Inbound handover for macrocell-to-femtocell call transfer
First Claim
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1. A user equipment, comprising:
- a processor; and
a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;
prior to a scan of access point devices by the user equipment, receiving, from a data store for a macro access point device, femtocell data that comprises a scrambling code and timing data for the user equipment to define a time period during which the user equipment is authorized to access a femtocell device,augmenting neighbor list data with at least a portion of the femtocell data to generate augmented neighbor list data, wherein the neighbor list data is received from the macro access point device that serves the user equipment, and wherein the neighbor list data comprises macro cell data related to macro cell devices that are within a defined distance from the macro access point device, andemploying the augmented neighbor list data to facilitate the scan, wherein based on a result of the scan, a first coupling between the user equipment and the macro access point device is transferred to a second coupling between the user equipment and the femtocell device within the time period defined by the timing data for the user equipment that is received from the data store for the macro access point device.
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Abstract
A system and methodology that facilitates macrocell-to-femtocell handovers during an on-going communication session by augmenting a neighbor list with femtocell data is provided. Moreover, the femtocell data associated with a set of femtocells that the a user equipment (UE) is authorized to access is added to a neighbor list. When a handover is initiated, the femtocell data is utilized to facilitate scanning of a radio environment of the user equipment to detect a target cell site for the handover. In one aspect, location data and/or serving cell data associated with the set of femtocells is utilized to limit the number of femtocells that are added to the neighbor list.
22 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A user equipment, comprising:
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a processor; and a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising; prior to a scan of access point devices by the user equipment, receiving, from a data store for a macro access point device, femtocell data that comprises a scrambling code and timing data for the user equipment to define a time period during which the user equipment is authorized to access a femtocell device, augmenting neighbor list data with at least a portion of the femtocell data to generate augmented neighbor list data, wherein the neighbor list data is received from the macro access point device that serves the user equipment, and wherein the neighbor list data comprises macro cell data related to macro cell devices that are within a defined distance from the macro access point device, and employing the augmented neighbor list data to facilitate the scan, wherein based on a result of the scan, a first coupling between the user equipment and the macro access point device is transferred to a second coupling between the user equipment and the femtocell device within the time period defined by the timing data for the user equipment that is received from the data store for the macro access point device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method, comprising:
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determining, by a user equipment comprising a processor, whether a base station device serving the user equipment is to be changed during an on-going communication session; in response to determining that the base station device serving the user equipment is to be changed during the on-going communication session, receiving, by the user equipment, neighbor list data from a network device; augmenting, by the user equipment, the neighbor list data with femtocell data stored by a data store of the user equipment, wherein the femtocell data is received from a data store of the base station device and comprises a scrambling code and timing data for the user equipment that specifies an interval of time during which the user equipment is authorized to access a femto access point device; and in response to the augmenting and based on the neighbor list data, facilitating, by the user equipment, a scan to detect the femto access point device during the interval of time specified by the timing data for the user equipment. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
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prior to a scan of access point devices by user equipment, customizing neighbor list data for the user equipment, including adding, to the neighbor list data, femtocell data that comprises a scrambling code and timing data for the user equipment to establish a time interval during which the user equipment is authorized to access a femto access point device, wherein the femtocell data is stored within a data store of a serving access point device; and based on the neighbor list data, facilitating the scan, wherein a result of the scan initiates a transfer from a first coupling between the user equipment and the serving access point device to a second coupling between the user equipment and the femto access point device during the time interval established by the timing data for the user equipment. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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Specification