DESC:FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970 (39 OF 1970)
&
THE PATENT RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See section 10 and rule 13)

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR BALANCING COVERAGE OVERLAP ACROSS CARRIERS IN A COMMUNICATION NETWORK

Jio Platforms Limited, an Indian company, having registered address at Office -101, Saffron, Nr. Centre Point, Panchwati 5 Rasta, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad - 380006, Gujarat, India

The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

TECHNICAL FIELD
The embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of wireless communication networks and systems. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a system and a method for balancing coverage overlap across multiple carriers in a communication network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The subject matter disclosed in the background section should not be assumed or construed to be prior art merely due to its mention in the background section. Similarly, any problem statement mentioned in the background section or its association with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed or construed to have been previously recognized in the prior art.
With the advent of technological advancement in the field of telecommunications, several wireless technologies have been developed to meet growing number of broadband subscribers for providing better applications and services. During development phase, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards introduced a concept of carrier overlap in wireless communication networks while evolving from Third Generation (3G) to Fifth Generation (5G) technologies. A carrier refers to a frequency band or channel allocated for transmitting data. The carrier serves as a medium through which data is transmitted wirelessly between a base station such as gNodeB (gNB) and a User Equipment (UE). In 5G, carriers can span a wide range of frequencies, including sub-6 GHz and mmWave bands, where each carrier may offer specific advantages such as increased capacity and faster data rates. The allocation and management of carriers is critical for optimizing network performance, ensuring efficient spectrum utilization, and delivering high-quality services to end-users.
To ensure efficient utilization of spectrum resources, optimum network performance, and improve user experience, a deployment of the network is essential, especially when multiple carriers operate within the same frequency bands or across different bands. Accordingly, 3GPP standards bodies began exploring new approaches to enhance the network performance, which led to development of advanced handover mechanisms and interference management techniques. This enabled base stations to coordinate their operations effectively, particularly in areas where coverage overlaps occurred. In particular, the coverage overlap occurs between gNB nodes pertaining to geographical areas where coverage provided by neighboring base stations (gNBs) intersects. The coverage overlap is essential for ensuring seamless handover and continuity of service as UEs move between coverage areas.
Conventional approaches to enhance the network performance involves coverage planning strategies, which often results in disparities in utilization of the carriers. In absence of proper coverage mapping, certain carriers experiences over utilization while other carriers may remain underutilized. The absence of the proper coverage mapping impacts the end user experience due to capacity overload, and further, results in degradation in quality of service for end users and poor network performance.
An important factor contributing to coverage discrepancies is the inherent difference in coverage footprints between lower and higher frequency bands. Generally, lower frequency bands exhibit larger coverage footprints owing to lower free space loss, whereas higher frequency bands exhibit less coverage footprints compared to lower frequency carrier as penetration losses are directly proportional to the carrier frequency i.e., owing to higher free space loss in higher frequency bands. Further, load balancing works best when coverage overlap is optimized in multicarrier/multiband scenario. In absence of such load balancing mechanism, there will be an imbalance in carrier utilization leading to over utilization of the lower frequency carrier.
Generally, load imbalance occurs in intra sectors due to coverage imbalance, and to effectively implement the load balancing in the multicarrier/multiband scenario, it is essential to reduce the coverage overlap.
In order to mitigate aforementioned challenges, there is a need for a solution to optimize coverage planning and balance load across carriers in the multicarrier/multiband scenario.
SUMMARY
The following embodiments present a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosed invention. This summary is not an extensive overview, and it is not intended to identify key/critical elements or to delineate the scope thereof. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
In an embodiment, disclosed herein is a method for balancing coverage overlap across a plurality of carriers in a communication network. The method comprises obtaining, by an acquisition module, a User Equipment (UE) measurement report from each of one or more source cells and one or more target cells present in the communication network. Based on the obtained UE measurement report, the method comprises computing, by a determination module, a weighted average of Radio Resource Control (RRC) connected users at each carrier among the plurality of carriers. Thereafter, the method comprises determining, for each carrier by the determination module, an area coverage overlap based on the computed weighted average, and a ratio of a set of RSRP bin values satisfying a threshold criterion for each of the one or more source cells with respect to each target carrier and a total number of RSRP bin values for each of the one or more source cells with respect to each target carrier. Furthermore, based on the determined area coverage overlap, the method comprises adjusting, by a network management module, an allocation of network resources among the plurality of carriers.
In one or more embodiments, in determining the area coverage overlap, the method comprises determining, by the determination module for each source cell among the one or more source cells based on the obtained UE measurement report, the set of RSRP bin values satisfying the threshold criterion and the total number of RSRP bin values for each of the one or more source cells with respect to each target carrier.
In one or more embodiments, the method comprises calculating, by the determination module based on the obtained UE measurement report, a ratio of a number of users served by each carrier in a specific sector and a total number of users present in the specific sector, and computing, by the determination module, the weighted average of the RRC connected users at each carrier among the plurality of carriers based on the calculated ratio.
In one or more embodiments, in determining the area coverage overlap, the method comprises multiplying, by the determination module for each carrier, the computed weighted average with the ratio of the set of RSRP bin values satisfying the threshold criterion to the total number of RSRP bin values, and determining, by the determination module, the area coverage overlap for each carrier based on a result of the multiplication.
In some embodiments, the determined area coverage overlap is displayed on a user interface in form of a report.
In an implementation, the method comprises receiving, by a receiver module via the user interface, an input to enable a generation of the UE measurement report for each of the one or more source cells and the one or more target cells. Each of the one or more source cells and the one or more target cells are located in a specific service provider area. The method further comprises adjusting, by the network management module based on the received input, configuration settings of each of the one or more source cells and the one or more target cells to enable the generation of the UE measurement report.
In one or more implementations, the threshold criterion is set based on a RSRP threshold value. The RSRP threshold value varies in a range of -113 dBm to -43 dBm.
In one or more implementations, the method comprises extracting, by an extraction module from the obtained UE measurement report, information including performance statistics corresponding to each of the one or more source cells and the one or more target cells. Based on the extracted information, the method comprises determining, by the determination module, the set of RSRP bin values satisfying the threshold criterion, for each source cell among the one or more source cells.
