367 results about "Femto-" patented technology

In a radio access network (24) a femto radio base station (28_f) comprises a resident receiver (54) which acquires system information broadcast in a radio access network (24). At least part of the system information is used for building, at the femto radio base station (28_f), a neighbor data structure (59) comprising information for neighboring cells. The neighbor data structure (59) is then used for building a neighbor list. The neighbor list is subsequently transmitted from the femto radio base station (28_f) to a user equipment unit (30) served by the femto radio base station (28_f). In some example embodiments and modes, the femto radio base station (28_f) reports the neighbor data structure to a network node (26, 100) other than the femto radio base station. The other node (26, 100) uses the neighbor data structure for building the neighbor list at the other node. In some example embodiments and modes, acquisition of the system information comprises scanning a surrounding macro coverage area of the femto radio base station for obtaining cell identity information for detected cells. In other example embodiments and modes, the acquisition of the system information can additionally comprise camping on a macro cell and using/consulting at least one system information block in the camped-on macro cell is consulted/used for obtaining information about at least one neighboring cell.

A radio access network (24) comprises a radio network control node (26); a database (40); and a femto radio base station node (28_f) serving a femtocell (C_f) of the radio access network. The femto radio base station node (28_f) comprises a receiver (54) for receiving scanned cell information broadcast for one or more receivable cells of the radio access network, and a reporting unit (60). The reporting unit (60) provides the scanned cell information for the one or more receivable cells of the radio access network to the radio network control node (26). The radio network control node (60) is arranged, upon receipt of the scanned cell information, for providing configuration information to the femto radio base station node (for configuring the femto radio base station node) and for storing macro cell information for one or more receivable cells in the database (40). The macrocell information is stored in the database (40) in association with the femto radio base station node.

A method and apparatus for providing a local IP access service to a User Equipment (UE) attached to a femtocell including a Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway function in a wireless communication system. A method includes receiving a service request from a User Equipment (UE), transmitting an initial UE message including information on a local gateway to a Mobility Management Entity (MME), storing bearer information carried in an initial context setup request transmitted by the MME, receiving a Packet Data Network (PDN) connectivity request from the UE, forwarding the PDN connectivity request to the MME, receiving a create session request from the MME, and establishing a radio bearer with the local gateway, the local gateway being co-located with the femtocell.

A system, method and computer product for a mobile station to locate a femto cell, the method comprising: (a) storing in a database information to locate at least one femto cell; (b) receiving, from at least one macro cell, location information of the UE; (c) searching within the database to determine if the UE is in a general proximity of at least one femto cell; (d) if so, accessing the femto cell using the database information corresponding to the femto cell.

An access point generates beacons at different power levels at different times to provide an acceptable tradeoff between coverage area associated with the beacons and outage experienced at nearby access terminals. For example, a femto access point may transmit beacons at a relatively low power for a relatively long period of time to reduce interference at nearby access terminals that are being served by a macro access point. The femto access point may then transmit beacons at a relatively high power for a relatively short period of time to enable nearby access terminals to receive the beacons. Also, a given transmit chain may be used to provide frequency hopping of high and low power beacons.

An apparatus and method for operating a hierarchical cell in a wireless communication system are provided. A femto BS transitions into a sleep mode if there is no accessed MS for a predefined time. The femto BS transmits a FEMTO-ADV message in the sleep mode to notify of the presence of the femto BS. The femto BS releases the sleep mode upon receiving a MOB-FEMTO-AWAKE-REQ message from an MS receiving the FEMTO-ADV message. Thereafter, the femto BS communicates with the MS.

Methods and apparatuses are provided that include calibrating transmit power of a femto node based on measuring one or more parameters related to usage of the femto node. The femto node can temporarily increase transmit power and analyze received measurement reports to determine a transmit power calibration. The femto node can additionally measure uplink received signal strength indicators over multiple time periods following handover of a user equipment (UE) to determine whether to increase transmit power to cover the UE.

Transmit power (e.g., maximum transmit power) may be defined based on the maximum received signal strength allowed by a receiver and a minimum coupling loss from a transmitting node to a receiver. Transmit power may be defined for an access node (e.g., a femto node) such that a corresponding outage created in a cell (e.g., a macro cell) is limited while still providing an acceptable level of coverage for access terminals associated with the access node. An access node may autonomously adjust its transmit power based on channel measurement and a defined coverage hole to mitigate interference. Transmit power may be defined based on channel quality. Transmit power may be defined based on a signal-to-noise ratio at an access terminal. The transmit power of neighboring access nodes also may be controlled by inter-access node signaling.

Systems and methods are disclosed that provide femto-based wireless coverage in a communication network. This can involve providing an interworking function that communications with a femto base station or femto cell to provide connectivity to the core network. The interworking function can provide service and mobility management where a femto cell (such as a home node B (HNB)) is served concurrently by an IMS core and a legacy core. The interworking function can also provide service through a femto cell to a variety of mobile nodes such as legacy devices and IMS capable devices. The interworking function also provides the ability for handoffs to occur between the core networks and between a femto cell and a macro cell.

