. After NodeB (1) operates normally, the operation and maintenance center communicates with NodeB (1) through the active IPOA channel. At the same time, NodeB still keeps its standby channel. If NodeB (1) once more receives the message of VPI/VCI=1/1 at the first ATM port, it deems that the PVC carries the standby IPOA information, and this will be submitted to the control module of NodeB (1) for treatment. Fig.3 is a schematic diagram of configuring a base station that indirectly connects to RNC through a default channel according to the present invention. Fig. 3 shows the procedure for configuring NodeB (2) that indirectly connects to RNC. As mentioned above, according to the default rules, assuming the default IP address of NodeB (2) is 10.11.121.1, ATM port 1 of NodeB (2) is connected to its upper level base station NodeB (1), and VPI/VCI of default PVC of NodeB (2) is 1/1. Due to the operation and maintenance center knows networking situation of the entire RAN, i.e., the operation and maintenance center knows the connection relation between NodeB (2) and NodeB (1). Assuming ATM port N of NodeB (1) is connected to ATM port 1 of NodeB (2), VPI/VCI of a PVC link between RNC and NodeB (1) is X/Y, and the link is connected to ATM port M of NodeB (1), the operation and maintenance center will perform the following PVC switching at NodeB 1: switching (M/X/Y) to (N/1/1) (symbol in bracket means: ATM port No./VPI/VCI); and the operation and maintenance center will create a route at RNC to map the destination IP address (10.11.121.1) to a port of RNC that connects to NodeB (1). In this way, the default special operation and maintenance channel between the operation and maintenance center and NodeB (2) is established. The operation and maintenance center configures correct data for NodeB (2). When NodeB (2) obtains the IP address from the configuration data for normal operation, assuming the IP address is 20.1.2.2, it then establishes an IPOA channel for normal operation according to the IP address. Thereafter, the route created at RNC is deleted. If configuring NodeB (3) of Fig.3, in this case, both NodeB (1) and NodeB (2) have run normally, and both have obtained the IP addresses. Assuming VPI/VCI of a PVC link between RNC and NodeB (1) is X'/Y', and the link is connected to ATM port M' of NodeB 1. Port N' of NodeB 1 is connected to port P of NodeB (2) via a PVC with VPI/VCI being I/J; and port R of NodeB 2 is connected to NodeB 3. According to the arrangement, VPI/VCI between port R of NodeB (2) and port 1 of NodeB (3) is 1/1. Assuming the IP address of NodeB 3 is 10.11.121.1, the operation and maintenance center will perform the following PVC switching at NodeB (2): switching (R/l/1) to (P/I/J); and it will perforin the following PVC switching at NodeB (1): switching (M7XVY') to (N'/I/J). At the same time, the operation and maintenance center will create a route at RNC and map the destination IP address (10.11.121.1) to a port of RNC that connects to NodeB 1. In this way, the default special operation and maintenance channel between the operation and maintenance center and NodeB (3) is established. Then, the operation and maintenance center configures correct data for NodeB (3), and NodeB (3) obtains the IP address, e.g., 20.1.2.3, from the above data for normal operation. According to the IP address, an IPOA channel for normal operation of NodeB is established. Thereafter, the route originally created at RNC is deleted. As described above, the method of this invention can be used to establish a default operation and maintenance channel for NodeB in any networking patterns. By using the default operation and maintenance channel to issue correct configuration data, a normal IPOA channel can be established. It is noted that above configuration operations can be accomplished automatically by software developed with the method described in this invention at the operation and maintenance center. We claim: 1. A method for providing configuration parameters to a base station (1, 2, 3, 4) in a wireless communication system, characterized in that the method comprises: (1) an operation and maintenance center determining whether the base station (1, 2, 3, 4) to be configured directly is connected to a Radio Network Controller (RNC); if the base station (1) to be configured is directly connected to the RNC, the operation and maintenance center establishing a default operation and maintenance channel between the operation and maintenance center and the base station (1) to be configured, and the operation and maintenance center providing configuration data for the base station (1) via the default operation and maintenance channel, and thus ending the configuring operation; (2) if the base station (2, 3, 4) to be configured is not directly connected to the RNC, the operation and maintenance center identifying one or more upper level base station(s) (1, 2) connected to the RNC, on a connection channel between the base station (2, 3, 4) and the operation and maintenance center, the operation and maintenance center establishing a default operation and maintenance channel between the operation and maintenance center and the base station (2, 3, 4) to be configured via the one or more upper level base station(s), (1, 2) and the operation and maintenance center providing configuration data for the base station through the default operation and maintenance channel, and thus ending the configuring operation. 2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein establishing a default operation and maintenance channel between the operation and maintenance center and the base station (1, 2, 3, 4) in the process (1) comprises: (21) the operation and maintenance center establishing a route at the RNC; and (22) the operation and maintenance center mapping via the route, a default IP address corresponding to a default IPOA (IP OVER ATM) channel of the base station (1, 2, 3, 4) to a port of the base station (1) directly connected to the RNC. 3. The method for as claimed in claim 2, wherein the process (1) comprises before ending the configuring operation; (31) the operation and maintenance center issuing the configuration data required for a normal operation of the base station (1, 2, 3, 4) to the base station (1, 2, 3, 4) through the operation and maintenance channel; whereas the base station (1, 2, 3, 4) obtaining an IP address for a normal operation, and the base station (1, 2, 3, 4) establishing an IPOA channel according to the IP address; and (32) the operation and maintenance center deleting the route established at the RNC by the operation and maintenance center in the process (21). 4. The method for as claimed in claim 1, wherein the operation and maintenance center establishing a default operation and maintenance channel between the operation and maintenance center and the base station (2, 3, 4) to be configured via the one or more upper level base stations (1,2) in the process (2) comprises: (41) the operation and maintenance center switching output ports of all one or more the upper level base stations (1, 2) to input ports; (42) the operation and maintenance center establishing a route at the RNC; and (43) the operation and maintenance center mapping via the route, a default IP address corresponding to a default IPOA (IP OVER ATM) channel of the base station (2, 3, 4) to be configured to a port of the upper level base station (1) that directly connects to the RNC. 5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the process (2), comprises before ending the configuring operation: (31) the operation and maintenance center issuing the configuration data required for normal operation of the base station (2, 3, 4) to the base station (2, 3, 4) through the operation and maintenance channel; whereas the base station (2, 3, 4) obtaining an IP address for a normal operation and the base station (2, 3, 4) establishing an IPOA channel according to the IP address; and (32) the operation and maintenance center deleting the route established at the RNC by the operation and maintenance center in the process (42).

Documents:

1219-delnp-2004-abstract.pdf

1219-delnp-2004-claims.pdf

1219-delnp-2004-complete specification (granded).pdf

1219-delnp-2004-Correspondence-Others-(19-09-2012).pdf

1219-delnp-2004-Correspondence-Others-(23-10-2012).pdf

1219-delnp-2004-correspondence-others.pdf

1219-delnp-2004-correspondence-po.pdf

1219-delnp-2004-description (complete).pdf

1219-delnp-2004-drawings.pdf

1219-delnp-2004-form-1.pdf

1219-delnp-2004-form-18.pdf

1219-delnp-2004-form-2.pdf

1219-delnp-2004-form-3.pdf

1219-delnp-2004-form-5.pdf

1219-delnp-2004-pa.pdf

1219-delnp-2004-pct-210.pdf

1219-delnp-2004-petiton-138.pdf