HK1154457B - Power efficient small base station scanning and acquisition - Google Patents

Description

Power efficient small base station scanning and acquisition

Claiming priority in accordance with 35U.S.C. § 119

This patent application claims priority to provisional application 61/040,095 entitled "FEMTOCELLSYSTESTEMISIONGPREFERERREQUERED SERZONELIST (PUZL)", filed on 27.3.2008, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application and is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

This patent application claims priority to provisional application 61/041,142 entitled "FEMTOCELLSYSTESTEMISIONIGARPREFERRED SERZONELIST (PUZL)", filed on 31.3.2008, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application and is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

This patent application claims priority to provisional application 61/081,664 entitled "FEMTOCELLSYSTESTEMISIONIONOPARFERED PREFERRED SERZONELIST (PUZL)", filed 17.7.2008, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application and is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Technical Field

The exemplary and non-limiting aspects described herein relate generally to wireless communication systems, methods, computer program products, and devices, and more specifically to techniques for discovering power efficient techniques and components for a limited range access limited base station, such as a femtocell (femtocell).

Background

A typical radio access cellular network operates with a variety of radio transmission devices or base stations. These base stations enable wireless mobile devices, such as cellular telephones, to wirelessly access the core network of a cellular service provider. The base stations, along with various data routing and control mechanisms (e.g., base station controllers, core and edge routers, etc.), facilitate telecommunications for mobile devices. As communication service providers extend base station coverage, the radio access network may cover more territories. However, for various reasons, such as: population, high mobile traffic, interference from other transmitters, or materials that absorb transmissions from base stations (e.g., dense reinforced concrete buildings, underground utilities, etc.), making it difficult to provide reliable radio coverage in some areas.

In particular, indoor cellular reception suffers from problems such as high interference, and particularly, higher floors may be severely contaminated with pilot signal noise. In some venues, people are crowded with small areas (e.g., shopping malls, airport terminals). These high density communication sites can place a great deal of pressure on the available capacity. It is difficult to provide seamless integration of outdoor cells with indoor cells, not only in managing interference but also in association with neighbor lists and handover procedures.

One solution to provide mobile communication support for areas where radio access is difficult is a "personal" base station, or femto (femto) Base Station (BS) (also known as, e.g., a home node B or femtocell). A BS may be a relatively small-range device (as compared to a standard radio network base station, such as a node B) that may provide wireless communication over a licensed cellular radio frequency band (as opposed to an unlicensed frequency band utilized by a wireless local area network router). In an exemplary aspect, a BS may be of any size that serves a wide range of coverage areas and multiple user devices (e.g., cellular devices, mobile stations, access terminals, handsets, etc.) within a coverage area. The BS may maintain the wireless links of the cellular devices on such radio frequency bands in a manner similar to the node B base stations. Thus, the BS may provide a small range of cellular coverage for areas where good signals cannot be received from the radio access base station. Individual consumers may often utilize BSs for personal cellular access within their homes, apartment buildings, office buildings, and the like. In addition to the mobile telephone networks currently in use, new small base stations have emerged that can be installed in a user's home and which use existing broadband internet connections to provide indoor wireless coverage for mobile units. Such personal miniature base stations are commonly referred to as access point base stations or, alternatively, home node bs (hnbs) or femtocells. Such miniature base stations are typically connected to the internet and the mobile operator's network via DSL routers, IP communications or cable modems.

Disclosure of Invention

The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosed aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements nor delineate the scope of such aspects. Its purpose is to present some concepts of the described features in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

In accordance with one or more aspects and corresponding disclosure thereof, various aspects are described in connection with finding a preferred base station and enhancing power efficiency of user equipment (e.g., cellular devices, mobile stations, access terminals, handsets, etc.), and in particular, by scanning for small base stations (such as femto systems) while being able to gracefully scan for and acquire them. Furthermore, the service loop is detected and interrupted so that the mobile station does not camp on a heterogeneous femto cell (campon) that is not accessible or on a non-preferred system. For geographic-based proximity determination, tolerances are provided for scanning devices to discover femto systems that are slightly mobile and alter their automatic geographic location reporting. Furthermore, an indication of the type of system access to be provided is given to the user so that a suitable amount of use is made.

In one aspect, a method for discovering and acquiring a small base station is provided, comprising: accessing the stored access information of the small base station; determining proximity to the small base station as a trigger for scanning and acquisition; scanning and acquiring the small base station.

In another aspect, at least one processor is provided for discovering and acquiring a small base station. The first module accesses stored access information for the small base station. A second module determines proximity to the small base station as a trigger condition for scanning and acquisition. A third module scans and acquires the small base station.

In an additional aspect, a computer program product for discovering and acquiring a small base station is provided. The computer-readable storage medium includes a first set of codes for causing a computer to access stored access information for a small base station. A second set of codes that causes the computer to determine proximity to the small base station as a trigger condition for scanning and acquisition. A third set of codes that causes the computer to scan for and acquire the small base station.

In another additional aspect, an apparatus for discovering and acquiring a small base station is provided. An access module is provided for accessing stored access information of a small base station. A determination module is provided for determining proximity to the small base station as a trigger condition for scanning and acquisition. A scanning and acquisition module is provided to scan and acquire the small base stations.

In other aspects, an apparatus for discovering and acquiring a small base station is provided. A computing platform accesses stored access information for small base stations and determines proximity to small base stations as a trigger for scanning and acquisition. A receiver scans for and acquires the small base stations.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or more embodiments comprise the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative aspects of the one or more embodiments by way of example, but are merely illustrative of the various ways in which the principles of the various embodiments may be employed. Other advantages and novel features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the drawings and the described embodiments are intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.

Drawings

The features, nature, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the drawings in which like reference characters identify correspondingly throughout and wherein:

fig. 1 shows a block diagram of a communication system with a mobile station or user equipment for scanning and acquiring small base stations.

Fig. 2 illustrates a state diagram of a mobile station scanning and acquiring a macro system or a femto system according to relative priorities.

Fig. 3 illustrates a flow diagram of a method of scanning and acquiring a femto system according to a power efficient method.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of a user area data structure.

Fig. 5A-5B illustrate a flow chart of a method or sequence of operations for selective small base station discovery.

Fig. 6A-6B illustrate a flow chart of a method or sequence for detecting and interrupting operation of a system selection loop.

Fig. 7 illustrates an exemplary wireless communication system.

Fig. 8 illustrates an exemplary communication system for implementing the deployment of access point base stations in a network environment.

Fig. 9 illustrates a block diagram of a system including a logical grouping of electrical components for selective small base station discovery.

Fig. 10 illustrates a block diagram of a system including a logical grouping of electrical components for selective small base station discovery.

Fig. 11 illustrates a block diagram of a system with a logical grouping of electrical components for performing selective small base station discovery.

Detailed Description

Cellular networks may employ a large number of limited-access/limited-range ("small") base stations, such as home base nodes (HNBs) or femtocells, deployed by end users, which provide Access Terminals (ATs) or User Equipment (UEs) with access to a core network. It can also be applied as a pico cell (pico cell) or any hierarchical cell structure. The selective discovery method allows the UE to discover and use small base stations without wasting power to discover heterogeneous (alien) base stations or to search when it is not within range of any open small base station. For example, the heterogeneous base stations may include the following femtocells: the UE is set (e.g., cellular device, mobile station, access terminal, handset, etc.) to know that the femto cell is inaccessible or that attempts to scan for and acquire access (e.g., registration) with the femto cell are unsuccessful due to lack of suitable authentication information. In some instances, the restricted base station is equivalent to a heterogeneous base station. In some instances, a restricted or heterogeneous base station may provide restricted access, for example, to accept calls to a Public Safety Access Point (PSAP) (e.g., 911 emergency calls). In another example, heterogeneous or restricted base stations do not provide open access (e.g., unrestricted access based on authentication information owned by the UE); however, this limitation (which may be a limitation on usage) may be removed by further steps (e.g., by entering credit card data or passing a bill for use). With the present invention, in one aspect, active call submission (hand-in) may be performed using the set information. For example, a (provisioning) device is set up with the small base station information in the database, which can scan for preferred femtocells in an active call, and report the femto pilot, which can potentially deviate from the frequency of the current operating channel, and report the pilot in a PSMM (pilot strength measurement message), so that the macro system submits it to a particular femtocell. The effect of minor interruptions during scanning, e.g. the case of one or two packets lost in a voice call application, can be neglected.