In one or more embodiments, adjusting the allocation of network resources among the plurality of carriers comprises tuning, by the network management module, one or more network parameters of at least one of the one or more source cells and the one or more target cells based on the determined area coverage overlap.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, disclosed is a system for balancing coverage overlap across a plurality of carriers in a communication network. The system comprises an acquisition module, a determination module, and a network management module. The acquisition module is configured to obtain a User Equipment (UE) measurement report from each of one or more source cells and one or more target cells present in the communication network. Based on the obtained UE measurement report, the determination module is configured to compute a weighted average of Radio Resource Control (RRC) connected users at each carrier among the plurality of carriers. Further, the determination module is configured to determine, for each carrier, an area coverage overlap based on the computed weighted average and a ratio of a set of RSRP bin values satisfying a threshold criterion for each of the one or more source cells with respect to each target carrier and a total number of RSRP bin values for each of the one or more source cells with respect to each target carrier. Thereafter, the network management module is configured to adjust an allocation of network resources among the plurality of carriers based on the determined area coverage overlap.
In one or more implementations, to determine the area coverage overlap, the at the determination module is configured to determine, for each source cell among the one or more source cells based on the obtained UE measurement report, the set of RSRP bin values satisfying the threshold criterion, and the total number of RSRP bin values for each of the one or more source cells with respect to each target carrier.
In one or more implementations, the determination module is further configured to calculate, based on the obtained UE measurement report, a ratio of a number of users served by each carrier in a specific sector and a total number of users present in the specific sector, and compute the weighted average of the RRC connected users at each carrier among the plurality of carriers based on the calculated ratio.
In one or more implementations, the determination module is further configured to determine the area coverage overlap by multiplying, for each carrier, the computed weighted average with the ratio of the set of RSRP bin values satisfying the threshold criterion to the total number of RSRP bin values, and determining the area coverage overlap for each carrier based on a result of the multiplication.
In an embodiment, the system further comprises a receiver module configured to receive, via a user interface, an input from an end user to enable a generation of the UE measurement report for each of the one or more source cells and the one or more target cells. Each of the one or more source cells and the one or more target cells are located in a specific service provider area. Further, the network management module is configured to adjust, based on the received input, a setting configuration of each of the one or more source cells and the one or more target cells to enable the generation of the UE measurement report.
In one or more implementations, the threshold criterion is set based on a RSRP threshold value. The RSRP threshold value varies in a range of -113 dBm to -43 dBm.
In one or more implementations, the system further comprises an extraction module configured to extract, from the obtained UE measurement reports, information including performance statistics corresponding to each of the one or more source cells and the one or more target cells. Further, the determination module is configured to determine, for each source cell among the one or more source cells, the first set of RSRP bin values based on the extracted information.
In one or more implementations, to adjust the allocation of network resources among the plurality of carriers, the network management module is configured to tune one or more network parameters of at least one of the one or more source cells and the one or more target cells based on the determined area coverage overlap.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
Various embodiments disclosed herein will become better understood from the following detailed description when read with the accompanying drawings. The accompanying drawings constitute a part of the present disclosure and illustrate certain non-limiting embodiments of inventive concepts. Further, components and elements shown in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. For the purpose of consistency and ease of understanding, similar components and elements are annotated by reference numerals in the exemplary drawings.
FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary communication network, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a system architecture depicting a base station connected to UEs, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a system architecture depicting a server connected to the base station and the UE, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a system architecture depicting the UE, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary diagram depicting coverage overlaps between a source cell and neighboring cells, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary diagram depicting geo-located measurement events based area coverage overlap between the source cell and a neighboring cell, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of a method for balancing coverage overlap across carriers in the communication network, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Inventive concepts of the present disclosure will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which examples of one or more embodiments of inventive concepts are shown. Inventive concepts may, however, be embodied in different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Further, the one or more embodiments disclosed herein are provided to describe the inventive concept thoroughly and completely, and to fully convey the scope of each of the present inventive concepts to those skilled in the art. Furthermore, it should be noted that the embodiments disclosed herein are not mutually exclusive concepts. Accordingly, one or more components from one embodiment may be tacitly assumed to be present or used in any other embodiment.
The following description presents various embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiments disclosed herein are presented as teaching examples and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. The present disclosure should in no way be limited to the illustrative implementations, drawings, and techniques illustrated below, including the exemplary design and implementation illustrated and described herein, but may be modified, omitted, or expanded upon without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.
The following description contains specific information pertaining to embodiments in the present disclosure. The detailed description uses the phrases “in some embodiments” or “some implementations” which may each refer to one or more or all of the same or different embodiments or implementations. The term “some” as used herein is defined as “one, or more than one, or all.” Accordingly, the terms “one,” “more than one,” “more than one, but not all” or “all” would all fall under the definition of “some.” In view of the same, the terms, for example, “in an embodiment” or “in an implementation” refers to one embodiment or one implementation and the term, for example, “in one or more embodiments” refers to “at least one embodiment, or more than one embodiment, or all embodiments.”. Further, the term, for example, “in one or more implementations” refers to “at least one implementation, or more than one implementation, or all implementations.
The term “comprising,” when utilized, means “including, but not necessarily limited to;” it specifically indicates open-ended inclusion in the so-described one or more listed features, elements in a combination, unless otherwise stated with limiting language. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “includes,” “has,” “have,” “contains,” and other similar words are used in either the detailed description, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising.”
In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, various specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent, however, that embodiments of the present disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. Several features described hereafter can each be used independently of one another or with any combination of other features.
The description provided herein discloses exemplary embodiments only and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the present disclosure. Rather, the foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments will provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing any of the exemplary embodiments. Specific details are given in the following description to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it may be understood by one of the ordinary skilled in the art that the embodiments disclosed herein may be practiced without these specific details.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. As used herein the description, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" include plural forms unless the context of the invention indicates otherwise.
The terminology and structure employed herein are for describing, teaching, and illuminating some embodiments and their specific features and elements and do not limit, restrict, or reduce the scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, unless otherwise defined, all terms, and especially any technical and/or scientific terms, used herein may be taken to have the same meaning as commonly understood by one having ordinary skill in the art.
An object of the present disclosure is to provide a method and a system that enables efficient utilization of spectrum resources within a communication network and optimizes network performance for enhancing user experience. Another object of the present disclosure is to determine an area coverage overlap through which an extent of coverage of each carrier/band deployed in the communication network can be easily ascertained. Yet, another object of the present disclosure is to enable efficient coverage site planning to fill coverage holes in the communication network.
In the disclosure, various embodiments are described using terms used in some communication standards (e.g., 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), Extensible Radio Access Network (xRAN), and Open-Radio Access Network (O-RAN)), but these are merely examples for description. Various embodiments of the disclosure may also be easily modified and applied to other communication systems.
In order to facilitate an understanding of the disclosed invention, a number of terms are defined below.
The carrier/band serves as a medium through which data is transmitted wirelessly between a base station such as gNB and the UE. Carriers can span a wide range of frequencies, including sub-6 GHz and mmWave bands, where each carrier may offer specific advantages such as increased capacity and faster data rates.
A sector is a portion of a cell’s coverage area. The sector may be of multiple types such as, but not limited to, intra-sector, inter-sector, and the like. The intra-sector represents subdivisions within a single sector of a cell to manage resources or provide specific services and the inter-sector represents adjacent sectors within the same cell or across neighboring cells.
A service area refers to a geographical region covered by a specific cell or a group of cells in the communication network. The service area may be determined using the radio coverage provided by base stations. For example, the service area of a cell in a network environment may be a few kilometers in radius.
A Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) represents to a linear average of reference signal power (in Watts) in resource elements that carry cell-specific reference signals within considered measurement frequency bandwidth.
Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) is a measurement of total received power observed by the UE over a specific bandwidth. The measurement includes the power of a desired signal, interference, and noise. RSSI is used as an indicator of signal strength in conjunction with performance metrics like RSRP and Reference Signal Receive Quality (RSRQ).
The RSRQ is a quality metric represented as a ratio of the RSRP to the total RSSI in a measured bandwidth. In particular, the RSRQ indicates a quality of the signal relative to interference and noise.
Radio Resource Control (RRC) is a protocol layer in a control plane of New Radio (NR) interface that manages a connection between the UE and a network cell. The RRC operates in two main states i.e., an idle state (RRC_IDLE) and connected state (RRC_CONECTED) to manage network resources efficiently.
A Root Sequence Index (RSI) refers to a unique identifier assigned to a cell within the communication network for generation of reference signals. The RSI facilitates generation of different set of root sequences.
Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 through FIG. 7, discussed below, and the one or more embodiments used to describe the principles of the present disclosure are by way of illustration only and should not be construed in any way to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably arranged system or device.
FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary communication network 100, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the communication network 100 shown in FIG. 1 is for illustration only. Other embodiments of the communication network 100 may be used without departing from the scope of this disclosure.
As shown in FIG. 1, the communication network 100 includes gNBs (i.e. base stations) including a GNodeB (gNB) 101, a gNB 102, a gNB 103, a gNB 104, and a gNB 105. The gNB 101 communicates with the gNB 102, the gNB 103, the gNB 104, and the gNB 105. The gNB 101 also communicates with a network 112, such as the Internet, a proprietary Internet Protocol (IP) network, or other data network. The gNB 101 also communicates with a server 130 configured to determine the area coverage overlap for balancing the load across the carriers in the communication network 100.
The gNB 102 provides wireless broadband access to the network 112 for a first plurality of UEs within a coverage area 120 of the gNB 102. Each UE among the first plurality of UEs may correspond, but not limited to, a mobile device, a cell phone, a wireless laptop, a wireless PDA, or the like. In a non-limiting example, the first plurality of UEs includes a UE 107 and a UE 108. Similarly, the gNB 103 provides wireless broadband access to the network 112 for a second plurality of UEs within a coverage area 125 of the gNB 103. The second plurality of UEs includes the UE 109 and the UE 110. In some embodiments, the gNBs 101-105 may communicate with each other and with the UEs 107-110 using a communication technique, such as a 5th Generation 5G/ New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), or other wireless communication techniques. In an example embodiment, the gNB 102 may be referred to as “source cell” and the gNBs 103, 104, and 105 may be referred to as “neighboring cells” of the gNB 102.
The term “base station” may refer to any component (or collection of components) configured to provide wireless access to a network, such as Transmit Point (TP), Transmit-Receive Point (TRP), an Evolved Base Station (eNodeB or eNB), a 5G/NR base station (gNB), a macrocell, a femtocell, a Wi-Fi Access Point (AP), or other wirelessly enabled devices. The base stations may provide wireless access in accordance with wireless communication protocols, e.g., 5G/NR 3GPP New Radio interface/access (NR), LTE, LTE-A, High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, etc. For the sake of convenience, the terms “base station” and “gNB” are used interchangeably in the present disclosure to refer to network infrastructure components that provide wireless access to remote terminals. Further, depending on the network type, the term “user equipment” or “UE” may refer to any component such as “mobile station,” “subscriber station,” “remote terminal,” “wireless terminal,” “receive point,” or “end user device,”. For the sake of convenience, the terms “user equipment” and “UE” are used in this disclosure to refer to remote wireless equipment that wirelessly accesses the base station.
Extents of the coverage areas 120 and 125 are shown as approximately circular or elliptical for the purposes of illustration and explanation only. It should be clearly understood that the coverage areas associated with gNBs, such as the coverage areas 120 and 125, may have other shapes, including irregular shapes, depending upon the configuration of the gNBs, and variations in the radio environment associated with natural and man-made obstructions.
As described in more detail below, the UEs 107-110 include circuitry, programing, or a combination thereof. In certain embodiments, the server 130 and the gNBs 101-105 includes circuitry, programing, or a combination thereof. As an example, a system architecture of each of the gNB 102, the server 130, and UE 107 is described below with reference to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 of the drawings, respectively.
Although FIG. 1 illustrates one example of a communication network, various changes may be made to FIG. 1. For example, the communication network may include any number of gNBs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement. Further, the gNB 102 may communicate directly with any number of UEs and provide those UEs with wireless broadband access to the network 112. Similarly, each gNB 102-105 may communicate directly with the server 130 and provides a wireless medium to the UEs for accessing the server 130. Further, the gNBs 101, 102, 103, 104, and 105 may provide access to other or additional external networks, such as external telephone networks or other types of data networks.
FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a system architecture 200 depicting the base station/gNB 102 connected to the UEs 107 and 109, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the gNB 102 as shown in FIG. 2 is for illustration only, and the gNBs 101, 103, 104, and 105 of FIG. 1 may have the same or similar configuration. However, gNBs come in a wide variety of configurations, and FIG. 2 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of the gNBs. It is to be noted that the gNBs may also be referred to as “nodes” or “cells” interchangeably throughout this disclosure without departing from the scope of the invention.
