Method and apparatus for providing a pilot beacon on behalf of one or more base stations
First Claim
1. A method of providing a pilot-beacon on behalf of a cellular base station, comprising:
- determining a location of a coverage area of the base station;
based at least in part on the determined location, dynamically configuring a pilot-beacon radiation pattern to encompass the determined location of the coverage area of the base station; and
emitting a pilot beacon with the configured pilot-beacon radiation pattern,whereby the pilot-beacon with the pilot-beacon radiation pattern facilitates handoff of a mobile station to the base station.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed herein is a method and apparatus for providing a pilot-beacon on behalf of one or more base stations, such as one or more femtocells. A pilot-beacon transmitter, separate from the base stations, determines the locations of coverage areas of the base stations and then dynamically configures a pilot-beacon radiation pattern to encompass (approximately) the determined coverage areas. That way, a mobile station may detect the pilot beacon and initiate scanning of coverage provided by the base stations. Optimally, the method can be used to provide a pilot beacon for femtocells, thereby avoiding the need for the femtocells to include pilot beacon transmission functions and thus possibly decreasing the cost of the femtocells. The pilot-beacon transmitter or another entity may also be configured to receive and forward GPS signals to the base stations, possibly offsetting GPS timing based on measured delays for communication with the base stations.
21 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method of providing a pilot-beacon on behalf of a cellular base station, comprising:
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determining a location of a coverage area of the base station; based at least in part on the determined location, dynamically configuring a pilot-beacon radiation pattern to encompass the determined location of the coverage area of the base station; and emitting a pilot beacon with the configured pilot-beacon radiation pattern, whereby the pilot-beacon with the pilot-beacon radiation pattern facilitates handoff of a mobile station to the base station. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of providing a pilot-beacon on behalf of a plurality of cellular base stations, comprising:
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determining locations of coverage areas of the base stations; based at least in part on the determined locations, dynamically configuring a pilot-beacon radiation pattern to encompass the determined locations of the coverage areas of the base stations; and emitting a pilot beacon with the configured pilot-beacon radiation pattern, whereby the pilot-beacon with the pilot-beacon radiation pattern facilitates handoff of a mobile station to any of the base stations. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A pilot-beacon transmitter for providing a pilot-beacon on behalf of a plurality of base stations, the pilot-beacon transmitter comprising:
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a dynamically configurable antenna structure for emitting the pilot-beacon; a processor; data storage; and machine language instructions stored in the data storage and executable by the processor to determine locations of coverage areas of the base stations, and, based at least in part on the determined locations, to dynamically configure the antenna structure so as to provide a pilot-beacon radiation pattern that encompasses the locations of the coverage areas of the base stations, wherein the antenna structure then emits the pilot-beacon with the configured pilot-beacon radiation pattern, whereby the pilot-beacon with the pilot-beacon radiation pattern facilitates handoff of a mobile station to any of the base stations. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification