Communication system for handover to femto base station and method for the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9414275-B2
Application number	US-200913120778-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 21, 2009
Priority date	Sep 24, 2008
Publication date	Aug 9, 2016
Grant date	Aug 9, 2016

Abstract

A wireless communication system for performing a handover to a femto base station is provided. The system includes user equipment, a femto subscriber information storage, a core network entity or a macro base station or a serving base station. The femto subscriber information storage stores a list of femto base stations that allows the access of user equipment, i.e., an accessible list. The core network entity or the macro base station receives and stores the accessible list. When any of the user equipment requests a handover toward a femto base station as a target base station, and the target base station is included in the accessible list stored, the core network entity or the macro base station requests a handover toward the target base station. A method for performing a handover to the core network entity and the macro base station is also provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A serving base station for performing a handover to a femto base station, comprising:
a transceiver for data communicating and receiving a measurement report including at least one identifier of the femto base station to request the handover, the measurement report being received from a user equipment as a result of at least one of (i) the user equipment scanning for peripheral base stations at a set period and (ii) a received signal strength indication (RSSI) of any of the peripheral base stations being greater than the RSSI of the serving base station;
a storage unit for storing an accessible list of each of at least one user equipment, the accessible list is a list of femto base stations that allow for the access of each of the at least one user equipment and is received from a femto subscriber information storage; and
a controller for:
determining whether there is a target base station or not based on the measurement report;
identifying whether the target base station to perform the handover is the femto base station or a macro base station based on the GCID of the femto base station in the measurement report, if the measurement report is received;
identifying, if the target base station is identified as the femto base station, that the target base station is included in the accessible list of the user equipment and requesting a handover procedure for the target base station when the target base station is included in the accessible list of the user equipment; and
requesting, if the target base station is identified as the macro base station, the handover procedure for the target base station,

wherein the accessible list comprises identifiers of the femto base stations to identify the femto stations.

2. The serving base station of claim 1 , wherein the controller controls, when the user equipment requests to be attached to the serving base station, the transceiver to transmit a request for the accessible list of the user equipment to the subscriber information storage, via identification-information regarding the user equipment.

3. A core network entity for performing a handover to a femto base station, comprising:
a transceiver for data communicating and receiving a measurement report including global cell identification (GCID) of the femto base station to request the handover, the measurement report being received from a user equipment as a result of at least one of (i) the user equipment scanning for peripheral base stations at a set period and (ii) a received signal strength indication (RSSI) of any of the peripheral base stations being greater than the RSSI of the serving base station;
a storage unit for storing an accessible list of each of at least one user equipment, the accessible list is a list of femto base stations that allow for access of each of the at least one user equipment and is received from a femto subscriber information storage; and
a controller for:
determining whether there is a target base station or not based on the measurement report;
identifying whether the target base station to perform the handover is the femto base station or a macro base station based on the GCID of the femto base station in the measurement report, if the measurement report is received;
identifying, if the target base station is identified as the femto base station, that the target base station is included in the accessible list of the user equipment and requesting a handover procedure for the target base station when the target base station is included in the accessible list of the user equipment; and
requesting, if the target base station is identified as the macro base station, the handover procedure for the target base station,

wherein the accessible list comprises identifiers of the femto base stations to identify the femto stations.

4. The core network entity of claim 3 , wherein the controller controls, when the user equipment requests to be attached to the core network entity, the transceiver to transmit a request for the accessible list of the user equipment to the subscriber information storage, via identification-information regarding the user equipment.

5. A wireless communication method of a serving base station for performing a handover to a femto base station, comprising:
storing an accessible list of each of at least one user equipment, the accessible list is a list of femto base stations that allow for access of each of the at least one user equipment and is received from a femto subscriber information storage;
receiving a measurement report including global cell identification (GCID) of the femto base station to request the handover, the measurement report being received from a user equipment as a result of at least one of (i) the user equipment scanning for peripheral base stations at a set period and (ii) a received signal strength indication (RSSI) of any of the peripheral base stations being greater than the RSSI of the serving base station;
determining whether there is a target base station or not based on the measurement report;
identifying whether the target base station to perform the handover is the femto base station or a macro base station based on the GCID of the femto base station in the measurement report, if the measurement report is received;
determining, if the target base station is identified as the femto base station, whether the target base station is included in the accessible list of the user equipment and requesting, when the target base station is included in the accessible list of the user equipment, a handover procedure to the target base station; and
requesting, if the target base station is identified as the macro base station, the handover procedure to the target base station,
wherein the accessible list comprises identifiers of the femto base stations to identify the femto stations.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein storing the accessible list of each of at least one user equipment comprises:
requesting, when the user equipment requests to be attached to the serving base station, the accessible list of the user equipment to the subscriber information storage, via identification-information regarding the user equipment; and
receiving the accessible list from the subscriber information storage.

7. A wireless communication method of a core network entity for performing a handover to a femto base station, comprising:
storing an accessible list of each of at least one user equipment, the accessible list is a list of femto base stations that allow for access of each of the at least one user equipment and is received from a femto subscriber information storage;
receiving a measurement report including global cell identification (GCID) of the femto base station to request the handover, the measurement report being received from a user equipment as a result of at least one of (i) the user equipment scanning for peripheral base stations at a set period and (ii) a received signal strength indication (RSSI) of any of the peripheral base stations being greater than the RSSI of a serving base station;
determining whether there is a target base station or not based on the measurement report;
identifying whether the target base station to perform the handover is the femto base station or a macro base station based on the GCID of the femto base station in the measurement report, if the measurement report is received;
determining, if the target base station is identified as the femto base station, whether the target base station is included in the accessible list of the user equipment and requesting, when the target base station is included in the accessible list of the user equipment, a handover procedure to the target base station; and
requesting, if the target base station is identified as

Assignees

• Bae Eun Hui
• Lim Chae Gwon
• Choi Sung Ho
• Yeoum Tae Sun
• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Bae Eun Hui
• Lim Chae Gwon
• Choi Sung Ho
• Yeoum Tae Sun

Classifications

• H04W36/0061 Primary

  of neighbour cell information · CPC title

• H04W36/04 Primary

  Reselecting a cell layer in multi-layered cells · CPC title

• H04W84/045

  using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B · CPC title

• H04W36/385

  of the core network · CPC title

• H04W36/0058

  Transmission of hand-off measurement information, e.g. measurement reports · CPC title