As shown in FIG. 2, the gNB 102 may include components for bi-directional voice and data communications including components for transmitting and receiving communications, a processor 201, a memory 203, a network communication manager 205, a transceiver 207, and one or more antennas 209 (hereinafter also referred to as antennas 209”), and a network communication interface 211. The transceiver 207 may include a transmit processing circuitry, and a receive processing circuitry. These components may be in electronic communication via one or more buses (e.g., communication bus 215).
The processor 201 may include one or more processors or other processing devices that control the overall operation of the gNB 102. For example, the processor 201 may control reception of forward or downlink channel signals and the transmission of reverse or uplink channel signals by the receive processing circuitry and the transmit processing circuitry of the transceiver 207, in accordance with well-known principles or concept. The processor 201 may support additional functions as well, such as more advanced wireless communication functions.
The processor 201 is configured to execute programs and other processes stored in the memory 203. The processor 201 is also configured to store data into the memory 203 or fetch data out of the memory 203 as required by an executing process. The processor 201 may also be coupled to the network communication manager 205 that may allow the gNB 102 to communicate with other devices or systems over a network. The network communication manager 205 may support communications over any suitable wired or wireless connection(s) and manage communications with a core network 213 (e.g., via one or more wired backhaul links). For example, the network communication manager 205 may manage the transfer of data communications for client devices, such as UEs 107 and 109.
The memory 203 is coupled to the processor 201. A part of the memory 203 may include a RAM, and another part of the memory 203 may include a Flash memory or other ROM.
The transceiver 207 may receive, from the antennas 209, incoming Radio Frequency (RF) signals, such as signals transmitted by UEs in the communication network 100. The transceiver 207 may down-convert the incoming RF signals to generate Intermediate Frequency (IF) or baseband signals. The IF or baseband signals may be sent to the receive processing circuitry, which generates processed baseband signals by filtering, decoding, and/or digitizing the baseband or IF signals. The receiver processing circuitry may transmit the processed baseband signals to the processor 201 for further processing. The transmit processing circuitry may receive analog or digital data from the processor 201 and may encode, multiplex, and/or digitize the outgoing baseband data to generate processed baseband or IF signals. The transceiver 207 may further receive the outgoing processed baseband or IF signals from the transmit processing circuitry and up-converts the baseband or IF signals to RF signals that are transmitted via the antennas 209.
The network communication interface 211 enables a seamless interaction with UEs connected to the gNB 102 and the core network 213. The network communication interface 211 may comprise, but not limited to, Radio Frequency (RF) interfaces, optical fiber interfaces, Ethernet interfaces, serial interfaces, and the like.
Although FIG. 2 illustrates one example of gNB 102, various changes may be made to FIG. 2. For example, the gNB 102 may include any number of components in addition to the components shown in FIG. 2. Further, various components in FIG. 2 may be combined, further subdivided, or omitted and additional components may be added according to particular needs.
FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a system architecture 300 depicting the server 130 connected to the base station/gNB 102 and the UE 107, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the server 130 as shown in FIG. 3 is for illustration only. However, the server 130 may come in a wide variety of configurations, and FIG. 3 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of the server 130.
As shown in FIG. 3, the server 130 includes one or more processors 310 (hereinafter also referred to as “processor 310”), a memory 320, a network communication manager 330 (hereinafter also referred to as “network management module 330”, an interface(s) 340, a processing unit(s)/modules(s) 350, and a database 360. These components may be in electronic communication via one or more buses (e.g., bus 370).
The processor 310 may include various processing circuitry and communicates with the memory 320, the network communication manager 330, the interface 340, and the database 360. The processor 310 is configured to execute instructions stored in the memory 320 and to perform various processes. The processor 310 may include an intelligent hardware device including a general-purpose processor, such as, for example, and without limitation, a Central Processing Unit (CPU), an Application Processor (AP), a dedicated processor, or the like, a graphics-only processing unit such as a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), a microcontroller, a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), a programmable logic device, a discrete hardware component, or any combination thereof. In some cases, the processor 310 may be configured to operate a memory array using a memory controller. In some cases, a memory controller may be integrated into the processor 310. The processor 310 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (e.g., the memory 320) to cause the server 130 to perform various functions (e.g., determining the area coverage overlap for balancing load across the carriers and adjusting an allocation of network resources among the carriers based on the determined area coverage overlap).
The memory 320 stores a set of instructions required by the processor 310 of the server 130 for controlling its overall operations. The memory 320 may include non-volatile storage elements. Examples of such non-volatile storage elements may include magnetic hard discs, optical discs, floppy discs, flash memories, or forms of electrically programmable memories (EPROM) or electrically erasable and programmable (EEPROM) memories. In addition, the memory 320 may, in some examples, be considered a non-transitory storage medium. The "non-transitory" storage medium is not embodied in a carrier wave or a propagated signal. However, the term "non-transitory" should not be interpreted as the memory 320 is non-movable. In some examples, the memory 320 may be configured to store larger amounts of information. In certain examples, a non-transitory storage medium may store data that can, over time, change (e.g., in Random Access Memory (RAM) or cache). The memory 320 may be an internal storage unit or an external storage unit of the server 130, cloud storage, or any other type of external storage.
More specifically, the memory 320 may store computer-readable instructions 320A including instructions that, when executed by a processor (e.g., the processor 310) cause the server 130 to perform various functions described herein. In some cases, the memory 320 may contain, among other things, a BIOS which may control basic hardware or software operation such as the interaction with peripheral components or devices.
The network communication manager 330 may manage communications with the base stations, core network 213, or the UEs (e.g., via one or more wired backhaul links). For example, the network communication manager 330 may manage the transfer of data communications for base stations and client devices, such as the base stations 102 through 105 and the UEs 107 through 110. The network communication manager 330 may include an electronic circuit specific to a standard that enables wired or wireless communication. The network communication manager 330 is configured for communicating with external devices via one or more networks.
The interface 340 may include suitable logic, circuitry, a variety of interfaces, and/or codes that may be configured to receive input(s) and present (or display) output(s) on a display interface or a Graphical User Interface (GUI). The variety of interfaces may include interfaces for data input and output devices, referred to as I/O devices, storage devices, and the like. For example, the I/O interface may have an input interface and an output interface. The interface 340 may facilitate communication of the server 130 with various devices connected to it. The interface 340 may also provide a communication pathway for one or more components of the server 130. Examples of such components include, but are not limited to, the processing module(s) 350 and the database 360.
In an embodiment, the processing module(s) 350 may be implemented as a combination of hardware and programming (for example, programmable instructions) to implement one or more functionalities of the server 130. In non-limiting examples, described herein, such combinations of hardware and programming may be implemented in several different ways. For example, the programming for the processing modules(s) 350 may be processor-executable instructions stored on a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium and the hardware for the processor 310 may comprise a processing resource (for example, one or more processors), to execute such instructions. In the present examples, the machine-readable storage medium may store instructions that, when executed by the processing resource, implement the processing module(s) 350. In such examples, the server 130 may also comprise the machine-readable storage medium storing the instructions and the processing resource to execute the instructions, or the machine-readable storage medium may be separate but accessible to the server 130 and the processing resource. In other examples, the processing module(s) 350 may be implemented using an electronic circuitry.
