HK1149428A - Storing location information to locate a femto cell at a user equipment database - Google Patents

Description

Storing location information for locating femto cells in a user equipment database

Technical Field

The present application relates generally to wireless communications, and more specifically to methods and systems for storing information for locating femto cells.

Background

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication (e.g., voice, data, multimedia services, etc.) to multiple users. With the rapid growth in demand for high speed and multimedia data services, there is a challenge to implement efficient and robust communication systems with enhanced performance.

In recent years, users have started to replace fixed line communication with mobile communication, and there is an increasing demand for superior voice quality, reliable service, and low price.

In addition to the mobile telephone networks currently in existence, a new class of small base stations has emerged that can be installed in a user's home and provide indoor wireless coverage to mobile units using existing broadband internet connections. Such personal miniature base stations are commonly referred to as access point base stations, or alternatively, home node bs (hnbs) or femtocells. Typically, such miniature base stations are connected to the internet and the mobile operator's network through DSL routers or cable modems or other backhaul technologies.

One of the problems with mobile stations and femtocells is how to find a femtocell when a mobile station is operating on a macrocell network. The mobile station may be on a different frequency than that used by the femto cell. Alternatively, the femto cell may reuse one of several available carrier frequencies. If the mobile station is not on that frequency, it will miss the femto cell and continue operating on the macro cell even though it is within coverage of the femto cell. In addition, even with methods of finding a femto cell, the mobile station may not be authorized to access it (access may be restricted). The problem may be further complicated by the fact that new femtocells are always put into operation.

The currently proposed solution uses pilot beacons to inform on other frequencies that a femto cell is present on the frequency used by the femto cell. This approach has disadvantages because it increases interference to other frequencies. Other proposals include constant periodic searching for femto cells, which may compromise battery life. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a mobile device that is capable of determining where to search for femto cells.

Disclosure of Invention

The preferred embodiments are directed to systems and methods for storing information for locating femto cells that substantially overcome one or more of the disadvantages of the related art.

In one aspect of the preferred embodiments, a system, method and computer product are provided for augmenting a User Equipment (UE) database with information measured by femto cells, the method comprising: (a) performing, by the femtocell, RF measurements to determine a location of the femtocell; (b) connecting the UE to the femtocell; (c) the RF measurements obtained by the femto cell regarding the location of the femto cell are downloaded into the UE database.

The method further comprises the following steps: (a) making RF measurements by the UE; (b) the current RF measurements obtained by the UE are compared to the femto cell's own RF measurements to estimate proximity to the femto cell.

Obviously, this requires a protocol to communicate this information between the femto cell and the UE. A simple alternative to the new communication protocol is for the UE to store RF measurements on neighbouring macro cells when it receives the strongest signal from the associated femto cell.

In other aspects of the preferred embodiments, there is provided a system, method and computer product for augmenting a User Equipment (UE) database with information processed at a back-end server based on a plurality of UE reports from a plurality of UEs to locate a femto cell, the back-end server being part of a macro cell network, the method comprising: (a) performing RF measurements by a plurality of UEs, wherein the RF measurements determine a location of the femtocell based on the location of the UEs relative to the at least one macrocell; (b) sending the position information to a back-end server; (c) processing the locations at the back-end server to find an average location of the femto cells; (d) connecting the UE to a backend server; (e) the average location of the femto cell is downloaded to a database of the UE.

In one embodiment, no over-the-air protocol is required to communicate this information between the back-end server and the UE. For this embodiment, an application running on an existing internet protocol (e.g., TCP/IP) normally used by the femto cell is used.

In other aspects of the preferred embodiments, there is provided a system, method and computer product for augmenting a User Equipment (UE) database with information about changes in a macro environment, the method comprising: (a) storing, by the UE, RF measurements for neighboring macro cells when the UE receives a strongest signal from the femto cell; (b) performing, by the UE, RF measurements with respect to the macrocell phase offset; (c) information about the macro cell environment change is downloaded into the UE database.

Depending on the strength of the pilot, information about previously stored macro cells may be retained in the UE database.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by the practice of the invention. The advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is an exemplary wireless communication system;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary communication system that enables deployment of access point base stations in a network environment;

fig. 3 illustrates a method of augmenting a User Equipment (UE) database with information measured by femto cells.

Figure 4 illustrates a refinement of autonomous and customized femtocell discovery.

