Data processing system and method for balancing a load in a communications network

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 wherein the second data processor performs fewer operations than the average number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of data processors is a plurality of mobile switching circuits and each of the plurality of data processors is a mobile switching circuit in a wireless communications network.

Claim 5

The method of claim 3 wherein each of the plurality of devices is a mobile telephone.

Claim 6

The method of claim 4 wherein each of the plurality of groups is a plurality of mobile telephones using a same prefix.

Claim 7

The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of: calculating the number of operations performed by the each of the plurality of mobile switching circuits using a benefit calculation: ##EQU11##

Claim 8

The method of claim 1 wherein the step of calculating the average number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors comprises the step of: randomly measuring the number of operations performed by each of the plurality of data processors in a preselected time period.

Claim 9

A data processing system for controlling and allocating control of call processing in a telecommunication network, comprising: a memory for storing a software program; a central processing unit coupled to the memory for accessing the software program, the central processing unit controlling and allocating control of a group of mobile telephone users in a communication network to be moved from a first mobile switching center to a second mobile switching center in response to the software program, the central processing unit comprising: means for calculating an average load of each of a plurality of mobile switching centers in the communication network; means for calculating a standard deviation between the load of each of the plurality of mobile switching centers and the average load of the plurality of mobile switching centers; means for selecting a first mobile switching center which has a highest load; means for selecting a first one of a plurality of mobile telephone users assigned to the first mobile switching center; means for selectively, consecutively assigning the first one of the plurality of mobile telephone users to each of a remaining portion of the plurality of mobile switching centers; means for routing the selected first one of a plurality of mobile telephone users to each of the remaining portion of the plurality of mobile switching centers; means for calculating a load of each of the plurality of mobile switching centers after the first one of the plurality of mobile telephone users is assigned to each of the remaining portion of the plurality of mobile switching centers; means for consecutively calculating a standard deviation between the load of each of the plurality of mobile switching centers after the first one of the plurality of mobile telephone users is assigned to each of the remaining portion of the plurality of mobile switching centers and the average load of the plurality of mobile switching centers; and means for identifying a selected one of the plurality of mobile telephone users which results in a lowest standard deviation between the calculated load of each of the plurality of mobile switching centers and the average load of each of the plurality of mobile switching centers.

Claim 10

A data processing system for controlling and allocating control of call processing in a telecommunication network, comprising: a memory for storing a software program; a central processing unit coupled to the memory for accessing the software program, the central processing unit controlling and allocating control of a group of mobile telephone users in a communication network to be moved from a first mobile switching center to a second mobile switching center in response to the software program, the central processing unit comprising: means for calculating an average load of each of a plurality of mobile switching centers in the communication network; means for calculating a standard deviation between the load of each of the plurality of mobile switching centers and the average load of the plurality of mobile switching centers; means for selecting a first mobile switching center which has a highest load; means for selecting a first one of a plurality of mobile telephone users assigned to the first mobile switching center; means for selectively, consecutively assigning the first one of the plurality of mobile telephone users to each of a remaining portion of the plurality of mobile switching centers; means for routing the selected first one of a plurality of mobile telephone users to each of the remaining portion of the plurality of mobile switching centers; means for calculating a load of each of the plurality of mobile switching centers after the first one of the plurality of mobile telephone users is assigned to each of the remaining portion of the plurality of mobile switching centers; means for consecutively calculating a standard deviation between the load of each of the plurality of mobile switching centers after the first one of the plurality of mobile telephone users is assigned to each of the remaining portion of the plurality of mobile switching centers and the average load of the plurality of mobile switching centers; and means for identifying a selected one of the plurality of mobile telephone users which results in a lowest standard deviation between the calculated load of each of the plurality of mobile switching centers and the average load of each of the plurality of mobile switching centers.

Claim 11

The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the central processing unit further comprises: means for assigning the selected one of the plurality of mobile telephone users to the second mobile switching center.

Claim 12

The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the central processing unit further comprises: means for selectively, consecutively assigning a second one of the plurality of mobile telephone users to each of a remaining portion of the plurality of mobile switching centers.