In one or more embodiments, the processing module(s) 350 may include one or more units/modules selected from any of an acquisition module 351, a determination module 353, a receiver module 355, an extraction module 357, and other units/modules 359 (not shown). The other units/modules 359 may include, but are not limited to, an analytics module, a monitoring module, report generation module, and the like.
In an embodiment, the processor 310, using the determination module 353, is configured to determine the area coverage overlap for balancing coverage overlap across the carriers in the communication network 100. To determine the area coverage overlap, the processor 310, via the acquisition module 351, obtains UE measurement report from each of source base stations (also referred to as “source cells”) and target base stations (also referred to as “target cells”) present in the communication network 100. Further, the processor 310, using the determination module 353, is configured to determine a set of Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) bin values satisfying a threshold criterion for each source cell within the communication network 100 with respect to each target carrier, and determine a total number of RSRP bin values for each source cell within the communication network 100 with respect to each target carrier.
The RSRP bin values corresponds to signal strength values using which a cell coverage and signal strength experienced by the UEs can be determined. In particular, the RSRP bin values are values that are typically categorized into bins or ranges representing different signal strength levels. The bins can vary depending on a specific network configuration and measurement criteria. Each bin corresponds to a specific range of RSRP values, with higher bins indicating stronger signal strength and better signal quality. In a non-limiting example, the threshold criterion is set based on a RSRP threshold value, and the RSRP threshold value varies in a range of -113 dBm to -43 dBm.
Further, the processor 310, using the determination module 353, is configured to compute based on the UE measurement report, a weighted average of RRC connected users at each of the carriers. The weighted average of the RRC connected users corresponds to an average number of users in the RRC connected state, weighted by specific factors such as sector or carrier utilization. In a non-limiting example, let say a sector has three cells i.e., cell A, cell B, and cell C, where the cell A has 15 users, cell B has 10 users, and cell C has 5 users. Thus, the sector has a total 30 users. In such a scenario, the weighted average of the connected users for cell A can be given as: number of users in cell A/total number of users in the sector i.e., 15/30. Similarly, the weighted average of the connected users for cell B can be given as: number of users in cell B/total number of users in the sector i.e., 10/30, and the weighted average of the connected users for cell C can be given as: number of users in cell C/total number of users in the sector i.e., 5/30.. The processor 310 is further configured to calculate, using the determination module 353 based on the UE measurement report, a ratio of a number of users served by each carrier in a specific sector and a total number of users present in the specific sector. Additionally, the processor 310 is configured to compute, using the determination module 353, the weighted average of the RRC connected users at each of the carriers based on the calculated ratio.
Furthermore, the processor 310, using the determination module 353, is configured to determine the area coverage overlap for each carrier based on the computed weighted average, and the ratio of the set of RSRP bin values satisfying the threshold criterion and the total number of RSRP bin values. Moreover, the processor 310, using the determination module 353, is configured to calculate a sum product with a ratio of measurement samples for computing a percentage (%) of the area coverage overlap, and adjust the allocation of the network resources among the carriers based on the determined area coverage overlap.
The adjustment of the allocation of network resources among the carriers may comprise, but not limited to, tuning of one or more network parameters of the one or more source cells and the one or more target cells based on the determined area coverage overlap.
The processor 310 may further be configured to generate, using the report generation module, an area coverage overlap report including the determined area coverage overlap for each carrier. In an example embodiment, the processor 310 may control, using the network management module 330, the UE 107 to display the area coverage overlap report on a user interface.
In one or more embodiments, the processor 310, using the determination module 353, is configured to multiply, for each carrier, the computed weighted average with the ratio of the set of RSRP bin values satisfying the threshold criterion to the total number of RSRP bin values, and determine the area coverage overlap for each carrier based on a result of the multiplication.
In one or more embodiments, the processor 310, using the network management module 330, is configured to adjust the allocation of the one or more network resources among the carriers based on the determined area coverage overlap.
In some embodiments, using the receiver module 355, the processor 310 is configured to receive, via the user interface, an input to enable a generation of the UE measurement report for each of the source cells and the target cells. Each of the source cells and the target cells are located in a specific service provider area (i.e., in a geographical location where communication services are being provided by the service provider) of the communication network 100. Further, using the network management module 330, the processor 310 is configured to adjust, based on the input, configuration settings of each of the source cells and the target cells to enable the generation of the UE measurement report. In other words, the enablement of the generation of UE measurement report may be triggered by making one or more adjustments in configuration settings in the network based on the received input. In a non-limiting example, a UE may be configured to report the RSRP and RSRQ measurements when a signal strength drops below a predefined threshold level. In a non-limiting example, the configuration settings may include parameters such as, but not limited to, a transmission power, an antenna tilt, a carrier frequency, and handover thresholds that can be adjusted to optimize network performance.
In some embodiments, using the extraction module 357, the processor 310 is configured to extract, from the UE measurement report, information including performance statistics corresponding to each of the source cells and the target cells. Further, based on the extracted information, the processor 310, using the determination module 353, is configured to determine the set of RSRP bin values satisfying the threshold criterion, for each source cell among the source cells. In a non-limiting example, the performance statistics may include, but not limited to, metrics such as average throughput, call drop rate, handover success rate, and RSRP distribution that are extracted from the UE measurement reports and other sources.
The database 360 is managed by the processor 310 and configured to store UE measurement reports and coverage overlap reports. The database 360 may be configured to handle data comprising tables dedicated for storing raw measurement data, carrier information, and results of coverage overlap analysis. Each UE measurement report stored in the database 360 may include fields such as signal strength, signal quality, geographical coordinates, timestamp, and carrier identifier, which are parsed and validated upon ingestion by the processor 310.
Although FIG. 3 illustrates one example of the server 130, various changes may be made to FIG. 3. For example, the server 130 may include any number of components in addition to the components shown in FIG. 3. Further, various components in FIG. 3 may be combined, further subdivided, or omitted and additional components may be added according to particular needs.
FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a system architecture 400 depicting the UE 107, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure . The embodiment of the UE 107 illustrated in FIG. 4 is for illustration only, and the UEs 108-110 of FIG. 1 may have the same or similar configuration. However, UEs come in a wide variety of configurations, and FIG. 4 does not limit the scope of this disclosure to any particular implementation of a UE.