Fig. 5 shows a pilot phase planning diagram.

FIG. 6 illustrates a system for augmenting a User Equipment (UE) database with information processed at a backend server based on reports from multiple UEs.

Fig. 7A is a method for augmenting a User Equipment (UE) database with information processed at a backend server based on reports from multiple UEs.

Fig. 7B illustrates a simplified block diagram of several exemplary aspects of a communications component.

FIG. 8 is an alternative method for augmenting a User Equipment (UE) database.

Fig. 9 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a system 800 in accordance with further aspects described herein.

Detailed Description

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 techniques described herein may be used for various wireless communication networks such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) networks, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) networks, orthogonal FDMA (ofdma) networks, single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks, and so on. The terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably. A CDMA network may use a radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), CDMA2000, etc. UTRA includes wideband CDMA (W-CDMA) and Low Chip Rate (LCR). cdma2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. TDMA networks may use wireless technologies such as global system for mobile communications (GSM). OFDMA networks may implement services such as evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.16, IEEE802.20, Flash-Etc. wireless technologies. UTRA, E-UTRA and GSM are part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). Long Term Evolution (LTE) is an upcoming release of UMTS that uses E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, GSM, UMTS, and LTE are described in documents from an organization entitled "third Generation partnership project" (3 GPP). Cdma2000 is described in a document from an organization named "third Generation partnership project 2(3rd Generation partnership project 2)" (3GPP 2). These various wireless technologies and standards are known in the art.

In the description herein, a node that provides coverage over a relatively large area may be referred to as a macro node, while a node that provides coverage over a relatively small area (e.g., a residence) may be referred to as a femto node. It should be appreciated that the teachings herein may be applicable to nodes associated with other types of coverage areas. For example, a pico node may provide coverage over an area that is smaller than a macro area and larger than a femto area (e.g., coverage within a commercial building). In various applications, other terminology may be used to indicate a macro node, a femto node, or other access point type node. For example, a macro node may be configured as or referred to as an access node, base station, access point, evolved node B, macro cell, and so on. Also, a femto node may be configured or referred to as a home nodeb, home enodeb, access point base station, femto cell, and so on. In some embodiments, a node may be associated with (e.g., divided into) one or more cells or sectors. The cells or sectors associated with a macro, femto, or pico node may be referred to as a macro, femto, or pico cell, respectively. A simplified example of how a femto node may be deployed in a network will now be described with reference to fig. 1 and 2.

Fig. 1 illustrates an exemplary wireless communication system 100 configured to support multiple users in which various disclosed embodiments and aspects may be implemented. As shown in fig. 1, by way of example, a system 100 provides communication for a plurality of cells 102 (e.g., macro cells 102a-102g), each of which is served by a respective Access Point (AP)104 (e.g., APs 104a-104 g). Each macro cell may also be divided into one or more sectors (not shown). As further shown in FIG. 1, various AT devices 106, including Access Terminals (AT)106a-106l, can be dispersed throughout the system AT various locations, the AT devices 106 also being referred to interchangeably as User Equipment (UE), Mobile Station (MS), or terminal device. Each AT may communicate with one or more APs 104 on a Forward Link (FL) and/or a Reverse Link (RL) AT a given moment, depending on whether the AT 106 is active and in soft handoff, for example. The wireless communication system 100 may provide service over a large geographic area. For example, the macro cells 102a-102g may cover several neighborhoods, or several square miles in a rural environment.

Fig. 2 illustrates an exemplary communication system that enables deployment of femto nodes, also referred to herein as femtocells (access point base stations), in a network environment. As shown in fig. 2, the system 200 includes a plurality of femto nodes, otherwise known as femto cells, access point base stations, Home Node B (HNB) elements (e.g., HNBs 210, 215) that are each installed in a corresponding relatively small coverage network environment (e.g., in one or more sites 230) and that are configured to serve associated user equipment 220, for example. Each HNB 210 may be coupled to a wide area network, such as the internet 240, and further configured to communicate over a wide area network, such as the internet 240, and with any node on the internet including a macro mobile operator core network 250 (also referred to as a "core network"). As shown, there are at least two communication paths between the terminal device 220 and the macro mobile operator core network 250, namely a path including macro cell access and a path including the internet 240.

Although the embodiments described herein use 3GPP terminology, it should be understood that the embodiments may apply to 3GPP (Rel99, Rel5, Rel6, Rel7) technologies as well as 3GPP2(1xRTT, 1xEV-DORel0, RevA, RevB) technologies, WiMax, and other known and related technologies. In these embodiments described herein, the owners of the HNBs 210 and 215 subscribe to mobile services (e.g., 3G mobile services) provided through the mobile operator core network 250, and the UEs 220 are operable in both macro cellular environments and residential small-scale network environments. Thus, the HNBs 210 and 215 are both backward compatible with any existing UE 220.

Further, in addition to the macro cellular mobile network 250, the UE220 may be served by a limited number of HNBs 210, e.g., the HNBs 210 located in the user premises 230 serve the UE 220. For example, the UE220 may be served by the HNB 210 even though the HNB 210 has no access to the HNB 215.

One of the issues with UEs and HNBs or femtocells is how to find a femtocell 210 when a UE is operating on a macro cellular network 250. UE220 may operate on a different frequency than that used by femto cell 210. During the search procedure, where the UE220 computes the neighbor list of the macro cell, it will not discover the femto cell 210. A femto cell may use one of several available carrier frequencies. If the UE220 is not operating on that frequency, it will miss the femtocell 210 and continue operating on the macrocell, even though it is within the coverage of the femtocell 210. In addition, even with the method of finding the femtocell 215, the UE220 may not be authorized to access it (access may be restricted). The problem may be further complicated by the fact that new femtocells are always put into operation. Key advantages of the present invention include: improved battery performance, largely autonomous operation and UE provisioning without the need for network download.

According to embodiments described in detail below, the UE220 obtains (by learning or otherwise) a database of personalized HNBs or femtocells 210 for the UE 220. The database is stored on the UE220 and may include the following information for each femtocell 210: a carrier frequency; location (latitude/longitude (LAT/LON) or alternative); list of CDMA pilots and phase offsets in the vicinity of hot spots, where E_CIo is above a given threshold; the date of femto access last used/acquired by the access terminal or UE 220; other identification information such as the system ID of the femto cell, the network ID of the femto cell, and the wireless technology used by the femto cell.

In one embodiment, each entry of the database describes a femto-cell location in a non-orthogonal coordinate system, which is comprised of: the macro pilot visible at the femto cell location (with a qualified minimum E)_CIo), the phase delay of each pilot, and the allowable deviation around the nominal phase delay. When a database is already available in the UE220, it may be used to reduce femto cell searches (i.e., femto cell searches are only conducted if there is a match in the database). Only if the databases match, unlike F_FIs the UE220 on the frequency of F_FThe search is performed. In one embodiment, the database elements include macro pilot PN offsets that are visible to the UE220 on any carrier that the UE220 monitors in the idle state. At idleDuring routine operation in the state, these PN offsets are available to the UE, and the UE does not have to do anything different until there is a database match. The UE220 then begins scanning for HNBs or femto cells 210 on different frequencies. Operating in this manner will reduce battery consumption.

Fig. 3 illustrates a method of augmenting a User Equipment (UE) database with information measured by femto cells. Femto cell 210 will typically have a radio receiving a macro channel to facilitate various configuration purposes such as synchronization, positioning, pilot PN planning, and so forth. Thus, since the femtocell 210 has a forward link receiver in addition to its forward link transmitter, it can measure its RF environment in a neighboring macrocell by itself. Advanced antenna configurations can reduce interference. Furthermore, since the femto cell 210 is stationary, the measurement is likely to be quite accurate, and the measurement can be averaged over a long period of time. Femto cell 210 may take a lot of time to search for pilots of neighboring macro cells and integrate CDMA signals from very weak pilots. In step 302, the femtocell 210 performs its own measurements.

In step 304, the UE220 connects to the femtocell 210 for the first time. In step 306, the femtocell 210 downloads its measurements or parameters to the UE database to determine the location of the femtocell. When the UE220 approaches the femtocell 210 for the second time, as shown in step 308, the UE220 can compare its current measurements to the femtocell's own readings to estimate its proximity to the femtocell 210, as shown in step 310. This has another advantage: if the UE220 approaches the femtocell 210 again (third time) from a direction other than the second time, as shown in step 316, the error of the measurement will be minimized if the comparison point is at the femtocell 210 itself, which makes the system more robust.