Provided are a base station device and a transmission power control method that reduce interference with an uplink radio channel from a femto-connected terminal to a macrocell base station while avoiding an increase in signaling. A measurement unit (103) measures the macrocell signal reception level, and a propagation loss estimating unit (104) estimates propagation loss between a HUE and a HNB based on the HUE signal reception power, for example. A judgment unit (105) performs a first comparison of the macrocell signal reception level with a first threshold value and a second comparison of the propagation loss with a second threshold value, and an adjustment unit (106) generates a command to reduce the maximum value that is possible for the target control value for the HNB total reception power when the macrocell signal reception level is at least the first threshold value and the propagation loss is at least the second threshold value. A scheduler (107) determined a transmission rate allocated to the HUE based on the HUE signal and the maximum value that is possible for the target control value for the HNB total reception power.

User equipment (UE), referred to herein as an interfering UE (130), can be detected that is proximate to a low-power cell (120), such as a micro-cell, pico-cell, femto-cell, a relay, or the like. The interfering UE (130) can be transmitting to the base station (110) at a power level that is producing high interference affecting uplink performance between a different UE and the low-power cell (120). A power adjustment message (140) can be generated at the base station (110). The power adjustment message (140) can be conveyed (156) from the base station (110) to the interfering UE (130). The power level adjustment message (130) can cause the interfering UE (130) to lower its transmission power (164), which reduces the high interference, thereby improving uplink performance between the different UE and the low-power cell (120).

In a wireless communication network including several macro cells each having several femto cells, when a trigger event occurs for a measurement report, user equipment creates a measurement report message which includes a cell identifier of a target femto cell for the measurement report in response to the trigger event, measuring results for the target femto cell, and a neighbor cell identifier having a cell identifier of at least one neighbor femto cell around the target femto cell. Then the user equipment transmits the measurement report message to an evolved node B (eNB). When receiving the measurement report message, the eNB distinguishes the target femto cell from others in the femto cells based on the neighbor cell identifier in the received measurement report message.

A method and apparatus for interference control in a wireless communication system with a hierarchical cell layout are provided. The method includes acquiring edge-bands of femto BSs within an area of the macro BS, determining whether an MS receiving a service from the macro BS is located in an area adjacent to the femto BS, and, if the MS is located in the area adjacent to the femto BS, allocating, to the MS, an edge-band of the femto BS to which the MS is adjacent.

Embodiments provide an apparatus, method, product and storage medium for controlling or setting a transmit power of a femto cell depending on a received power of at least one neighbouring macro cell.

A method and apparatus for estimating an available backhaul bandwidth in a femto-cell communication network includes a step (204, 304) of sending at least one defined data stream to at least one femto-cell. A next step (206, 306) includes measuring a delay of the at least one defined data stream at the at least one femto-cell. A next step (208, 308) includes estimating, from the delay of the at least one defined data stream, a backhaul bandwidth availability.

The present disclosure provides a method and system for implementing synchronization among micro-base stations, including: a micro-base station intercepts a wireless reference signal of an air interface, and selects a synchronization reference object according to an intercepted wireless reference signal; and the micro-base station implements synchronization processing through detecting the wireless reference signal of the selected synchronization reference object, and adjusts its own synchronization information. The method for implementing synchronization among micro-base stations disclosed in the present disclosure is implemented on the basis of the wireless air interface signals of the micro-base stations, requires no additional synchronization hardware devices (such as Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) receiving apparatus, etc.) and has low cost. By the solution disclosed in the present disclosure, the mutual interference caused by asynchronization between a Time Division Duplex (TDD) micro-base station and other base stations is eliminated flexibly.

One object of the present invention is a method for interfacing a Femto-Cell equipment with a Mobile Core Network, said method comprising following steps of:

• • authenticating and registering said Femto-Cell equipment to a Generic Access Network Controller via a standard Up interface, this step comprising the establishment of a secure tunnel between the said Femto-Cell equipment and a Security Gateway of said Generic Access Network Controller;
  • connecting at least one Mobile Network entity of said Femto-Cell equipment to at least one Mobile Core Network node with at least one standard Mobile Network interface, via a Femto Core Network Gateway entity, said at least one standard Mobile Network interface being encapsulated in a secure tunnel established between said Femto-Cell equipment and said Security Gateway of said Generic Access Network Controller, and being relayed by said Femto Core Network Gateway entity to said Mobile Core Network node.

Provided are a method and an apparatus for releasing a blank zone by a macro base station in a wireless communication system. The macro base station: receives channel information from a macro terminal that is serviced therefrom; determines based on the channel information whether or not a downlink blank zone allocated to a resource zone of a femto bas station is released; and transmits downlink blank zone release information to the femto base station if the downlink blank zone is supposed to be released. The downlink blank zone is a resource zone which restricts the downlink transmission, among all the resource zones used by the femto base station. The channel information may be the information about the distance between the femto base station and the macro terminal.

An access point (e.g., a femto cell) that is connected in an active call with an access terminal may cooperate with that access terminal or another access terminal to derive timing information from one or more neighboring access points (e.g., macro access points). In addition, an access point may cooperate with an idle access terminal to derive timing information from one or more neighboring access points. For example, an access terminal may determine the difference between pilot transmission timing or frame transmission timing of a femto cell and a macro cell, and report this timing difference to the femto cell. Based on this timing difference, the femto cell may adjust the timing and/or frequency of its transmissions so that these transmissions are synchronized in time and/or frequency as per network operation requirements.