MAC/PHY IDENTIFICATION OF BASE STATION TYPES AND THEIR PREFERRED AND RESTRICTED ACCESS

• US 20110044244A1
• Filed: 06/22/2010
• Published: 02/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Etemad, Kamran
• Granted Patent: US 8,588,139 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/41 Remote control of gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5014 using dynamic host configuration protocol [DHCP] or bootstrap protocol [BOOTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0069 comprising a residential gateway, e.g. those which provide an adapter for POTS or ISDN terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Embodiments of a system and methods for identification of base station types are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

Claims

1. A method for accessing a multi-layer network, comprising:

associating an advanced mobile station (AMS) with a first advanced base station (ABS) in the multi-layer network;

receiving a neighbor advertisement message, wherein the neighbor advertisement message lists ABSs according to a priority and according to an ABS type;

identifying ABSs in the neighbor advertisement message that are associated with the AMS, wherein the AMS is a member of a closed subscriber group (CSG) for ABSs configured to associate with the AMS;

locating a non-macro ABS from the neighbor advertisement message;

identifying whether the non-macro ABS is a CSG Closed Femto or a CSG Open Femto; and

handing over from the first ABS to the non-macro ABS based on at least one of a channel parameter and loading conditions.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the ABS type is determined by at least one of cell size, access type, and network synchronization status.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the neighbor advertisement message is a MOB_NBR-ADV message.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the neighbor advertisement message comprises cell types of neighboring base stations.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first ABS is a public base station that supports an advanced air interface protocol.

6. The method of claim 1, further including identifying the ABS type using a preamble sequence.

7. A method for accessing a multi-layer network, comprising:

initializing an advanced mobile station (AMS) in the multi-layer network;

determining if the AMS is a member of a closed subscriber group (CSG);

scanning a first radio frequency (RF) carrier and a first RF carrier preamble to locate a CSG Closed Femto advanced base station (ABS) that provides service to a CSG Closed Femtocell;

locating the CSG Closed Femto ABS;

determining if the CSG Closed Femto ABS provides service to the AMS;

locating a preferred channel list for the AMS, wherein the preferred channel list identifies one or more additional CSG Closed Femto ABSs associated with the AMS, wherein the additional CSG Closed Femto ABSs provide service to additional CSG Closed Femto cells;

identifying a second RF carrier on the preferred channel list; and

accessing the multi-layer network through the CSG Closed Femtocell or at least one of the additional CSG Closed Femto cells.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the preferred channel list is provisioned in the AMS.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the AMS is subject to preferred handover and the AMS is a member of at least one of the CSG Closed Femto ABSs.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the preferred channel list is derived from a neighbor advertisement message.

11. The method of claim 7, further including scanning for a public base station.

12. A method for accessing a multi-layer network using an advanced mobile station (AMS), comprising:

receiving a superframe from a base station comprising a primary advanced preamble (PA-Preamble) and a secondary advanced preamble (SA-preamble);

reading the SA-preamble of the superframe to identify hard partitions in the SA-preamble, wherein the hard partitions indicate the base station is a macro advanced base station (ABS) or a non-macro ABS;

determining that the SA-preamble is from the non-macro ABS;

reading the superframe to locate a superframe header (SFH), wherein the SFH identifies the non-macro ABS by partition as a closed subscriber group (CSG) Femto ABS;

determining whether the AMS is a member of the CSG Femto ABS, wherein a list of CSG Femto base stations is provisioned in the AMS;

associating with the CSG Femto ABS if the AMS is a member of the CSG Femto ABS; and

associating with another ABS if the AMS is not a member of the CSG Femto ABS.

13. The method of claim 12, further including receiving a neighbor advertisement message through a broadcast from a Femto ABS.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the neighbor advertisement message lists a neighboring macro ABS.

15. The method of claim 12, further including receiving a list of accessible neighboring femto ABSs through unicast messaging.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the list comprises CSG-closed femto ABSs and CSG Open Femto ABSs.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the Femto ABS commands the AMS to scan for CSG Closed Femto ABSs accessible to the AMS.

18. An article comprising a storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a computing platform, results in:

associating an advanced mobile station (AMS) with a first advanced base station (ABS);

receiving a neighbor advertisement message, wherein the neighbor advertisement message lists ABSs according to a priority and according to ABS type;

identifying ABSs in the neighbor advertisement message that are associated with the AMS, wherein the AMS is a member of a closed subscriber group (CSG) for ABSs that are associate with the AMS;

locating a non-macro ABS from the neighbor advertisement message;

identifying whether the non-macro ABS is a CSG Closed Femto or a CSG Open Femto; and

handing over from the first ABS to a second ABS based on at least one of a channel parameter and loading conditions.

19. The article of claim 18, wherein the ABS type is determined by at least one of cell size, access type, and network synchronization status.

20. The article of claim 18, wherein the first ABS is a public base station that supports an advanced air interface protocol.