As shown in FIG. 4, the UE 107 includes a processor 401, a memory 403, one or more applications 405, and a transceiver 407 including a receiver 407A and a transmitter 407B, and a RF circuit 409. Although not shown in FIG. 4, the UE 107 may also include an input/output (I/O) interface, a touchscreen, and a display.
The processor 401 may execute operating system instructions stored in the memory 403 in order to control the overall operation of the UE 107. For example, the processor 401 may control the reception of forward channel signals via the receiver 407A and the transmission of reverse channel signals via the transmitter 407B transceiver 407 in accordance with well-known principles and concepts.
The processor 401 is configured to execute programs and instructions stored in the memory 403. The processor 401 is further configured to move data into or out of the memory 403 as required by an executing process. The processor 401 may also be configured to execute the one or more applications 405 based on the operating system or in response to signals received from the gNBs or an operator. The processor 401 may also be coupled to the I/O interface, which provides the UE 107 with the ability to connect to other devices, such as laptop computers and handheld computers. The I/O interface may act as a communication path between the above-described UE components and the processor 401.
The memory 403 is coupled to the processor 401. The memory 403 can include any type of computer-readable medium usable by a computer or the processor 401, such as RAM, ROM, tapes, magnetic discs, optical discs, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, and any combination thereof. In an aspect, for example, the memory 403 may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores one or more computer-executable codes or instructions.
The transceiver 407 may receive, from antennas of the RF circuit, incoming RF signals, such as signals transmitted by gNBs in the communication network 100. The transceiver 407 may down-convert the incoming RF signals to generate IF or baseband signals. The IF or baseband signals may be sent to the receiver 407A, which generates processed baseband signals by filtering, decoding, and/or digitizing the baseband or IF signals. The receiver 407A may transmit the processed baseband signals to the processor 401 for further processing. The transmitter 407B may receive analog or digital data from the processor 401 and may encode, multiplex, and/or digitize the outgoing baseband data to generate processed baseband or IF signals. The transceiver 407 may further receive the outgoing processed baseband or IF signals from the transmitter and up-converts the baseband or IF signals to RF signals that are to be transmitted via the plurality of antennas of the RF circuit 409.
The RF circuit 409 may operate in communication with the one or more antennas and the transceiver 407 for receiving and transmitting radio transmissions, for example, wireless communications transmitted by at least one base station 102 or wireless transmissions transmitted by the UE 107.
Although FIG. 4 illustrates one example of UE 107, various changes may be made to FIG. 4. For example, various components in FIG. 4 could be combined, further subdivided, or omitted, and additional components could be added according to particular needs. As a particular example, the processor 401 may be divided into multiple processors, such as one or more CPUs and one or more GPUs. Further, while FIG. 4 illustrates the UE 107 configured as a mobile telephone or smartphone, UEs may also be configured to operate as other types of mobile or stationary devices.
FIG. 5 illustrates an example diagram 500 depicting coverage overlaps between the source cell and the neighboring cells, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. In one or more implementations, an example of the area coverage overlap between the source cells and the neighboring cells in the communication network 100 is shown in FIG. 5. As an example, coverage overlaps O1 and O2 between a source cell C1 and neighboring cells C2 and C3, are shown respectively in FIG. 5. In particular, FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary deployment of gNBs as a part of a cluster, Cn, where n = 1,2,3, 4, ..., NS (NS = count of total cells in the communication network 100), and 120 and 125 denotes a coverage area of the source cell C1 and the neighboring cell C2, respectively within a specific sector. Further, each of the source cell and the neighboring cells are allocated with Root Sequence Index (RSI). The RSI allocated to cells is denoted by Rj, where j= 1, 2, 3, … , n. Here, the j= 1, 2, 3, … , n represents index assigned to each cell within a cluster of cells Cn. Additionally, each source cell within the communication network 100 may have at least one neighboring cell as an intra-frequency neighbor or inter-frequency neighbor.
FIG. 6 illustrates an example diagram 600 depicting geo-located measurement events based area coverage overlap between the source cell C1 and the neighboring cell C2, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 6, a contour representation is shown of coverage of the source cell C1 where "+" marks indicate a source cell measurement. Further, another contour representation is also shown of coverage of the neighboring cell C2 where "×" marks indicates a neighboring cell measurement. Further, an overlap area of the source cell C1 with the neighboring cell C2 is shown in shaded area of FIG. 6.
FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of a method 700 for balancing the coverage overlap across the carriers in the communication network 100, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method 700 comprises a series of operation steps indicated by blocks 701 through 717. The method 700 starts at block 701.
At block 701, the processor(s) 310 obtains the UE measurement report from each of the source cells and the target cells present in the service provider area of the communication network 100. In one or more implementations, the UE measurement reports have to be enabled in all the base stations/cells/gNBs of the communication network 100 for obtaining the UE measurement reports from all the base stations/cells/gNBs of the communication network 100.
At block 703, the processor 310 configures threshold condition (also referred to as threshold criterion) for providing a good user experience for a data session. Specifically, to improve the user experience for the data session, throughput should be optimal. For achieving the optimal throughput, RF environment, in which the UE 107 is located, should be in a permissible range which is indicated by the RSRP bin values. Accordingly, the processor 310 configures the threshold condition in a desired permissible range which is indicated by RSRP bin values. The threshold condition corresponds to the RSRP threshold value. The RSRP threshold value varies in the range of -113 dBm to -43 dBm. Once the UE measurement reports are enabled and the RSRP threshold condition is configured, the flow of the method 700 proceeds to block 705.
At block 705, the processor 310 determines, based on the obtained UE measurement report, the set of RSRP bin values satisfying the threshold criterion for each source cell among the source cells. For ease of explanation, the set of RSRP bin values is denoted by ‘A’ and corresponds to those values which satisfy the configured threshold condition for each source cell with respect to each target carrier among available carriers.
At block 707, the processor 310 determines, for each source cell with respect to each target carrier among the available carriers, a total number of RSRP bin values based on the obtained UE measurement report. For ease of explanation, the total number of RSRP bin values is denoted by ‘B’.
At block 709, the processor 310 computes an average of the RRC connected users at each carrier in the specific sector based on the obtained UE measurement report. For ease of explanation, the average of the RRC connected users is denoted by ‘C’.
At block 711, the processor 310 computes a total number of RRC connected users at each carrier in the specific sector based on the information included in the obtained UE measurement report. For ease of explanation, the computed total number of the RRC connected users is denoted by ‘D’.
At block 713, the processor 310 calculates a weighted average of the RRC connected users at each carrier. For ease of explanation, the weighted average of the RRC connected users denoted by ‘E’. The weighted average E corresponds to a ratio ‘C/D’ i.e., a ratio of the average number of the RRC connected users served by each carrier in the specific sector and the total number of the RRC connected users present in the specific sector.
At block 715, the processor 310 determines the area coverage overlap for each carrier based on the computed weighted average E and the ratio (A/B) of the set of RSRP bin values satisfying the threshold criterion to the total number of RSRP bin values. More specifically, the determined area coverage overlap is represented as shown in equation below:
A_CoV=?_(x? carrier)¦¦(summation of RSRP bin samples values at@source cell w.r.t.each target carrier meeting@the threshold condition)/¦(Total RSRP bin samples at source cell for@each target carrier without any threshold) × ¦(weighted average of RRC@connected users at each carrier )
Where, A_CoV indicates the area coverage overlap and the summation of the RSRP bin sample values at the source cell with respect to each target carrier meeting the threshold condition corresponds to the set of RSRP bin values satisfying the threshold criterion for each source cell denoted by “A”. Further, the total RSRP bin samples at the source cell for each target carrier without any threshold corresponds to the total number of RSRP bin values denoted by ‘B’. Furthermore, the weighted average of the RRC connected users at each carrier corresponds to the computed weighted average ‘E’. Furthermore, in determining the area coverage overlap, the processor 310 considers all the performance statistics that are collected for each source cell with respect to each target carrier such that the determined area coverage overlap may provide overall area coverage overlap percentage (%) of each carrier in the specific sector. The coverage overlap percentage of each carrier in the specific sector represents a percentage of coverage overlap between the source cell and each target carrier associated with the source cell factoring in both signal strength distribution and associated connections.
At block 717, the processor 310 adjusts the allocation of the one or more network resources among the carriers based on the determined area coverage overlap. In an embodiment, the processor 310 may also generate the area coverage overlap report including the determined area coverage overlap for each carrier.
In an example embodiment, the processor 310 may control the UE 107 to display the generated area coverage overlap report on the user interface so that the end user may take appropriate actions for optimizing coverage planning and balancing the coverage overlap among the carriers. The generated area coverage overlap report provides coverage overlap of each carrier in the specific sector with respect to each neighbor type, for example, an intra sector- intra site, an inter sector- intra site, and an inter sector- inter site.
Now, referring to the technical abilities and advantageous effect of the present disclosure, operational advantages that may be provided by embodiments disclosed herein may include providing accurate coverage overlap data since the RSRP is measured by the UE using the reference signal. Another potential advantage of the embodiments disclosed herein include, but not limited to, providing the area coverage overlap report to improve spectrum efficiency, thus, optimizing coverage planning and load balancing.
A further potential advantage of the one or more embodiments disclosed herein may include enabling a network administration team to easily ascertain an extent of coverage of each carrier/band deployed in the communication network by generating and displaying the area coverage overlap report including the area coverage overlap determined by the system disclosed herein.
Another noteworthy advantage of the one or more embodiments disclosed herein may include but not limited thereto, maximizing intra sector coverage overlap by tuning the network parameters based on the determined area coverage overlap, and as a result new coverage site planning can be performed efficiently to fill the coverage holes.
Embodiments of the present technology may be described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations of methods and systems according to embodiments of the technology, and/or procedures, algorithms, steps, operations, formulae, or other computational depictions, which may also be implemented as computer program products. In this regard, each block or step of the flowchart, and combinations of blocks (and/or steps) in the flowchart, as well as any procedure, algorithm, step, operation, formula, or computational depiction can be implemented by various means, such as hardware, firmware, and/or software including one or more computer program instructions embodied in computer-readable program code. As will be appreciated, any such computer program instructions may be executed by one or more computer processors, including without limitation a general-purpose computer or special purpose computer, or other programmable processing apparatus to perform a group of operations comprising the operations or blocks described in connection with the disclosed methods.
Further, these computer program instructions, such as embodied in computer-readable program code, may also be stored in one or more computer-readable memory or memory devices (for example, the memory 320) that can direct a computer processor or other programmable processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory or memory devices produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the block(s) of the flowchart(s).
It will further be appreciated that the term “computer program instructions” as used herein refer to one or more instructions that can be executed by the one or more processors (for example, the processor 310) to perform one or more functions as described herein. The instructions may also be stored remotely such as on a server, or all or a portion of the instructions can be stored locally and remotely.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the methodology described herein in the present disclosure may be carried out in other specific ways than those set forth herein in the above disclosed embodiments without departing from essential characteristics and features of the present invention. The above-described embodiments are therefore to be construed in all aspects as illustrative and not restrictive.
The drawings and the forgoing description give examples of embodiments. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that one or more of the described elements may well be combined into a single functional element. Alternatively, certain elements may be split into multiple functional elements. Elements from one embodiment may be added to another embodiment. For example, orders of processes described herein may be changed and are not limited to the manner described herein. Any combination of the above features and functionalities may be used in accordance with one or more embodiments.
In the present disclosure, each of the embodiments has been described with reference to numerous specific details which may vary from embodiment to embodiment. The foregoing description of the specific embodiments disclosed herein may reveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others may, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications are intended to be comprehended within the meaning of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and is not limited in scope.
LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS
The following list is provided for convenience and in support of the drawing figures and as part of the text of the specification, which describe innovations by reference to multiple items. Items not listed here may nonetheless be part of a given embodiment. For better legibility of the text, a given reference number is recited near some, but not all, recitations of the referenced item in the text. The same reference number may be used with reference to different examples or different instances of a given item. The list of reference numerals is:
100 - Communication network
101-105 - GNodeB (gNB)
106 - Network
112 - Network
130 - Server
120 - Coverage area of the gNB 102
107-110 - UE
125 - Coverage area of the gNB 103
200 - System architecture of base station/gNB 102
201 - Processor
203 - Memory
205 - Network communication manager
207 - Transceiver
209 - Antennas
211- Network communication interface
213 - Core network
215 - Communication bus
300 - System architecture of the server 130
310 - Processor
320 - Memory
330 - Network communication manager, Network management module
340 - Interface(s)
350 - Processing unit(s)/modules(s)
351 - Acquisition module
353 - Determination module
355 - Receiver module
357 - Extraction module
359 - Other units/modules
360 - Database
370 - Communication bus
400 - System architecture of UE 107
401 - Processor
403 - Memory
405 - Applications
407 - Transceiver
407A - Receiver
407B - Transmitter
409 - RF circuit
500 - Diagram depicting coverage overlap
600 – Diagram depicting geo-located measurement events
700 – Method for balancing coverage overlap
701 – 717 Operation steps of the method 700
,CLAIMS:WE CLAIM:
1. A method (700) for balancing coverage overlap across a plurality of carriers in a communication network (100), the method comprising:
obtaining (701), by an acquisition module (351), a User Equipment (UE) measurement report from each of one or more source cells and one or more target cells present in the communication network;
computing (713), by a determination module (353) based on the obtained UE measurement report, a weighted average of Radio Resource Control (RRC) connected users at each carrier among the plurality of carriers;
determining (715), for each carrier by the determination module (353), an area coverage overlap based on the computed weighted average, and a ratio of a set of RSRP bin values satisfying a threshold criterion for each of the one or more source cells with respect to each target carrier and a total number of RSRP bin values for each of the one or more source cells with respect to each target carrier; and
adjusting (717), by a network management module (330), an allocation of network resources among the plurality of carriers based on the determined area coverage overlap.