Claim 13

The data processing system of claim 10 wherein the means for consecutively calculating the load of each of the plurality of mobile switching centers calculates the load after the second one of the plurality of mobile telephone users is assigned to each of the remaining portion of the plurality of mobile switching centers.

Claim 14

The data processing system of claim 11 wherein the means for consecutively calculating the standard deviation calculates the standard deviation between the load of each of the plurality of mobile switching centers after the second one of the plurality of mobile telephone users is assigned to each of the remaining portion of the plurality of mobile switching centers and the average load of the plurality of mobile switching centers.

Claim 15

A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for balancing a number of operations to be performed by each of a plurality of data processors, said method steps comprising: i. calculating an average number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors; ii. calculating a standard deviation between the number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors and the average number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors; iii. selecting a first data processor which performs a highest number of operations; iv. selecting a first one of a plurality of groups of a plurality of devices assigned to the first data processor; v. assigning the first one of the plurality of groups of the plurality of devices to a second data processor; vi. calculating a standard deviation between the number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors after the first one of the plurality of groups is assigned to the second data processor and the average number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors; vii. repeating steps iv. through vi. for each of the plurality of groups of the plurality of devices assigned to the first data processor; and viii. identifying a selected one of the plurality of groups which results in a lowest standard deviation between the number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors and the average number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors with reference to information obtained in steps vi. or vii.

Claim 16

A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for balancing a number of operations to be performed by each of a plurality of data processors, said method steps comprising: i. calculating an average number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors; ii. calculating a standard deviation between the number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors and the average number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors; iii. selecting a first data processor which performs a highest number of operations; iv. selecting a first one of a plurality of groups of a plurality of devices assigned to the first data processor; v. assigning the first one of the plurality of groups of the plurality of devices to a second data processor; vi. calculating a standard deviation between the number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors after the first one of the plurality of groups is assigned to the second data processor and the average number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors; vii. repeating steps iv. through vi. for each of the plurality of groups of the plurality of devices assigned to the first data processor; and viii. identifying a selected one of the plurality of groups which results in a lowest standard deviation between the number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors and the average number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors with reference to information obtained in steps vi. or vii.

Claim 17

A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for balancing a load of each of a plurality of mobile switching centers in a communication network, said method steps comprising: i. computing an average load for each of the plurality of mobile switching centers; ii. computing a standard deviation between an actual load of each of the plurality of mobile switching centers and the average load for each of the plurality of mobile switching centers; iii. determining a first one of the plurality of mobile switching centers having a highest load; iv. identifying a group of mobile telephone users assigned to the first one of the plurality of mobile switching centers; v. computing a benefit amount by which the highest load would be reduced if the group of mobile telephone users were reassigned to a selected one of a remaining portion of the plurality of mobile switching centers; vi. computing the standard deviation which would result if the group of mobile telephone users were reassigned to the selected one of the remaining portion of the plurality of mobile switching centers; and vii. repeating steps iv. through vi. for each of a plurality of groups of mobile telephone users.

Claim 18

A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for balancing a load of each of a plurality of mobile switching centers in a communication network, said method steps comprising: i. computing an average load for each of the plurality of mobile switching centers; ii. computing a standard deviation between an actual load of each of the plurality of mobile switching centers and the average load for each of the plurality of mobile switching centers; iii. determining a first one of the plurality of mobile switching centers having a highest load; iv. identifying a group of mobile telephone users assigned to the first one of the plurality of mobile switching centers; v. computing a benefit amount by which the highest load would be reduced if the group of mobile telephone users were reassigned to a selected one of a remaining portion of the plurality of mobile switching centers; vi. computing the standard deviation which would result if the group of mobile telephone users were reassigned to the selected one of the remaining portion of the plurality of mobile switching centers; and vii. repeating steps iv. through vi. for each of a plurality of groups of mobile telephone users.