Discovery operations require a relative determination of a location (e.g., macro base station triangulation, global positioning system, local broadcast channel, etc.) within range of an open femto cell whose identity is manually known and accessed via a distributed neighbor list or the like. The defined area/volume of each femtocell may be circular, spherical, piecewise linear, cylindrical polygonal, irregular, etc. The definition of a location may include a variety of geographic coordinate systems (e.g., latitude, longitude). In one aspect, the coordinates also include a geodetic height or elevation center point or range. If the location is known or learned by broadcasting geographical coordinates, the UE can advantageously tolerate small-scale changes in location without having to relearn the identity of the femto cell. Advantageously, the type of access provided (e.g., unrestricted, restricted, etc.) is communicated to the end user via a display indicator.

A number of aspects will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of one or more aspects. It may be evident, however, that the various embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate describing these aspects.

In fig. 1, the communication system 100 increases access of a mobile station or User Equipment (UE)102 to a core network 104 to areas where a macro base station (e.g., an evolved base station (eNB))106 fails to provide service by using a small base station (e.g., a femto cell) 108. The femto cell may be placed in a building 110, which building 110 reduces the reception rate of the eNB 106. A femto cell, typically owned by an end user 112 and connected to the core network 104 through a broadband network (e.g., the internet) 114, may provide an economic advantage over usage rates for using an eNB as a Radio Access Technology (RAT). Furthermore, more and more users rely on wireless communication access at their office or home rather than using landline telephones or other communication devices.

In the illustrative telecommunications system 100, the femto cell 108 (formerly referred to as an access point base station) is typically a small cell base station designed for use in a residential or small business environment. It is connected to the service provider's network via broadband (e.g., Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or cable); current designs typically support five (5) to one hundred (100) mobile phones in a residence. Femto cells enable service providers to extend service coverage indoors, particularly where access is otherwise limited or unavailable. Femto cells are provided with the functionality of typical base stations, but are extended to provide simpler, stand-alone deployments. In an example, a femto cell includes a node B, a Radio Network Controller (RNC), and a GPRS support node (SGSN) that transmits using ethernet. Although much attention is focused on the 3GPP2 field, 1X and DO systems, the present concepts are applicable to all standards including GSM, CDMA2000, TD-SCDMA, UMTS and WiMAX solutions. Procedures are also disclosed herein for finding femto cells by applying various techniques equally, e.g., finding UMTS femto boxes (femtoboxes) in a 1X macro system and based on location relative to the macro system, etc. Location determination (i.e., user zone determination using PUZL) may also be used to find specific WLAN hotspots. For mobile operators, the attractiveness of femtocells is to increase coverage and capacity, especially indoors. It may also be a new service and cost reduction opportunity. Cellular operators may also benefit from improved capacity and coverage and may also reduce capital and operating expenses. Femto cells are an alternative way to provide the superiority of Fixed and Mobile Convergence (FMC). The difference is that most FMC architectures require new (dual mode) handsets that operate at existing home/enterprise Wi-Fi access points, while femtocell-based deployments can operate on existing handsets, but require the installation of new access points.

Advantageously, the UE102 has a location determining component 116 to determine when it is closest to the femtocell 108 for which open use authentication can be obtained for the femtocell 108. The Small Base Station (SBS) access data structure 118 is updated and referenced to determine whether the femtocell 108 is on a "white list" 120, having accessible femtocells, a "grey list" 120, having restricted use (e.g., using 911 emergency calls), or a "black list" 122, having inaccessible femtocells, on the "black list" 122, shown by heterogeneous femtocells 123.

The UE102 can identify the associated femto cell 108 via the geographic location message 124 broadcast by the femto cell 108. Advantageously, the mobility tolerance component 126 of the UE102 can identify the associated femtocell 108 even if the femtocell moves slightly and then changes the reported geographic location. Further, the defined coverage area 128 of the femtocell 108 can be area-based or three-dimensional (e.g., spherical, piecewise linear, polygonal). The SBS access data structure 118 may also support a defined coverage area 128 that includes a vertical portion of a building. Alternatively, or in addition to the geographic location message 124, the UE102 may receive the geographic location 130 from the macro base station (eNB) 106. For example, the eNB106 may transmit the neighbor list 132 containing white list, grey list, or black list information. As another example, the UE102 may perform location estimation based on power/direction or based on triangulation performed by one or more enbs 106. Alternatively or additionally, UE102 may receive geographic location 134 based on reception of Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites 136.

By using a DTX/DRX transceiver 131 that transmits and receives intermittently, the UE102 extends its battery service life, supporting improved scanning and acquisition of the femto cell 108. Further, improved scanning and acquisition provides a "select-right" paradigm for acquiring femto cells, including: addressing (address) different usage models supported by multiple femtocells; finding an EV-DO system associated with the femto 1X system; acquiring a femto cell when no macro coverage is available or available macro coverage is limited; EV-DO-only femtocells without a 1X system are supported. Addressing is done for fields required for femto cell related settings. The SBS access data structure provides corresponding support. With the set information, a program in the mobile station (UE)102 can efficiently select the femtocell 108. In particular, the mobile device can be aware of white list and black list information for femto pilot signals in the network. It is recorded to avoid heterogeneous femto cells 123. The setting of the information may be achieved by: one or more over-the-air transmissions from the network radio access; inserting a computer-readable storage medium (e.g., a smart card); installed by an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), or programmed at the point of sale. In an aspect, the smart card may be moved to another UE (e.g., a cellular device, a mobile station, an access terminal, a handset, etc.). In another aspect, the UE may synchronize its updated database information onto a local storage device (e.g., home computer) using a user interface that supports selective manual or network-provided options to maintain a customized SBS (e.g., femto cell) entry (entry). In another aspect, the network may provide an automated backup system over the air to facilitate the transfer of information to another UE or the reinstallation of information on the same UE. In another arrangement, information uploaded to the network may be used to advantage by other devices. Further, the upload may occur when the network makes a request to the device. In a further approach, the database may be structured into a record-based form to push information to the device through multiple network entities and allow the device to add items to the table automatically or via user input.

In one aspect, detection and interruption of system selection loops performed by the UE102 is supported to address the problem of femto cell identification using existing air interface standards that do not explicitly contain a "femto cell" ID broadcast message. The UE102 needs such an ID message to determine the identity of the femto cells 108 and 123 and to check whether the femto cells 108, 123 are blacklisted, whitelisted or not present in any lists. Furthermore, this solution solves the following problems: the network is prevented from ignoring or deleting femto cell identity entries or white/black list entries that the mobile device can learn.

In one particular aspect, latitude and longitude information broadcast by a cell is used to identify whether the cell is a femto cell (as opposed to a macro cell 106). Alternatively or additionally, such information includes geodetic height, self-ground height, or altitude information. Alternatively or additionally, the geographic information is in the format of another geographic coordinate system. The latitude and longitude values may be based on a number of different geodetic systems or reference points, most commonly the WGS84 used by all Global Positioning System (GPS) devices. However, other fiducials are also important because national mapping agencies select these fiducials as the best way to reflect their area and use them in printing maps. The reference given using the latitude and longitude appearing on the map may be different from the reference on the GPS receiver. A simple transformation can usually be used to change the coordinates of the mapping system to another reference point. For example, the ETRF89(GPS) coordinates may be converted to Irish grid coordinates by adding 49 meters in the eastern direction and subtracting 23.4 meters in the northern direction. It is more common to transform one fiducial into any other fiducial using a process known as the Helmert transformation. This involves: the spherical coordinates are converted to cartesian coordinates and seven-parameter conversions (i.e., translation and three-dimensional rotation) are applied and converted back to spherical coordinates. The data projected to the latitude/longitude is often represented as a "geographic coordinate system". For example, if the north american 1983 reference point is used, the latitude/longitude data is labeled "GCS north american 1983".

Such information may be stored in the Mobile Station (MS) or UE102 so that the next time the UE102 observes the same femtocell (identified by latitude, longitude, and possibly other information), the UE102 may identify the femtocell (and immediately determine whether the femtocell is a valid femtocell) -e.g., based on information stored in its blacklist/whitelist. In another scheme, the accuracy of longitude and latitude information is "rounded" or coarsened using a mask length (mask length). For example, 24 bits each may be used. The mask length may indicate which LSBs (least significant bits) should be ignored. Alternatively, the distance may be determined from known femto cells using an applied threshold. The reason why rounding is required is: so that the latitude and longitude information transmitted by the femto cell may vary on the order of microns, centimeters, etc. (e.g., slight shaking of the femto cell 108 on a table as in the case illustrated at 138). In an illustrative scenario, femtocell 108 has GPS functionality, and femtocell 108 broadcasts GPS information. The mask at the UE102 provides a means for helping the UE102 to identify the femto cell 108 with slightly moved latitude/longitude information as still being the same femto cell. In an additional approach, finer identification of the femto cell 108 (e.g., ideally for unique femto cell identification) is supported by an additional femto cell identifier.

The present invention further enhances the following capabilities: manual system selection (e.g., for manual blacklist/whitelist management, manual scanning, or manual scanning of femtocells) is supported with a human-readable femtocell identifier. This is described as: the user interface 140 of the UE102 provides a manual learning (learn) control 142 and an access indicator 144, the access indicator 144 giving feedback on the type of access (e.g., macro access, open femto cell access, restricted access, unknown femto cell requesting an authentication code). Thus, a mobile handset display control function related to femtocell access is provided. Version control (e.g., a Preferred User Zone List (PUZL) database) may be provided for the SBS access data structure. Preferably, database management may be provided to split the content (e.g., user area) into two parts, one for information for network setup and a second for information learned by the mobile device. Support for active call handover may also be provided. In another arrangement, the PUZL projects themselves may form a hierarchical network. Once a user area based system is found, the new system itself indicates that the device belongs to another user area, prompting the search for other femtocells within this other user area. This hierarchical search can then be used when entering a school zone for femtocells with larger footprints to direct devices to specific femtocells in a specific portion of the school zone. Thus, the PUZL database itself and its operation are iterative.

In fig. 2, a method or sequence of operations 200 is provided that illustrates a state of a mobile station or UE moving into the coverage area of a macro system and various small base stations (e.g., femtocells). In state 202, the mobile station is not associated with a macro system or a femto system, performing a macro/femto channel scan based on relative priority (block 204). If, as shown at 206, the mobile station discovers a femto system, a state 208 is entered in which the mobile station is associated with a femto system, which in the illustration is the highest priority system (block 210). If, as shown at 212, the MS misses the femto coverage area, the mobile station returns to state 202. If the mobile station subsequently discovers the macro system based on relative priority, as shown at 214, then state 216 is entered where the mobile station is associated with the macro system but is not located in any user area. In an exemplary scenario, costs may be reduced by finding an open user area, so the mobile station continues to identify one or more user areas associated with the macro-SID from the PUZL database (block 218). Based on the definition of the finer scanning area (e.g., based on RF coverage area and/or geographic based items), the Mobile Station (MS) is checked to see if it has entered the user area (block 220).

If the mobile station enters a particular user area, as shown at 222, a state 224 is entered in which the mobile station is associated with a macro system that is identified as being in one or more user areas. The mobile station performs a power/computational efficient scan to find the femto system associated with the user area (block 226) and continuously checks to see if the trigger conditions for femto system scanning can still be met (block 228). For example, the frequency of checks may be high because the mobile station desires to acquire a preferred femto system. Conversely, at block 220, the mobile station's mobility is checked relatively infrequently. If the mobile station discovers a femto system as shown at 230, then state 208 is entered. Otherwise, if the mobile station leaves the user area as indicated at 232, state 216 is entered.

In fig. 3, a method or sequence 300 of operations for selective, power efficient small base station discovery and acquisition is provided. In block 302, the mobile station is in a power-off or power-saving DTX/DRX state. At block 304, it is determined whether update information for a small base station (e.g., a femto system) is available. If available, the femto system information may be used to update a white list, a black list, or a grey list (e.g., limited use or high cost use) (block 306). The update information may be set according to a macro base station neighbor list (block 308). Alternatively or additionally, the update may be initiated upon user instruction or after receiving user input (block 310). Alternatively or additionally, femto system parameters may be discovered at the time of scanning (such as by detecting an identification broadcast) (block 312). The latter may facilitate selective scanning and acquisition based on RF. Broadcast signals are typically available so that intermittent scanning may detect femto systems.

If no update is needed in block 304, or after the operations in block 306 are completed, further monitoring of the current location may be performed for geographic based scanning and acquisition (block 314). For example, the macro system may provide a location or otherwise be used to determine a location (e.g., direction/strength of signals or triangulation) associated with a location located in the area of the femto system (block 316). Alternatively or additionally, the femto system may broadcast usable geographic coordinates (block 318). For example, a heterogeneous femtocell may provide a geographic update, although not available for access. Alternatively or additionally, other sources of location information, such as a Global Positioning System (GPS), may be used (block 320).

In block 322, a determination is made as to whether scanning is warranted, such as scanning due to a change in location or RF-based triggering. For these purposes, the scan may receive sufficient identification information from the femto cell (block 324). For the example where the identification information is the geographic location of the femto cell (block 326), a location movement tolerance may be used so that slight changes in location do not affect the identification (block 328). This feature maintains ease of deployment, as the end user can place the femto cell without having to manually specify a unique identifier or manually enter a geographic location (e.g., latitude/longitude). The location information may be utilized to determine the boundaries of the coverage (e.g., circle, cylinder, piecewise linear, polygon, sphere, etc.) so the coverage may include a vertical latitude (e.g., a floor of a building) (block 330). The obtained identification of the femto cell may further be communicated to the user, such as presenting an icon or text similar to the roaming indication, so that the user is aware of the usage restrictions/charges (block 332).

In fig. 4, a data structure 400 illustrates a preferred acquisition of femto cell information to enhance scanning and access, wherein the data structure 400 has a user area data structure 402, the user area data structure 402 may be set up and maintained by the macro network for a mobile station or UE. For each UE, a UZ _ TEMP _ susbsc (user area temporary subscription) field 404 may be used. A UZ _ ORIG _ ONLY flag 406 set by the base station accordingly is used to indicate whether the mobile station is allowed to initiate a call ONLY if the mobile station is located within the service area of the currently designated user area. If initiation of a call is allowed ONLY in a designated user area, UZ _ ORIG _ ONLY ═ 1 "; otherwise, UZ _ ORIG _ ONLY ═ 0. The MANUAL UPDATE ALLOWED flag 408 indicates whether MANUAL UPDATEs are ALLOWED in this database. This option allows the user to add records to the database when available, and allows the user to make changes or deletes records that the user has added to the database. A MANUAL _ ACQ _ ALLOWED flag 409 indicates whether the user is ALLOWED to manually scan and acquire a particular femto cell specified in the femto database. PUZL _ PRL _ RELATIVE _ PRIORITY field 410 supports the first power increase of the PUZL-based Enhanced System Selection (ESS). The PUZL _ PRL _ RELATIVE _ PRIORITY field indicates whether femto scanning based on femto cell entries in the database is of a higher PRIORITY than macro cell scanning based on macro cell entries in the database. The PUZL _ PREF _ ONLY flag 412 is set to "1" to indicate that when the mobile station performs a scan based on PUZL, the mobile station is restricted to capturing ONLY valid systems identified in PUZL. When set to "0," this field indicates that the mobile station can acquire both valid systems identified in the PUZL and other systems not identified by the PUZL when the mobile station performs a scan based on the PUZL. The ENABLE _ PUZL _ IN _ ROAMING field 414 is used to allow the network to ENABLE/disable PUZL when the MS is IN a ROAMING state.

The following fields are set/maintained for each femtocell identified in the user area 402. The UZ _ INFO _ FLAG field 416 indicates whether the femto cell belongs to the general white list or black list for insertion/update/deletion of declarations. In one aspect, the UZ _ PRIORITY field 422 may indicate that the MS may use one UZ at a given time. In another approach, given the possibility of UZ overlap (e.g., total UZ and office UZ), a generalized definition allows multiple UZ to operate together. For example, a UZ having the same UZ _ PRIORITY field 422 may operate synchronously. Thus, it should be understood that in the case of an overlapping UZ, the MS attempts to camp on the UZ with the highest priority. When overlapping UZs have the same priority, the MS may camp on either UZ. A new field or flag (not shown) may indicate: whether to clear items learned by the mobile device in an SBS access data structure (e.g., PUZL), whether to clear items learned by mobile devices other than PUZL, or to indicate periodic "flush" time periods between items learned by the mobile device. Additional settings may introduce femto IDs, redesign the femto network, and allow the network to retrieve femto statistics based on MS parameter retrieval. The UZ _ ID field 418 is an identification number of the user area. The identification number is used over the air interface to identify the user area on the network and the mobile station. The UZ _ SID field 420 is a user area system identifier, and when UZ _ INFO _ FLAG is set to "1" and UZ _ IN _ HOME is not specified, UZ _ SID is set to the System Identifier (SID) associated with the user area ID. Otherwise, it is set to "0". The user area ID and user area SID values together provide a unique identifier for the user area. The UZ _ ID _ SUFFIX field (not shown) is used to indicate whether the UZ is network set or mobile aware. In one aspect, the UZ _ ID and UZ _ SID uniquely identify the UZ. By using the UZ _ ID _ SUFFIX field, UZ can be uniquely identified by UZ _ ID, UZ _ SID, and UZ _ ID _ presented. Thus, it should be appreciated that in one aspect, a device is associated with a single system on which multiple user areas may obtain previews while residing. The user area priority can be used to determine the order in which devices scan for available femtocells based on the femto parameters provided for each user area. When a device finds a femto cell, the device disregards which user area parameter it will use, and the device uses the femto cell directly.

The UZ _ NAME field 424 is designated when UZ _ INFO _ FLAG is set to "1", otherwise it is ignored. In a mobile station, a field of up to 12 characters may be used to indicate the name of the mobile station's currently customized user area. When UZ _ INFO _ FLAG is set to "1" and UZ _ SID is set to "0", UZ _ IN _ HOME field 426 is specified. Otherwise the field is ignored. This field is set to 1 when the UZ applies to all homes or home equivalent systems. Otherwise, it is set to "0". When UZ _ INFO _ FLAG is set to "1", ACTIVE _ FLAG field 428 is designated, otherwise it is ignored. When this field is set to "1", the mobile station must register when entering or leaving the particular user area. ACTIVE _ FLAG ═ 1 ", if allowed; otherwise, ACTIVE _ FLAG is "0".

The PRIORITY _ CONTROL field 430 is a 3-bit field that CONTROLs the user's ability to alter the PUZL PRIORITY using the user interface of the mobile device, such as not allowing changes or allowing manual changes for manual selection in the presented user area. Upon leaving the user zone, the mobile device will return to the original PUZL priority. In another example, manual and temporal changes may be allowed, wherein the user is also allowed to change the priority of the PUZL for the user zone. The change remains active until the next power reduction. A REG _ REQ _ FLAG field 432 is set to indicate that the mobile device registers when the mobile device requests a femto cell. REG _ REQ _ FLAG also indicates that when a mobile device associates with a femto network, it should register when handing over from a PN to another PN, especially when handing over between femtocells belonging to the same SID/NID, registration is also required.

When the NOTIFICATION _ FLAG field 434 is set to '1' and the mobile station moves within the coverage area of the user area, the FLAG may be used to indicate that the mobile station is to register when it acquires an associated system within the user area. This field also indicates that when the mobile device is associated with a system associated with the subscriber zone, the mobile device will register after a handoff from a PN to another PN regardless of whether the target system belongs to the same/different SID/NID. The UZ _ REVISION field 436 indicates the current REVISION to the item in PUZL. For broadcast user areas, the mobile station uses the value of this field to determine whether the network also has current information about the particular user area. The UZ _ TYPE field 438 is used to distinguish among the following TYPEs of user areas, such as: UZ _ TYPE _ 1: based on broadcast-RF coverage; UZ _ TYPE _ 2: broadcast-Geo-based; UZ _ TYPE _ 3: mobile-specific-based on RF coverage-determined overhead parameters; UZ _ TYPE _ 4: mobile private-Geo-based; UZ _ TYPE _ 5: mobile dedicated-Geo-independent carrier based; and UZ _ TYPE _ 6: mobile-specific-based on RF coverage and GEO-independent carriers. The CRC field 440 is a cyclic redundancy check for validity testing.

Additional femtocell system information 442 is accessed based on the UZ _ TYPE field 438. In the illustrative version, the information 442 includes a REC _ LENGTH field 444, the REC _ LENGTH field 444 being set to the total LENGTH of the record in bytes (inclusive of this field). The SYSTEM _ INFO _ LENGTH field 446 is set to the byte LENGTH of the SYSTEM information contained in the record. This covers all fields starting from this field to the assigned _ EVDO field (inclusive). The SYS _ TYPE field 448 indicates the system TYPE (e.g., 1x or EV-DO). PREF _ NEG field 450 indicates that the current record is set to a system indicating that the mobile device should not associate with the system. This field is used to specify whether the record is in a blacklist or whitelist, respectively. The mobile device should not connect or be allowed to connect with the system indicated by the record. A SID (system identifier) field 452 indicates association with a femto user area. The NID _ COUNT field 454 is an NID COUNT in the SID associated with the femto subscriber zone. The NID field 456 is set to the Network Identifier (NID) of the individual RF carrier. The BASE _ SUBNET _ ID _ COUNT field 458 is used to set a COUNT of BASE _ IDs of individual RF carriers when the system type is a 1xRTT system. When the system type is a 1xEV-DO system, the BASE _ SUBNET _ ID _ COUNT field is set to the COUNT of the SUBNET _ ID of the independent RF carrier. These identifiers are provided by the BASE _ ID or SUBNET _ ID field 460. The PN _ COUNT field 462 provides the number of PNs (pseudo random noise offsets) associated with the femto user area. The PRI _ NGHBR _ PN field 464 is a set of PNs associated with a femto user area. The BAND _ CLASS _ COUNT field 466 provides the number of BAND types associated with a femto user area. BAND _ CLASS467 is set to a BAND type number corresponding to the frequency allocation of the channel specified by the record. The NGHBR _ FREQ _ COUNT field 468 is set to the frequency number of independent RF carriers. The NGHBR _ FREQ field 469 is a set of frequencies associated with a femto user area. The ASSOCIATED _ EVDO field 470 indicates the UZ ASSOCIATED with the 1xEV-DO system and is further set in the femto database to specify the 1X system and its ASSOCIATED EV-DO system. The RF/specific geographic type field 472 defines the attributes of the coverage area.

In particular, additional information 474 is set/maintained, the additional information 474 linking to the RF/specific geographic type field 472, such as: NID _ COUNT field 476, NID _ COUNT field 478, BASE _ SUBNET _ ID _ COUNT field 480, UZ _ BASE _ SUBNET _ ID _ FLAG field 482, and UZ _ BASE _ SUBNET _ ID field 484 for RF-based information. Alternatively or additionally, the additional information 474 may include a GEO _ TYPE ('000') field 486, an ANCHOR _ position field 488, an ANCHOR _ position field 490, an ANCHOR _ HEIGHT _ MID _ PT field 492, an ANCHOR _ HEIGHT _ MAG field 494, an ANCHOR _ RADIUS field 496, and an HYSTERESIS for geographic information based field 498. However, it should be understood that according to the present invention, a preferred node (e.g., small base station, femto cell, pico cell, hierarchical cell structure) can be scanned even if no location information (user area) is available. For example, PUZL parameters may be used when a device is unable to locate a macro service based on a set PRL. In an exemplary embodiment, the preference flag may be set to allow the device to first view PUZL-based items before attempting to use PRL, and vice versa.

In other aspects, additional fields (not shown) MCC and MNC may be used to help identify femtocells between countries and networks for more comprehensive identifiers. The EXTENDED BASE ID (i.e., femto cell ID) may be an optional field that uses an "include" flag used in conjunction with the w/SID/NID/BASE ID to uniquely identify the femto cell. This field helps the MS to blacklist or whitelist femto cells and helps the MS to perform idle-handoff. The extended BASE _ ID may be broadcast in an overhead signaling message using the BASE station. BASE _ SUBNET _ ID _ TEXT may be an optional field that uses an "include" flag that serves as a human-readable femto cell identifier for white/black list management by the user. Likewise, it can be set as a human readable text string to implement base station identification to assist the user in manual scanning and UZ management. MSC _ ID and CELL _ ID may be used in conjunction with femto CELL ID to facilitate active call submission and femto CELL identification. These three fields to be broadcast by the femto cell would be sent to the source sector to prepare the femto cell backhaul for active call handover. PREFERRED _ UZ _ IND may be used to indicate a preferred femtocell (e.g., a "self-service" airtime femtocell). PREFERRED _ UZ _ IND may also be set to a value indicating a preferred UZ rating. The UZ _ LIST _ ID may be used to identify an SBS access data structure (e.g., PUZL), which is similar to the PR _ LIST _ ID used to identify PR. For example, the UZ _ LIST _ ID field allows the network to determine the version of the PUZL before attempting to update the PUZL. The mobile station may set the value of this field to a preferred user area list identification value assigned to a preferred user area list (PUZLs-p) by the base station.

The MS may manage the display of identifiers about femto cells on a display screen of the MS using a UZ _ DISP _ IND field, which is similar to ROAM _ DISP _ IND used to manage roaming indicators. For example, the UZ _ DISP _ IND may indicate that the MS is camped on the UZ (or femto cell), a signaling associated UZ (or femto cell), an open associated UZ (or femto cell), or a preferred UZ (femto cell). For example, the absence of a femto cell icon may indicate signal strength associated with a macro cell, while the presence of a femto cell icon indicates open access. Alternatively or additionally, one or more femto cell icons, text, images, etc. may provide visual indications as to access class and cost of use (such as whether an unlimited use billing scheme is present). Further, an indication may be given that the heterogeneous or restricted femto cell may receive an emergency call or employ usage cost for open access.

The mobile station should set this field to a value for the operation of displaying a default UZ identifier (such as on, off, or blinking) on the mobile station's display. Provision is made to prevent the limit size of the UZ from exceeding the limit. The Geo _ Type _ Specific _ Fields _ Included field may be used for Geo-based and/or RF-overlay based UZ definitions.

From the foregoing, it should be appreciated that the present invention can be implemented not only on cdma2000 systems, but also on other cellular systems such as UMTS, WiMAX, etc., to improve the scanning and acquisition of different types of femtocells with different usage patterns (e.g., personal, community, and network with hotspot models). For example, the UE may find a femto EV-DO system associated with a femto 1X system, may acquire a femto cell when no macro coverage is available or when only limited macro coverage is available, and may support an EV-DO only femto cell without a 1X system. The personal hotspot model may be used for femtocells deployed in private homes and small home offices. Each femto cell only allows access to a small number of specific users. The community hotspot model may be a pico or femto cell deployed in an enterprise, campus, apartment building, etc., such as a network with a few pico or femto cells concentrated in a small geographic area that only allows access to a specific group of users with little variation in that area. A distributed "hotspot network" model may be a geographically distributed network of pico or femto cells deployed in chain hotels, airports, coffee shops, etc. Alternatively, a network of pico cells or femto cells may allow access to a large number of users not limited to any one geographical location.

A mobile station may be associated with multiple femto cells. For EV-DO systems associated with femtocells, femtocell-related provisioning (provisioning) may cause mobile devices to acquire femto 1X systems and find associated femto EV-DO systems. For EV-DO only femtocells, femtocell-related settings may enable system selection of EV-DO only femtocells. In one variation, the macro 1X system may support circuit switched services and EV-DO services on EV-DO only femtocells. In another variation, consider the following case: when the EV-DO femtocell/system is capable of supporting all services and the mobile station does not need to be associated with the 1X system. The system selection procedure may allow EV-DO only femtocells without requiring the mobile station to first associate with the 1X system. Consider further the deployment of femto cells for the following cases: the macro coverage area is poor or no macro coverage area. When a macro coverage area is not available, a search procedure in the mobile station may activate scanning based on femto cell related settings.

It should be understood that the SBS access database (e.g., PUZL) may be of a size that enables itself to be deployed on a pluggable computer readable storage medium (e.g., R-UIM (removable subscriber identity module)/CSIM (CDMA subscriber identity module) card). The initiation of the setup/search is dependent on the capabilities of the mobile station. In a further aspect, the capacity may be selected by a user, such as selecting only one user area type for the "RF coverage and GEO-independent carrier based" approach to femto system related support. In another example, the coverage area may be limited to a particular shape (e.g., a circular area-based mechanism for GEO-based scanning). Fields can be byte aligned to simplify syntax parsing at the expense of increasing database size. In another aspect, a record length may be added to allow the mobile device to read all records from the R-UIM/CSIM card and perform syntax parsing thereafter.

A Small Base Station (SBS) access data structure may be defined that can handle both small base station items set by the macro network and small base station items set by the user. Both RF coverage and GEO-based items are provided to support well-tuned areas where mobile devices scan channels where femtocells are deployed as indicated by the identity. Radio Frequency (RF) coverage based refers to restricting an area scanned for a femto system using SID/NID/BASE _ ID/SECTOR _ ID fields of a macro network. GEO-based refers to using the LAT/LONG field transmitted by the base station when determining the area to scan for the femto system. The PUZL _ P _ REV may be incremented to support changes in the new version addressing backwards compatibility.

The PREF ONLY field may be added to restrict the mobile station from acquiring ONLY the identified system. If the flag is set, the mobile station ignores all other systems when the mobile station performs scanning. Thus, the scheme can finely adjust the area that the mobile device uses to scan the femto system. A very tight search area may result in efficient battery usage. The user area in the macro system may refine the adjustment information.

For both RF coverage-based and GEO-based searches, GEO-based searches may include altitude information to address floors in a building. The UZ _ NID _ COUNT/UZ _ NID field may be a set of NIDs of the macro network that are considered to belong to this subscriber area. The UZ _ BASE _ SECTOR _ ID _ COUNT may be a COUNT of defined BASE _ IDs or SECTOR _ IDs. The UZ _ BASE _ SECTOR _ ID _ FLAG may identify whether the current record is the BASE _ ID for a 1xRTT system or the SECTOR _ ID for a 1xEV-DO system. The user area BASE _ ID (UZ _ BASE _ ID) is a set of BASE _ IDs of macro networks that are considered to belong to the user area. The UZ _ NID and UZ _ BASE _ ID may be defined to fine tune the area in the macro network that the mobile device uses to scan PUZL items. This is useful when the macro network does not broadcast the LAT/LONG field. Information associated with a plurality of macro-BTSs (base transceiver stations) is identified so that the mobile station can use the appropriate information based on its direction of entry into the femto cell coverage area. In addition, the mobile station may use information on multiple BTSs. The ANCHOR _ HEIGHT field may be set to a HEIGHT in meters above the WGS-84 reference ellipsoid, which may range from-500 meters to 15883 meters. This field is intended to address the following high-rise buildings: the mobile station has the same LAT/LONG as the femto cell but is out of femto coverage. The hysteresis value may be expressed in units of 0.25 seconds. A logarithm is defined as '1', and 4 bits are used to express a power. This provides hysteresis values of 1, 2, 4, 8, 128x0.25 seconds. The hysteresis value delays exit from the user area by a distance offset determined by the hysteresis value. The entry point to the user area is either a radius value (horizontally) or an anchor height value (vertically).

Blacklisting is done for a particular system or cell that the MS does not access, and a "blacklist" item can be associated with a particular data structure item, such as a set of PN offsets for a given carrier, with the option of listing the respective PN offsets or a specified range. The blacklist entry may include a set of NIDs for a given SID with the option of listing each NID or using a bit mask. The blacklist item may include a set of BASE _ IDs with an option to list the respective BASE _ IDs or to use a bitmask. The blacklist entries may include a set of sector IDs with the option of listing each sector ID or using a bit mask. The blacklist may be used to assist in access control, such as blocking handsets of non-femtocell users from selecting a femtocell. As another example, the blacklist may be used for the following cases: it is not suitable for the case of using the SBS access data structure item which is very strictly specified. Blacklists can be used for refinement of broadly defined items (e.g., for distributed networks of community hotspots and hotspot models).

Various settings cause the mobile station to indicate its total data structure storage limit (e.g., the size of the R-UIM) to the network based on existing fields. The mobile station may report the size of memory it is capable of handling. The memory arrangement in the R-UIM card may solve the problem of extra space for temporary storage to be updated before permanent storage. The R-UIM may align bytes of individual records, may allow for over-the-air download procedures to add/delete/update individual records, and may add integrity checks to individual records and/or the entire table. The R-UIM may allow a femto cell item to be specified in a database without having to specify associated macro information, and may have a specific record length of each record, so that it is possible to easily navigate between records. The R-UIM may provide a link in each record so that a desired portion of the record may be simply accessed. Restrictions may be imposed on the network to set up SBS access data structures (e.g., PUZLs) based on mobile station capabilities. For example, the R-UIM may allow the mobile station to indicate its capability to support various user zone types. For example, for support with respect to femto cells, the mobile station may select only one user area type: the "RF coverage and GEO-independent carrier based" approach. The restrictions may cause the mobile device to indicate its capability to support only a circle-based mechanism for GEO-based scanning. In addition, the physical and data settings may clearly separate the information set and the information learned by the MS.

In fig. 5A, an operational method or sequence 500 for a mobile station or UE to perform power optimized small base station scanning and acquisition is shown. As shown at 502, for the first power increase and having a Preferred Roaming List (PRL) and a small base station access data structure (e.g., PUZL-preferred user area list), it is determined whether the PUZL entry is prioritized above the PRL entry (block 504). If the PUZL entry is higher priority than the PRL entry, the MS scans the band types and channels defined in the PUZL database (block 506). If a valid femto system is found (block 508), the MS camps on the femto system (block 510). Otherwise, if the mobile system finds a macro system (block 512), the mobile station continues to scan for available femto systems (block 514). If the femto system cannot be found (block 515), a Preferred Roaming List (PRL) procedure is used to scan for the macro system (block 516), otherwise, the MS camps on the found femto system (block 517). If a macro system is found (block 518), the mobile station camps on the macro system (block 519), otherwise the mobile station announces absence of service (block 520).

Continuing in FIG. 5B, if at block 504 the PRL is better than PUZL, the MS scans the band types and channels defined in the PRL database (block 521). If a macro system is found (block 522), the MS resides in the macro system (block 524). If a macro system cannot be found in the PRL database (block 525), the MS scans the band types and channels defined in the PUZL database (block 526). If a femto system is found (block 528), the MS camps on the femto system (block 530), otherwise, the mobile station declares that it is not in service (block 532).

If the mobile station is idle for a period of time and then has an increased power requirement (block 534), the process proceeds as previously described, but the most recently scanned channel is not scanned again (block 536).

The method or sequence 500 continues by determining whether the MS is resident at a femto system for which the PUZL database has associated macro information (block 538). For example, when the MS leaves the coverage area of the femto system, the PUZL database facilitates identifying macro systems that are considered sub-optimal systems in the same geographic area of the PRL entry (block 540). Otherwise, if the MS is resident on a system in the PUZL database that does not have macro information (e.g., the macro system is not serving femto systems in the area), the MS will initiate scanning based on relative priorities between and within the PRL list and the PUZL database (block 542).

If it is determined that the system in which the mobile station resides is defined in the PRL but not in the PUZL database, or that there are no items for the system in the PRL and PUZL (block 544), the MS desires to come within the coverage of the femto system defined in the PUZL database (block 546).

If not resident in any system, the MS does not announce that it is not a service area (QoS) before scanning for PRL and PUZL based items (block 548). While in the OoS state, the MS scans for MRU, PUZL, and PRL based items at desired time intervals according to the priority/enablement settings (block 550).

The white/black list set by the network may be a policy to deploy femto cells. In some aspects, the PUZL database is not utilized to set up user-specific information, but rather the information is implemented on the MS. It should be understood, however, that in some instances the network may be aware of the femto cell through the backhaul network and set up specific items appropriate for a particular end user. For example, the PUZL architecture allows for the partial setting of specific user information with different entities in the network that are used to provide the database portion. For example, the smallest downloadable entity may be a user area record. One or more records may be downloaded with a single instruction. For example, the macro network pushes information based on the general policy, which the MS uses to find the desired femto cell; once the specific user information is on the femto cell, the femto cell may push the specific user information to the MS. It should be noted that when the network sends a PUZL configuration request, the MS may include all records pushed from the network, regardless of the entity downloading the information to the MS. It should also be noted that the MS may not include information learned by the MS in the PUZL configuration response message.

In a first use case, consider a case where an operator deploys femto cells in a particular market. The MS is provisioned with a macro user area (SID/NID) and associated femto cell deployment system information. The MS uses this information to scan for available femto cells, which may use manual or automatic scanning. The white list information is set so that the mobile station determines femto channels and system information that allow the MS to perform explicit scanning for femto cells. With this information, the MS can clearly distinguish between the macro cell and the femto cell as part of its scanning. The network may inform the MS of femto parameters used in different markets. When the MS is to perform a scan looking for femto cells, the white list information, in conjunction with the setting of the PUZL _ PREF _ ONLY flag, allows the network to control the area.

In a second use case, consider a case where the operator wants to restrict the use of one specific (home) femtocell by the user. As a first option, the network provides a black list that prohibits access to all femto cells. The network pushes a record to the MS to identify the femto cell to which the MS is allowed access. The white list entries are considered as holes that penetrate into the black list filter. It should be noted that the white list items may be composed by the user without a network.

In a third use case, consider the case of overlapping user areas. As another option, the network provides a black list that prohibits access to all femto cells. The network pushes a record to the MS to identify the femto cell to which the MS is allowed access. The white list entries are considered as holes that penetrate into the black list filter. It should be noted that the whitelist items may be composed by the user without a network.

In fig. 6A, a method or sequence of operations 600 for detecting and interrupting a system selection loop is provided, wherein the access type is processed. There are a number of situations where looping occurs, which can result in disruption of service, unnecessary redirection, and access attempts. Preferably, such events are detected in the MS and the blacklist of the system is expanded until the situation in the network changes, which ends with a failure to acquire the (femto cell) network. The change in condition may be a change in PN offset in the network or a significant change in pilot strength of the currently associated PN offset.

In block 602, access to restricted associations is determined using a beacon method. If the MS finds a heterogeneous restricted beacon/femto cell through idle Handoff (HO) (block 604), the MS avoids the available channel for a period of time (e.g., 30 seconds). The MS scans the channels (MRU, acquisition table entries ordered by the current GEO) avoiding the available channels encountered by the heterogeneous femto cell (block 606). If a valid system is found that does not redirect the MS to a heterogeneous femto channel (block 608), the MS camps on it (block 610). Then, for a higher priority macro system in the same channel as a heterogeneous restricted femtocell, the MS will run a BSR every three minutes (block 612), and return if a heterogeneous femtocell is encountered again. If at block 608, the MS does not find a valid system that does not direct the MS to a channel of the heterogeneous femto system, the MS will show OoS. After the OoS timer expires (e.g., 30 seconds), another attempt may be made (block 614).

At block 616, access with restricted association is determined using a neighbor list approach. The PN of the beacon/femto cell is listed as an OFS neighbor (block 618). The mobile station may find the femto cell via a beacon or directly via OFS scanning (block 620). If it satisfies the idle HO condition, the MS attempts to acquire the femto cell (block 622). When the registration of the MS is denied, the MS avoids the redirection (beacon) and femto channels for 30 seconds (block 624). The MS returns to operating on the macro channel executing the OFS (block 626). When the MS encounters moderate RF conditions, the MS performs OFS every 20 seconds; when the MS encounters poor RF conditions on the macro network, the OFS is executed once per SCI operation (block 628). The MS periodically performs this loop as long as RF conditions in the macro network remain moderate or poor (block 630). In block 632, it is determined that access has been made according to the open association. Assume that the SID/NID of the femto cell is not listed in the PRL; then the MS attempts to find other systems listed in the PRL when the MS associates with the femto cell (block 634). Although this exemplary embodiment ignores SID/NIDs of femto cells listed by the PRL, it should be understood that in some instances, based on PUZL entries, devices can still find femto cells even though femto SID/NIDs are defined in the PRL. This entry should preferably be used when listed in the PRL so that the BSR can be avoided when camping in a femto cell.

Next, in fig. 6B, the MS scans the other channels for systems and moves to that channel unless the CCLM (CDMA channel list message) has not moved it back to that femto channel (block 636). When the MS is located on other macro frequencies, the MS will run a BSR on the channel of the macro system that happens to deploy the femto cell, to which the MS will move due to its strongest pilot signal (block 638).

By blacklisting the disparate femtocell entry encountered, the Mobile Station (MS) may provide support for an interrupt loop, which may prevent the MS from attempting to access the femtocell again (block 640). This means that: if the MS does not find a valid system in another channel and the MS is not allowed to camp on the channel of the femto cell that has the strongest pilot, the MS will show OOS and will then perform the OOS procedure. The MS may provide support by detecting a beacon redirection of the alien femto cell (block 642). If such a redirection is detected, the MS blacklists both the beacon (hop) and the femto cell because the beacon always forces a redirection to a heterogeneous femto cell (block 644). This avoids disruption of system selection by both beacons (hops) and heterogeneous femtocells. Further, if the mobile device knows whether the femto cell (set blacklisted) is using beacons and additionally the mobile device also knows that the beacon is a hopping beacon, the MS knows that it must avoid all channels on which the hopping beacon will operate (block 646). The MS determines the channel on which the MS hopped based on the PUZL record indicating the channel (block 648). This may also be used for white list entries in the PUZL, avoiding OFS scanning knowing that the MS will encounter a beacon on any of the channels on which it is operating (block 650). As previously described, it should be understood that when using PUZL-based methods, a device may search for an actual femtocell, or set up with general parameters sufficient to find a beacon of a femtocell that can redirect the device to an actual femtocell channel of operation.

Fig. 7 illustrates an exemplary wireless communication system 700 configured to support multiple users in which various embodiments and aspects of the invention may be implemented. As shown in fig. 7, by way of example, a system 700 provides communication for a plurality of cells 702, such as macro cells 702a-702g, each of which is served by a corresponding Access Point (AP)704, such as APs 704a-704g, which may also be referred to as AN Access Node (AN). Each cell may also be divided into one or more sectors. A plurality of access terminals, ATs 706 (also referred to interchangeably as User Equipment (UE)), including ATs 706a-706k are distributed throughout the system. Each AT706 can communicate with one or more APs 704 on a Forward Link (FL) and/or a Reverse Link (RL) AT a given moment, e.g., depending on whether the AT is active and in soft handoff. The wireless communication system 700 may provide service over a geographic area covering a large area, e.g., the macro cells 702a-702g may cover multiple neighborhoods.

Fig. 8 illustrates an exemplary communication system that enables deployment of access point base stations in a network environment. As shown in fig. 8, system 800 includes a plurality of access point base stations or home node B units (HNBs) (e.g., HNBs 810) each installed in a corresponding small-scale network environment (e.g., in one or more user residences 830) and configured to serve associated and disparate User Equipment (UE) 820. Each HNB810 is further coupled to the internet 840 and mobile operator core network 850 by a DSL router (not shown) or, alternatively, a cable modem (not shown), a wireless link, or other means of internet connection.

Although the embodiments described herein use 3GPP terminology, it should be understood that the embodiments may be applied to 3GPP (Rel99, Rel5, Rel6, Rel7) technologies, as well as 3GPP2(1xRTT, 1xEV-DORel0, RevA, RevB) technologies and other known and associated technologies. In the embodiments described herein, the owner of the HNB810 subscribes to mobile services (e.g., 3G mobile services) provided by the mobile operator core network 850, and the UE820 is capable of operating in a macro cellular environment and in a residential small-range network environment.

Fig. 9 illustrates an example mobile device for cellular access in connection with a femtocell (fBS) network in accordance with one or more aspects. The mobile device 900 includes: at least one antenna 902 (e.g., a transport receiver or group of such receivers including an input interface) for receiving a signal (e.g., containing information about a data link between the first fBS and the mobile device 900), and at least one receiver 904 for performing typical operations (e.g., filtering, amplifying, downconverting, etc.) on the received signal. In particular, as described herein, the antenna 902 may receive information from one or more cellular base stations or fbss (not shown) to join the communication link of the device. For example, the antenna 902 may receive information identifying, such as a geographic location, from the fBS or cellular network component.

The antenna 902 and the receiver 904 can also be coupled to a demodulator 906 that demodulates received symbols and provides them to a transmit processor 908 for evaluation. Transport processor 908 can be a processor dedicated to analyzing information received by antenna 902 and/or generating information for transmission by a transmitter 920. Additionally, transmit processor 908 may control one or more components of mobile device 900 and/or analyze information received by antenna 902, generate information for transmission by a transmitter 920, and control one or more components of mobile device 900. Further, the transport processor 908 can access an application module 912 stored in the device memory 910 to execute instructions to determine proximity-based triggering and scanning for a preferred small base station (e.g., femtocell). The mobile device 900 may additionally include a device memory 910, the device memory 910 operatively coupled to the transport processor 908 and may store, among other things, data to be transmitted and received data. Additionally, memory 910 may store application modules for mobile device 900. Two such modules stored in the device memory 910 may be a select SBS discovery application module 912 and an application module 914 (see below).

It will be appreciated that the data store (e.g., device memory 910) described herein can be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or can include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. By way of example, and not limitation, nonvolatile memory can include Read Only Memory (ROM), Programmable ROM (PROM), Electrically Programmable ROM (EPROM), Electrically Erasable PROM (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory can include Random Access Memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. By way of example and not limitation, RAM may be provided in a variety of ways, such as: synchronous ram (sram), dynamic ram (dram), synchronous dram (sdram), double data rate sdram (ddrsdram), enhanced sdram (esdram), synchronous link dram (sldram), and direct rambus ram (drram). The memory (e.g., device memory 910) of the subject systems and methods is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these memory types, as well as any other suitable accessor types.

An application module 912 may be stored in the device memory 908 and configured to generate instructions for the fBS to report its geographic location or beacon and to set up a selective SDS discovery database. For example, application module 912 can access data stored in memory 908 and identify a fBS associated with mobile device 900. The device memory 910 also stores an optional SBS discovery application module 914. The mobile device 900 further includes: a modulator 918, a transmitter 920, the transmitter 920 configured to transmit a signal (e.g., including a transmission data packet) to, for instance, a base station (e.g., a fBS or a group of fbss), an access point, another mobile device, a remote agent, etc. Although the application module 912 and the transfer mapping application module 914 are illustrated as being separate from the transfer processor 908, it is to be understood that the application module 912 and the transfer mapping application module 914 may be part of the processor 908 or processors (not shown), for example, stored in a cache memory.

Fig. 10 is an illustration of a system 1000 that enables a mobile device 1004 to connect with a cellular network (not shown) through a network with fBS devices. System 1000 includes a fBS1002 (e.g., an access point, etc.), fBS1002 having a receiver component 1010, receiver component 1010 receiving signals from mobile device 1004 or from other fBS devices (not shown) via a plurality of receive antennas 1006. fBS1002 further comprises a transmitter component 1026, the transmitter component 1026 transmitting signals to mobile device 1004 (or other fBS device) via one or more transmit antennas 1008. Receiver component 1010 can receive information from receive antennas 1006 and can further comprise a signal receiver (not shown) that receives uplink data transmitted by the mobile device. It is to be appreciated that both the receiver component 1010 and the transmitter component 1026 can comprise a WLAN, BPL, ethernet, umts tdd, or a WLAN with umts tdd spectrum communication capability to interact with mobile devices or other fBS devices.

Receiver component 1010 is operatively associated with a demodulator 1012 that demodulates received information. Demodulated symbols can be analyzed by a network processor 1022, and the network processor 1022 can generate additional signals (e.g., in the form of transmission and/or routing instructions) that are modulated by a modulator 1024 and transmitted by a transmitter component 1026. Further, the network processor 1022 may be coupled to the memory 1020. Memory 1020 stores information related to enabling wired and/or wireless communications, information related to application modules 1014 and 1016 for maintaining the fBS network and routing information between fBS devices and/or connected mobile devices, and/or any other suitable information related to performing the various operations and functions set forth herein (see below).

Network processor 1022 can route at least a portion of traffic associated with the communication link between fBS1002 and mobile device 1004 to a neighboring fBS (not shown) for communication to a cellular network (e.g., via a direct connection to the cellular network, or via the internet). Further, network processor 1022 is configured to directly communicate traffic associated with fBS1002 (e.g., generated by a predetermined mobile device or group of mobile devices) to a cellular network over an IP upload link 1030 (e.g., a DSL connection, such as ADSL, VDSL, HDSL, etc., cable IP connection, BPL connection). Further, data can be received from a cellular network via an IP download link 1028 (e.g., DSL, cable, BPL) and transmitted to a mobile device 1004 associated with fBS 1002. Further, through an IP router 1027 (e.g., a WLAN router, a LAN router, etc.) communicating over an unlicensed frequency or a wired connection, receiver component 1010 can receive various information from the cellular network (e.g., via IP download 1028) or from other fBS devices in the fBS network, and transmitter component 1026 can transmit various information to the cellular network (e.g., via IP upload 1030) or to other fBS devices in the fBS network.

Referring to fig. 11, illustrated is a system 1100 that enables scanning for and acquiring femto cells. For example, system 1100 can reside at least partially within a User Equipment (UE). It is to be appreciated that system 1100 is represented as including functional blocks, which can be functional blocks that represent functions implemented by a computing platform, processor, software, or combination thereof (e.g., firmware). System 1100 includes a logical grouping 1102 of electrical components that can act in conjunction. For instance, logical grouping 1102 can include an electrical component for accessing stored access information for small scale base stations 1104. Moreover, logical grouping 1102 can include an electrical component for scanning and acquiring small scale base stations 1106. Moreover, logical grouping 1102 can include an electrical component for performing Media Access Control (MAC) processing in accordance with a protocol predefined for the scheduling conflict 1108. Additionally, system 1100 can include a memory 1112 that retains instructions for executing functions associated with electrical components 1104 and 1106. It is to be understood that while electrical components 1104, 1106, and 1108 are shown as being external to memory 1112, one or more of electrical components 1104, 1106, and 1108 may exist within memory 1112.

What has been described above includes examples of various aspects. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing the various aspects, but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that many further combinations and permutations are possible. Accordingly, the present invention is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any embodiment described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. The disclosed embodiments may be applied to any one or combination of the following technologies: code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, multi-carrier CDMA (MC-CDMA), wideband CDMA (W-CDMA), high speed packet access (HSPA, HSPA +), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems, or other multiple access techniques. Wireless communication systems may be designed to implement one or more standards, such as: IS-95, CDMA2000, IS-856, W-CDMA, TD-SCDMA, and other standards.

In particular and unless specifically stated otherwise, with respect to the various functions performed by the above described components, devices, circuits, systems and the like, the terms (including a reference to a "means") used to describe such components are intended to correspond, unless otherwise indicated, to any component which performs the specified function of the described component (e.g., a functional equivalent), even though not structurally equivalent to the described structure, which performs the function in the herein illustrated exemplary implementations. In this regard, it will be recognized that the various aspects include a system as well as a computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions for performing the acts and/or events of the various methods.

In addition, while a particular feature may have been disclosed with respect to only one of several implementations, such feature may be combined with one or more other features of the other implementations as may be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application. To the extent that the terms "includes" and "having" and variations thereof are used in either the detailed description or the claims, these terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term "comprising" as "comprising" is interpreted. Furthermore, the word "or" as used in the specification and claims means "a non-exclusive or".

