Scanning of wireless environment in a femto-based home macro sector

• US 9,125,117 B2
• Filed: 06/18/2013
• Issued: 09/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Brisebois, Arthur Richard, De Rosa, Giuseppe
• Primary Examiner(s): Ng, Fan
• Application Number:
  US13/920,890
• Publication Number:
  US 20130281091A1
• Time in Patent Office: 805 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/32 Hierarchical cell structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/02 Access restriction performed under specific conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/20 Selecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/22 Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/18 Service support devices; Network management devices

Abstract

Inter-carrier scanning is triggered in a mobile device based at least in part on location thereof. Femto access point (AP) that can serve the mobile device can determine location through cell or sector identifier that is extracted via scan(s) of macro wireless environment of the femto AP. Femto AP can rank extracted sector identifier(s) and establish home macro sector (HMS) identifier(s), and also can generate scanning requirements for idle-mode scan(s) by a mobile device that operates in a HMS and is authorized to access wireless coverage through the femto AP. Scanning requirement(s) can force periodic inter-carrier measurements of a HMS wireless environment, and establish HMS-specific radio link quality threshold(s). Wireless network can receive at least one of HMS identifier(s) and scanning requirement(s) and deliver same to mobile device(s) authorized to exploit wireless coverage through femto AP associated with the HMS ID(s) and the scanning requirement(s).

Claims

1. A femto access point device, comprising:

a memory that stores executable instructions; and

a processor, coupled to the memory, that facilitates execution of the executable instructions to perform operations, comprising;

determining identifier data representing a sector, wherein the identifier data comprises index data that specifies a pilot signal sequence of a scrambling code associated with the sector, related to a macro access point device within a macro wireless environment associated with the femto access point device; and

in response to user equipment being determined to be coupled to the macro access point device, directing, to the user equipment, the identifier data to facilitate a detection of the femto access point device by the user equipment.

2. The femto access point device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

scanning a set of macro wireless radio frequencies of the macro wireless environment, and

based on the scanning, determining a set of identifier data representing a set of sectors associated with a set of macro access point devices, wherein the set of identifier data comprises the identifier data, the set of sectors comprises the sector and the set of macro access point devices comprises the macro access point device.

3. The femto access point device of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprise ranking the set of identifier data based on a defined ranking criterion, and wherein the determining comprises selecting the identifier data from the set of identifier data based on the ranking.

4. The femto access point device of claim 3, wherein the defined ranking criterion comprises a signal strength criterion.

5. The femto access point device of claim 3, wherein the defined ranking criterion comprises a carrier frequency criterion.

6. The femto access point device of claim 2, wherein the scanning comprises scanning the set of macro wireless radio frequencies based on schedule data indicative of a defined scan schedule.

7. The femto access point device of claim 1, wherein the directing comprises directing the identifier data to the user equipment in response to determining that user equipment data indicative of the user equipment is represented within an access control data structure that is employed to manage access to the femto access point device.

8. The femto access point device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to determining, based on the identifier data, that the user equipment is coupled to the macro access point device, instructing the user equipment to initiate an inter-carrier frequency scan.

9. The femto access point device of claim 8, wherein the instructing comprises instructing the user equipment to reinitiate the inter-carrier frequency scan based on a configured time period.

10. A system, comprising:

a memory that stores executable instructions; and

a processor, coupled to the memory, that facilitates execution of the executable instructions to perform operations, comprising;

determining identifier data representing a sector related to a macro access point device within a macro wireless environment associated with a femto access point device; and

directing to user equipment, in response to determining that user equipment data is indicative of the user equipment and is represented within an access control data structure that is employed to manage access to the femto access point device, the identifier data to facilitate a detection of the femto access point device by the user equipment in response to the user equipment being determined to be coupled to the macro access point device.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the determining comprises determining the identifier data based on a rank assigned to the macro access point device being determined to satisfy a defined ranking criterion.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the identifier data comprises index data that specifies a pilot signal sequence of a scrambling code associated with the sector.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the directing comprises directing, to the user equipment, scanning data indicative of a scanning behavior requirement associated with an idle-mode of operation of the user equipment.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the directing comprises, in response to the user equipment being determined to be coupled to the macro access point device, instructing the user equipment to modify a radio link quality criterion associated with signal quality of a signal received by the user equipment, and wherein the radio link quality criterion is employed to trigger the inter-carrier frequency scan.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise selecting the macro access point device based on a scan for a set of specified system broadcast messages conveyed via a set of respective frequencies bands.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause a system comprising a processor to perform operations, comprising:

determining identifier data representing a sector related to a macro access point device within a macro wireless environment associated with the femto access point device;

in response to determining, based on the identifier data, that user equipment is coupled to the macro access point device, instructing the user equipment to initiate an inter-carrier frequency scan, wherein the instructing comprises instructing the user equipment to reinitiate the inter-carrier frequency scan based on a configured time period; and

in response to the user equipment being determined to be coupled to the macro access point device, directing, to the user equipment, the identifier data to facilitate a detection of the femto access point device by the user equipment.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise transmitting the first identifier data to facilitate a detection of the femto access point device by the user equipment subsequent to the user equipment being determined to be coupled to the macro access point device.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise directing to the user equipment, in response to determining that the identifier data does not match other identifier data, scan data indicative of a scanning behavior requirement associated with an idle-mode of operation of the user equipment.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise storing the identifier data in an access control data structure associated with the femto access point device.

20. The femto access point device of claim 16, wherein the instructing comprises scanning macro wireless radio frequencies based on schedule data indicative of a defined scan schedule.