2. The method (700) as claimed in claim 1, wherein determining the area coverage overlap comprises determining (705), by the determination module (353) for each source cell among the one or more source cells based on the obtained UE measurement report, the set of RSRP bin values satisfying the threshold criterion and the total number of RSRP bin values for each of the one or more source cells with respect to each target carrier.

3. The method (700) as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:
calculating, by the determination module (353) based on the obtained UE measurement report, a ratio of a number of users served by each carrier in a specific sector and a total number of users present in the specific sector; and
computing (713), by the determination module (353), the weighted average of the RRC connected users at each carrier among the plurality of carriers based on the calculated ratio.

4. The method (700) as claimed in claim 1, wherein determining the area coverage overlap comprises:
multiplying, by the determination module (353) for each carrier, the computed weighted average with the ratio of the set of RSRP bin values satisfying the threshold criterion to the total number of RSRP bin values; and
determining (715), by the determination module (353), the area coverage overlap for each carrier based on a result of the multiplication.

5. The method (700) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the determined area coverage overlap is displayed on a user interface in form of a report.

6. The method (700) as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:
receiving, by a receiver module (355) via a user interface, an input from an end user to enable a generation of the UE measurement report for each of the one or more source cells and the one or more target cells, wherein each of the one or more source cells and the one or more target cells are located in a specific service provider area; and
adjusting, by the network management module (330) based on the received input, configuration settings of each of the one or more source cells and the one or more target cells to enable the generation of the UE measurement report.

7. The method (700) as claimed in claim 1, wherein
the threshold criterion is set based on a RSRP threshold value, and
the RSRP threshold value varies in a range of -113 dBm to -43 dBm.

8. The method (700) as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:
extracting, by an extraction module (357) from the obtained UE measurement report, information including performance statistics corresponding to each of the one or more source cells and the one or more target cells; and
determining, by the determination module (353) for each source cell among the one or more source cells, the set of RSRP bin values satisfying the threshold criterion, based on the extracted information.

9. The method (700) as claimed in claim 1, wherein adjusting (717) the allocation of network resources among the plurality of carriers comprises tuning, by the network management module (330), one or more network parameters of at least one of the one or more source cells and the one or more target cells based on the determined area coverage overlap.

10. A system (300) for balancing coverage overlap across a plurality of carriers in a communication network (100), the system comprising:
an acquisition module (351) configured to obtain a User Equipment (UE) measurement report from each of one or more source cells and one or more target cells present in the communication network;
a determination module (353) configured to:
compute, based on the obtained UE measurement report, a weighted average of Radio Resource Control (RRC) connected users at each carrier among the plurality of carriers; and
determine, for each carrier, an area coverage overlap based on the computed weighted average and a ratio of a set of RSRP bin values satisfying a threshold criterion for each of the one or more source cells with respect to each target carrier and a total number of RSRP bin values for each of the one or more source cells with respect to each target carrier; and
a network management module (330) configured to adjust an allocation of network resources among the plurality of carriers based on the determined area coverage overlap.

11. The system (300) as claimed in claim 10, wherein, to determine the area coverage overlap, the determination module (353) is configured to determine, for each source cell among the one or more source cells based on the obtained UE measurement report, the set of RSRP bin values satisfying the threshold criterion, and the total number of RSRP bin values for each of the one or more source cells with respect to each target carrier.

12. The system (300) as claimed in claim 10, wherein the determination module (353) is further configured to:
calculate, based on the obtained UE measurement report, a ratio of a number of users served by each carrier in a specific sector and a total number of users present in the specific sector; and
compute the weighted average of the RRC connected users at each carrier among the plurality of carriers based on the calculated ratio.

13. The system (300) as claimed in claim 10, wherein the determination module (353) is further configured to determine the area coverage overlap by:
multiplying, for each carrier, the computed weighted average with the ratio of the set of RSRP bin values satisfying the threshold criterion to the total number of RSRP bin values; and
determining the area coverage overlap for each carrier based on a result of the multiplication.

14. The system (300) as claimed in claim 10, wherein the determined area coverage overlap is displayed on a user interface in form of a report.
15. The system (300) as claimed in claim 10, further comprising a receiver module (355) configured to receive, via a user interface, an input from an end user to enable a generation of the UE measurement report for each of the one or more source cells and the one or more target cells, wherein each of the one or more source cells and the one or more target cells are located in a specific service provider area, and
wherein the network management module (330) is configured to adjust, based on the received input, a setting configuration of each of the one or more source cells and the one or more target cells to enable the generation of the UE measurement report.

16. The system (300) as claimed in claim 10, wherein
the threshold criterion is set based on a RSRP threshold value, and
the RSRP threshold value varies in a range of -113 dBm to -43 dBm.

17. The system (300) as claimed in claim 10, further comprising an extraction module (357) configured to extract, from the obtained UE measurement reports, information including performance statistics corresponding to each of the one or more source cells and the one or more target cells, and wherein the determination module (353) is configured to determine, for each source cell among the one or more source cells, the first set of RSRP bin values based on the extracted information.

18. The system (300) as claimed in claim 10, wherein, to adjust the allocation of network resources among the plurality of carriers, the network management module (330) is configured to tune one or more network parameters of at least one of the one or more source cells and the one or more target cells based on the determined area coverage overlap.