Further, it should be understood that portions of the disclosed systems and methods may include or have: artificial intelligence, machine learning, or a disclosure/rule-based component, subcomponent, process, module, method, or mechanism (e.g., support vector machine, neural network, expert system, Bayesian belief network, fuzzy logic, data fusion engine, classifier, etc.). These and other components can automate mechanisms or processes performed thereby to make the systems and methods portions more adaptive, efficient and intelligent. By way of example and not limitation, an evolved RAN (e.g., access point, eNodeB) may infer or predict when to use the robustness or augmented check fields.

As used in this application, the terms "component," "module," "system," and the like are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardware and software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to: a process running on a processor, an object, an executable, an executing process, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a server and the server can be a component. One or more components may reside within a process and/or program and a component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers.

The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any aspect described herein as "exemplary" is not to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.

Furthermore, one or more aspects may be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques to provide software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof to control a computer to implement the disclosed aspects. The term "article of manufacture" (or alternatively, "computer program product") as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. For example, computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to: magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips, etc.), optical disks (e.g., Compact Disk (CD), Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., card, stick). Further, it should be appreciated that a carrier wave can be employed to carry computer-readable electronic data such as: electronic data used in sending and receiving electronic mail, or electronic data used when accessing a network such as the internet, a Local Area Network (LAN). Of course, those skilled in the art will recognize many modifications may be made to this configuration without departing from the scope of the disclosed aspects.

Various aspects are described in connection with a system that may include a number of components, modules, and the like. It is to be understood and appreciated that the various systems may include additional components, modules, etc. and/or may not include all of the components, modules etc. discussed in connection with the figures. A combination of these approaches may be used. Aspects disclosed herein may be implemented on an electronic device, including devices that utilize touch screen display technology and/or mouse-keyboard type interfaces. Examples of such devices include: computers (desktop or mobile), smart phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and other wired, wireless electronic devices.

In accordance with the exemplary systems described above, methodologies that may be implemented in accordance with the present invention have been described with reference to a number of flow diagrams. While, for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the methodologies are shown and described as a series of blocks, it is to be understood and appreciated that the claimed subject matter is not limited by the order of the blocks, as some blocks may occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other blocks from what is depicted and described herein. Moreover, not all illustrated blocks may be required to implement the methodologies described herein. Moreover, it should be further appreciated that the methodologies described herein may be stored on an article of manufacture to facilitate transporting and transferring such methodologies to computers. The word "article of manufacture" as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media.

It should be understood that any patent, publication, or other disclosure material, in whole or in part, that is said to be incorporated by reference herein is incorporated herein only to the extent that it does not conflict with existing definitions, statements, or other disclosure material set forth in this disclosure. To the extent necessary, therefore, the disclosure as explicitly set forth herein supersedes any conflicting material incorporated herein by reference. For any material, or portion of any material, that is said to be incorporated by reference herein, but which conflicts with existing definitions, statements, or other disclosure material set forth herein, only those portions of the incorporated material that do not conflict with existing disclosure material are incorporated herein.

Claims (48)

1. A method for discovering and acquiring a small base station at a user equipment, UE, comprising:

accessing stored access information for a small base station, wherein the stored access information includes a small base station user area associated with the small base station, the small base station user area corresponding to a macro network component identifier for identifying a macro network component associated with the small base station;

determining a proximity to the small base station based on the small base station user area as a trigger condition for scanning for and acquiring the small base station;

identifying the small base station by receiving geographic information broadcast by the small base station, the identifying comprising: identifying a geographic location at which the small base station is reporting a shift from a stored geographic location, and masking the received geographic information to a lower resolution by rounding or roughening the accuracy of the geographic information using a mask length; and

scanning and acquiring the small base station.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the small base station comprises a femto system.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining proximity to the small base station by:

determining a current position; and

comparing the current location to stored location information for the small base station.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

predicting a future location at a future time;

comparing the future location to stored location information for the small base station; and

scheduling a scan at the future time.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second light sources are selected from the group consisting of a red light source, a green light source, and a blue light source,

wherein the small base station user area is defined as part of a preferred user area list, and

wherein the identified small base station user areas correspond to respective small base station user areas associated with small base station identifiers of the small base stations.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining proximity to the small base station through a geographic-based trigger.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving geographic information from a macro base station.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

global positioning system information is determined.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

geographic information is received from the small cell base station.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

one of the plurality of small base stations is scanned based on a locally stored preference list of small base stations in the absence of current geographic information.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting and interrupting a service selection loop to a heterogeneous small base station by avoiding scanning the heterogeneous small base station for a period of time.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

the heterogeneous femto systems are blacklisted.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

beacons of band types and channels redirected to the heterogeneous femto system are blacklisted.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the macro network component identifier comprises at least one of a system identifier, a network identifier, a base station identifier, or a sector identifier.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the stored access information from a network.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

capturing at least a portion of the stored access information by installation at a point of sale.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

capturing at least a portion of the stored access information by insertion into a computer-readable storage medium.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

the setup is performed by inserting a smart card.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the stored access information is updated by user input.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the stored access information is updated based on information learned from the small base stations encountered.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

camping on the small base station; and

providing a user indication for the access type for the small base station.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

the user indication is provided by displaying an icon indicating the femto cell.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

providing a user indication for an access type for representing a cost of use of the small base station currently camped on.

24. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

reducing power utilization by the UE by performing proximity-triggered scanning and acquisition for the small base station with a processor.

25. At least one processor associated with a user equipment for discovering and acquiring small base stations, comprising:

a first module for accessing, at the User Equipment (UE), stored access information for a small base station, wherein the stored access information includes a small base station user area associated with the small base station, the small base station user area corresponding to a macro network component identifier for identifying a macro network component associated with the small base station;

a second module for determining proximity to the small base station based on the small base station user area as a trigger condition for scanning and acquiring the small base station;

a third module for identifying the small base station by receiving geographic information broadcast by the small base station, the identifying comprising: identifying a geographic location at which the small base station is reporting a shift from a stored geographic location, and masking the received geographic information to a lower resolution by rounding or roughening the accuracy of the geographic information using a mask length; and

a fourth module for scanning and acquiring the small base station.

26. An apparatus for discovering and acquiring a small base station at a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

means for accessing stored access information for a small base station, wherein the stored access information includes a small base station user area associated with the small base station, the small base station user area corresponding to a macro network component identifier for identifying a macro network component associated with the small base station;

means for determining proximity to the small base station based on the small base station user area as a trigger condition for scanning for and acquiring the small base station;

means for identifying the small base station by receiving geographic information broadcast by the small base station, the identifying comprising: identifying a geographic location at which the small base station is reporting a shift from a stored geographic location, and masking the received geographic information to a lower resolution by rounding or roughening the accuracy of the geographic information using a mask length; and

means for scanning for and acquiring the small base station.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the small base station further comprises a femto system.

28. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising:

means for determining proximity to the small base station, comprising:

means for determining a current location; and

means for comparing the current location to stored location information of the small base station.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, further comprising:

means for predicting a future location at a future time;

means for comparing the future location to the stored location information for the small base station; and

means for scheduling a scan at the future time.

30. The apparatus as set forth in claim 26,

wherein the small base station user area is defined as part of a preferred user area list, and

wherein the identified small base station user areas correspond to respective small base station user areas associated with the small base station identifier of the small base station.

31. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising:

means for determining proximity to the small base station through a geographic-based trigger.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, further comprising:

means for receiving geographic information from a macro base station.

33. The apparatus of claim 31, further comprising:

a module for determining global positioning system information.

34. The apparatus of claim 31, further comprising:

means for receiving geographic information from a small cell base station.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, further comprising:

means for scanning one of the plurality of small base stations based on a locally stored preference list of small base stations when current geographic information is absent.

36. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising:

a module for detecting and interrupting a service selection loop to a disparate small base station, comprising:

means for avoiding scanning the disparate small base station for a period of time.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, further comprising:

means for blacklisting a disparate femto system.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, further comprising:

means for blacklisting beacons of band types and channels redirected to the disparate femto system.

39. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising:

means for acquiring at least a portion of the stored access information from a network.

40. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising:

means for capturing at least a portion of the stored access information by installation at a point of sale.

41. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising:

means for capturing at least a portion of the stored access information by insertion into a computer-readable storage medium.

42. The apparatus of claim 41, further comprising:

means for capturing at least a portion of the access information from a smart card.

43. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising:

means for updating the stored access information by user input.

44. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising:

means for updating the stored access information based on information learned from the encountered small base station.

45. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising:

means for camping on the small base station; and

means for providing a user indication for an access type for the small base station.

46. The apparatus of claim 45, further comprising:

means for providing a user indication by displaying an icon indicative of a femto cell.

47. The apparatus of claim 45, further comprising:

means for providing a user indication for an access type to represent a cost of use of the small base station currently camped on.

48. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising:

means for reducing power utilization by performing proximity-triggered scanning and acquisition of the small base station with a processor.