Claim 19

The program storage device of claim 14, tangibly embodying the program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for balancing the load of each of the plurality of mobile switching centers in a communication network, said method steps further comprising: viii. reassigning the group of mobile telephone users to the selected one of the remaining portion of the plurality of mobile switching centers when the standard deviation among the loads of each of the plurality of mobile switching centers is reduced.

Claim 20

The program storage device of claim 14, tangibly embodying the program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for balancing the load of each of the plurality of mobile switching centers in a communication network, said method steps further comprising: viii. repeating steps iv. through vii. for each of a plurality of mobile switching centers.

Claim 21

The program storage device of claim 16, tangibly embodying the program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for balancing the load of each of the plurality of mobile switching centers in a communication network, said method steps further comprising: ix. reassigning a selected group of mobile telephone users to a selected one of the remaining portion of the plurality of mobile switching centers when the standard deviation among the loads of each of the plurality of mobile switching centers is reduced.

Claim 24

The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of: x. repeating steps iv. through ix. for each of the plurality of mobile switching centers.

Claim 25

The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of: xii. reassigning a selected group of mobile telephone users to a selected one of the remaining portion of the plurality of mobile switching centers when the standard deviation among the loads of each of the plurality of mobile switching centers is reduced.

Claim 28

A computer program product for controlling and allocating control of call processing in a communication network using a data processing system which is integrated into the network, the computer program product having a medium with a computer program embodied thereon, the computer program comprising: i. computer program code for requesting and receiving a number of operations performed by each of a plurality of data processors; ii. computer program code for determining an average number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors; iii. computer program code for determining a standard deviation between the number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors and the average number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors; iv. computer program code for determining and selecting a first data processor which performs a highest number of operations within the communication network; v. computer program code for determining and selecting a first one of a plurality of groups of a plurality of devices assigned to the first data processor; vi. computer program code for routing the first one of the plurality of groups of the plurality of devices to a second data processor; vii. computer program code for determining a standard deviation between the number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors after the first one of the plurality of groups is assigned to the second data processor and the average number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors; viii. computer program code for iteratively performing computer program codes v. through vii. for each of the plurality of groups of the plurality of devices assigned to the first data processor; and ix. computer program code for determining a selected one of the plurality of groups which results in a lowest standard deviation between the number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors and the average number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors.

Claim 29

A computer program product for controlling and allocating control of call processing in a communication network using a data processing system which is integrated into the network, the computer program product having a medium with a computer program embodied thereon, the computer program comprising: i. computer program code for requesting and receiving a number of operations performed by each of a plurality of data processors; ii. computer program code for determining an average number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors; iii. computer program code for determining a standard deviation between the number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors and the average number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors; iv. computer program code for determining and selecting a first data processor which performs a highest number of operations within the communication network; v. computer program code for determining and selecting a first one of a plurality of groups of a plurality of devices assigned to the first data processor; vi. computer program code for routing the first one of the plurality of groups of the plurality of devices to a second data processor; vii. computer program code for determining a standard deviation between the number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors after the first one of the plurality of groups is assigned to the second data processor and the average number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors; viii. computer program code for iteratively performing computer program codes v. through vii. for each of the plurality of groups of the plurality of devices assigned to the first data processor; and ix. computer program code for determining a selected one of the plurality of groups which results in a lowest standard deviation between the number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors and the average number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors.

Claim 30

A computer program product in accordance with claim 22 wherein the plurality of data processors is a plurality of mobile switching circuits and each of the plurality of data processors is a mobile switching circuit in a wireless communications network.

Claim 31

A computer program product in accordance with claim 23 wherein each of the plurality of devices is a mobile telephone.

Claim 32

A computer program product in accordance with claim 24 wherein each of the plurality of groups is a plurality of mobile telephones using a same prefix.

Claim 33

A computer program product in accordance with claim 25 wherein number of operations performed by the each of the plurality of mobile switching circuits is determined by using a benefit calculation: ##EQU12##

Claim 34

A computer program product in accordance with claim 22 wherein the average number of operations to be performed by each of the plurality of data processors is determined by randomly measuring the number of operation performed by each of the plurality of data processors in a preselected time period.