Communication system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9635593-B2
Application number	US-201214362593-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 15, 2012
Priority date	Dec 6, 2011
Publication date	Apr 25, 2017
Grant date	Apr 25, 2017

Abstract

A communication system in which a transferring unit are configured for transferring at least one information element from a first base station to a second base station. In one embodiment, the information element is sent internally to a communication apparatus including the first and second base stations or externally via a communication node external to the apparatus. In one embodiment, the information element is sent between the two base stations via a communication node of a communication network.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A dual mode femto access point, comprising:
a first base station module comprising a home base station (HNB) operating in accordance with 3G standard, the first base station module being configured to provide wireless connectivity to a communications network to one or more mobile communications devices;
a second base station module comprising a home base station (HeNB) operating in accordance with LTE standard, the second base station module being configured to provide wireless connectivity to a communications network to one or more mobile communications devices; and
a transceiver configured to transfer, internally to said dual mode femto access point, at least one information element from one of the first base station module and the second base station module to an other one of the first base station module and the second base station module,
wherein the transceiver comprises an internal interface that couples the first base station module and the second base station module,
wherein the internal interface comprises an interface module which comprises at least one controller module for at least one of the first base station module and the second base station module, and
wherein at least one of the first base station module and the second base station module is configured to provide at least one information element to the other one of the first base station module and the second base station module via the internal interface, in response to a request from the controller module.

2. A dual mode femto access point according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first base station module and the second base station module is configured to provide at least one information element to the transceiver,
wherein the transceiver comprises a memory to store the provided at least one information element, and
wherein the other of the first base station module and the second base station module is configured to retrieve the provided at least one information element from the memory of the transceiver.

3. A dual mode femto access point according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the base station module and the second base station module is configured to provide at least one information element to the transceiver,
wherein the transceiver comprises a memory to store the provided at least one information element, and
wherein the transceiver is configured to provide the information element provided by the at least one of the first base station module and the second base station module to the other of the first base station module and the second base station module.

4. A dual mode femto access point according to claim 1 , wherein the transceiver comprises an operation administration maintenance module comprising a memory.

5. A dual mode femto access point according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one information element comprises at least one of:
a configuration of at least one of the first base station module and the second base station module,
a Physical Cell Identifier (PCI),
a Primary Scrambling Code (PSC),
a carrier frequency,
a static parameter information element,
a dynamic parameter information element,
System Information, such as UMTS system information, and
a neighbour cell list.

6. A dual mode femto access point according to claim 5 , wherein the static parameter information element comprises at least one of:
a maximum number of UE that a base station module is configured to serve (MaxUEsServed),
a maximum number of closed subscriber group (CSG) members that a base station module is configured to serve (MaxCSGMembers),
a maximum number of non CSG members that a base station module is configured to serve (MaxNonCSGMembers), and
wherein the dynamic parameter information element comprises at least one of:
a current number of CSG UE which are being served by a base station module,
a current number of non CSG UE which are being served by a base station module, and
a load or congestion status of a base station module.

7. A dual mode femto access point according to claim 1 , wherein the first base station module and the second base station module are mounted within a common housing.

8. A system for use in a telecommunications network, comprising one or more mobile communications devices and a dual mode femto access point according to claim 1 .

9. A mobile communications device for use with a dual mode femto access point, wherein the dual mode femto access point comprises:
a first base station module comprising a home base station (HNB) operating in accordance with 3G standard, the first base station module being configured to provide wireless connectivity to a communications network to one or more mobile communications devices;
a second base station module comprising a home base station (HeNB) operating in accordance with LTE standard, the second base station module being configured to provide wireless connectivity to a communications network to one or more mobile communications devices; and
an internal interface that couples the first base station module and the second base station module,
wherein at least one of the first base station module and the second base station module is configured to exchange, internally to said dual mode femto access point, at least one information element with an other one of the first base station module and the second base station module via said internal interface,
wherein the internal interface comprises an interface module which comprises at least one controller module for at least one of the first base station module and the second base station module,
wherein at least one of the first base station module and the second base station module is configured to provide at least one information element to the other one of the first base station module and the second base station module via the internal interface, in response to a request from the controller module, and
wherein the mobile communications device is arranged to communicate in a communications network via one of the first base station module and the second base station module of the dual mode femto access point.

10. A method, performed in a telecommunications network, for facilitating exchange of at least one information element between two base station modules of a dual mode femto access point that comprise a base station module comprising a home base station (HNB) operating in accordance with 3G standard and another base station module comprising a home base station (HeNB) operating in accordance with LTE standard, the method comprising exchanging at least one information element, over an internal interface coupling the two base station modules,
wherein the internal interface comprises an interface module which comprises at least one controller module for at least one of the two base station modules, and
wherein at least one of the two base station modules is configured to provide at least one information element to an other one of the two base station modules via the internal interface, in response to a request from the controller module.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions for carrying out a method according to claim 10 .

12. A method, performed in a telecommunications network, for facilitating exchange of at least one information element between two base station modules of a dual mode femto access point that comprise a base station module comprising a home base station (HNB) operating in accordance with 3G standard and another base station module comprising a home base station (HeNB) operating in accordance with LTE standard, the method comprising exchanging at least one information element

Assignees

• Ganapathy Suresh
• Ahluwalia Jagdeep Singh
• Gupta Neeraj
• Kawaguchi Kenji
• Nec Corp

Inventors

• Ganapathy Suresh
• Ahluwalia Jagdeep Singh
• Gupta Neeraj
• Kawaguchi Kenji

Classifications

• H04W36/06 Primary

  Reselecting a communication resource in the serving access point · CPC title

• H04W84/045

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

• H04W92/20

  between access points · CPC title

• H04W88/10

  adapted for operation in multiple networks, e.g. multi-mode access points · CPC title

• H04W8/02

  Processing of mobility data, e.g. registration information at HLR [Home Location Register] or VLR [Visitor Location Register]; Transfer of mobility data, e.g. between HLR, VLR or external networks · CPC title