VIRTUAL GROUPS FOR FEMTO-CELL HAND-IN

• US 20100197309A1
• Filed: 12/29/2009
• Published: 08/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ZTE Corporation
• Original Assignee: ZTE Corporation
• Inventors: Bhalla, Rajesh, Fang, Yonggang, Zhao, Xiaowu, Zhang, Wenfeng
• Granted Patent: US 8,886,201 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/436
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/04 Reselecting a cell layer in multi-layered cells
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B

Abstract

Techniques, apparatuses, and systems for handling femto-cell hand-in requests can include operating a macro-cell base station to provide wireless service to wireless devices in a geographical coverage area; receiving, from a wireless device, a message indicative of the wireless device'"'"'s reception of a base station radio signal, the message including a base station identifier; controlling multiple femto-cell base stations that are assigned to the base station identifier to communicate with the wireless device and to report a reception of a radio signal from the wireless device; and transferring the wireless device from the macro-cell base station to a femto-cell base station of the multiple femto-cell base stations that reports a reception of the radio signal from the wireless device. The multiple femto-cell base stations can provide wireless service in different nonadjacent portions of the geographical coverage area.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communications, comprising:

operating a macro-cell base station to provide wireless service to wireless devices in a geographical coverage area;

receiving, from a wireless device, a message indicative of the wireless device'"'"'s reception of a base station radio signal, the message comprising a base station identifier;

controlling multiple femto-cell base stations that are assigned to the base station identifier to communicate with the wireless device and to report a reception of a radio signal from the wireless device, wherein the multiple femto-cell base stations provide wireless service in different nonadjacent portions of the geographical coverage area; and

transferring the wireless device from the macro-cell base station to a femto-cell base station of the multiple femto-cell base stations that reports a reception of the radio signal from the wireless device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling the multiple femto-cell base stations comprises sending a handoff request message to each of the femto-cell base stations.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling the multiple femto-cell base stations comprises controlling a femto-cell base station to send a handoff request acknowledgment message to a core network based on a reception of the radio signal from the wireless device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the received message comprises a measurement message, wherein the measurement message comprises the base station identifier and a measurement of the base station radio signal. wherein the base station radio signal is generated based on the base station identifier.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the base station identifier is a pseudorandom noise (PN) code.

6. The method of claim 1, operating a macro-cell base station to provide wireless service comprises operating the macro-cell base station based on a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) air link technology.

7. The method of claim 1, operating a macro-cell base station to provide wireless service comprises operating the macro-cell base station based on a Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology.

8. A method for wireless communications, comprising:

assigning a communication code from a first group of communication codes used for wireless identification to a base station, wherein the base station is configured to provide coverage to a service area;

assigning a communication code from a second, different group of communication codes used for wireless identification to multiple femto-cell access points that provide coverage in different nonadjacent portions of the service area; and

operating multiple femto-cell access points assigned to the same communication code to handle a hand-in request from a mobile station in communication with the base station.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

controlling the femto-cell access points assigned to the same communication code to report a status of a handshake with the mobile station; and

selecting one of the controlled femto-cell access points to complete the hand-in request.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

controlling the femto-cell access points assigned to the same communication code who are not selected to complete the hand-in request to free resources allocated for the hand-in request.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the first group comprises pseudorandom noise codes, wherein the second group comprises different pseudorandom noise codes.

12. A wireless communication system, comprising:

a macro-cell base station configured to provide wireless service to wireless devices in a geographical coverage area and receive, from a wireless device, a message indicative of the wireless device'"'"'s reception of a base station radio signal, the message comprising a base station identifier;

a mechanism configured to control multiple femto-cell base stations that are assigned to the base station identifier to communicate with the wireless device and to report a reception of a radio signal from the wireless device, wherein the multiple femto-cell base stations provide wireless service in different nonadjacent portions of the geographical coverage area; and

a mechanism configured to transfer the wireless device from the macro-cell base station to a femto-cell base station of the multiple femto-cell base stations that reports a reception of the radio signal from the wireless device.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the mechanism configured to control multiple femto-cell base stations is configured to send a handoff request message to each of the femto-cell base stations.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the mechanism configured to control multiple femto-cell base stations is configured to control a femto-cell base station to send a handoff request acknowledgment message to a core network based on a reception of the radio signal from the wireless device.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the message received by the macro-cell base station comprises a measurement message, wherein the measurement message comprises the base station identifier and a measurement of the base station radio signal, wherein the base station radio signal is generated based on the base station identifier.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the base station identifier is a pseudorandom noise (PN) code.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the macro-cell base station is configured to operate based on a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) air link technology.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the macro-cell base station is configured to operate based on a Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology.