PRESENCE-AWARE CELLULAR COMMUNICATION SYSTEM AND METHOD
First Claim
1. A cellular communication system comprising a network supporting user equipment over a cellular air interface having a hierarchical cell arrangement with a plurality of overlay cells and underlay cells, the cellular communication system comprising:
- an underlay base station (105) for supporting a first underlay cell of the plurality of underlay cells, the underlay base station (105) being associated with a set of user equipment registered for the underlay base station (105);
a location server (119) for determining location indications for user equipment; and
an activation server (117) of the network arranged to receive location indications from the location server (119) and to transmit an activation message to the underlay base station (105) in response to a detection that a location indication for a first user equipment meets a first criterion and that the first user equipment is in the set of registered user equipment;
wherein the underlay base station (105) is arranged to switch from an inactive mode to an active mode in response to receiving the activation message; and
wherein the underlay base station (105) is arranged to support user equipment of the underlay cell when in the active mode and to not support user equipment of the underlay cell when in the inactive mode.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A cellular communication system comprises a network supporting user equipment over an air interface, the network having a hierarchical cell arrangement with overlay cells and underlay cells. An underlay base station is associated with a subset of registered user equipment. An activation server switches the underlay base station between an inactive mode and an active mode in response to detecting that registered user equipment meets a location criterion. The underlay base station only supports user equipment when in the active mode, e.g., it may only transmit a pilot signal in this mode. Interference and power consumption may be substantially reduced by sending the base station into the inactive mode thereby resulting in increased capacity of the cellular communication system as a whole.
192 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A cellular communication system comprising a network supporting user equipment over a cellular air interface having a hierarchical cell arrangement with a plurality of overlay cells and underlay cells, the cellular communication system comprising:
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an underlay base station (105) for supporting a first underlay cell of the plurality of underlay cells, the underlay base station (105) being associated with a set of user equipment registered for the underlay base station (105); a location server (119) for determining location indications for user equipment; and an activation server (117) of the network arranged to receive location indications from the location server (119) and to transmit an activation message to the underlay base station (105) in response to a detection that a location indication for a first user equipment meets a first criterion and that the first user equipment is in the set of registered user equipment; wherein the underlay base station (105) is arranged to switch from an inactive mode to an active mode in response to receiving the activation message; and wherein the underlay base station (105) is arranged to support user equipment of the underlay cell when in the active mode and to not support user equipment of the underlay cell when in the inactive mode. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method of operation for a cellular communication system comprising a network supporting user equipment over a cellular air interface having a hierarchical cell arrangement with a plurality of overlay cells and underlay cells and at least one underlay base station (105) for supporting an underlay cell of the cellular communication system, the underlay base station (105) being associated with a set of registered user equipment registered for the underlay base station;
- the method comprising;
determining location indications for user equipment; an activation server (117) of the network transmitting an activation message to the underlay base station (105) in response to a detection that a location indication for a first user equipment meets a first criterion and that the first user equipment is in the subset of registered user equipment; and the underlay base station (105) switching from an inactive mode to an active mode in response to receiving the activation message; wherein the underlay base station (105) is arranged to support user equipment of the underlay cell when in the active mode and to not support user equipment of the underlay cell when in the inactive mode.
- the method comprising;
Specification