Figure 4 illustrates a refinement of autonomous and customized femtocell discovery. Femto cells may be described by primitives consisting of macro system parametersThe position of (2): in the area described by the Base Station (BS) set C, where the pilot exceeds the threshold E_Cthe/Io vector D and has a phase P within a tolerance Q. All these parameters can be measured with little or no change to the CDMA process (idle or active state) and therefore they will have minimal drain on battery life and/or network usage compared to, for example, a-GPS geolocation.

Fig. 5 shows a pilot phase planning diagram. The figure shows that femto cells can be very dense. MP (moving Picture experts group)₀To MP₇Is the PN offset, fP, of the macrocell₁And fP₂Is the phase offset of the femto cell. In the long term, there may be as many femto PN offsets as there are macro cells. This can be achieved in several ways: (1) subtracting PILOT INC by one, thereby generating odd PN offsets for the femto cells; and (2) re-planning the macro cellular network by re-assigning odd number of PN offsets to even number of PN offsets.

For example, 2 pi/128 x 2i produces 64 macro PN offsets (even PN offsets), and 2 pi/128 x (2i +1) produces 64 femto PN offsets (odd PN offsets). Initially at low femtocell densities, a subset of PN offsets may be available to the femtocell (explicit in the neighbor list). By the time the femto cell density becomes high, a new femto cell aware MS appears and can process the entire set of femto PN offsets.

In one embodiment, an over-the-air protocol is required to communicate this information between the femtocell 210 and the UE 220. A simple alternative to the new communication protocol is to store RF measurements for neighboring macro cells when the UE220 receives the strongest signal from the associated femto cell. This minimizes the error in the UE database entry since the strongest signal is likely to correspond to the closest location. This entry may be rewritten each time the UE samples a stronger signal from the femto cell.

Finally, if there is a large divergence in the measurements reported by the relevant UE and the measurements made at the femto cell, the measurements at the femto cell 210 may be used to trigger some error condition at the UE.

Another alternative to the new communication protocol is to process information at the back-end server based on multiple UE reports. Fig. 6 illustrates a system for augmenting a User Equipment (UE) database with information processed at a backend server based on multiple UE reports. The plurality of UEs 220 perform RF measurements with respect to the femto cell location. The back end server 610 is part of the macrocell mobile network 250. The UE220 sends UE measurements related to the femto cell location to the back end server 610. The back end server 610 processes these locations to find the average location of the femto cells. The server 610 downloads the processed average location of the femto cell into the database of the UE220 by using an application on the UE220 communicating with a backend server over the internet. The server 610 remains connected to the internet 240.

Fig. 7A is a flow chart illustrating a method for augmenting a User Equipment (UE) database with information processed at a back-end server based on UE reports from a plurality of UEs for locating a femto cell. The back end server 610 is part of the macrocell mobile network 250. In step 702, the plurality of UEs 220 perform RF measurements regarding the femto cell locations. In step 704, the UE220 sends these measurements regarding the femto cell location to the back-end server 610. In step 706, the server 610 processes the locations to find an average location of the femto cell. In step 708, the UE220 is connected to the backend server 610. In step 709, the backend server 610 downloads the average location of the femto cell into the UE220 database.

In one embodiment, this does not require any new over-the-air protocols to communicate this information between the backend server and the UE. For this embodiment, an application running on an existing internet protocol (e.g., TCP/IP) normally used by the femtocell 210 is used.

It should be appreciated that the teachings herein may be implemented in various types of communication devices. In some aspects, the teachings herein may be implemented in wireless devices, which may be deployed in a multiple-access communication system that may simultaneously support communication for multiple wireless access terminals. Here, each terminal can communicate with one or more access points via transmissions on the forward and reverse links. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from the access points to the terminals, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link from the terminals to the access points. Such a communication link may be established through a single-input single-output system, a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system, or some other type of system.

MIMO systems using multiple (N)_TMultiple) transmitting antenna and multiple (N)_RMultiple) receive antennas to transmit data. From N_TA transmitting antenna and N_RThe MIMO channel formed by the receiving antennas can be decomposed into N_SIndividual channels, also called spatial channels, where N_S≤min{N_T，N_R}。N_SEach of the individual channels corresponds to a dimension. MIMO systems may provide better performance (e.g., higher throughput and/or higher reliability) if more dimensionalities are created by the multiple transmit and receive antennas.

MIMO systems may support Time Division Duplex (TDD) and Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) systems. In a TDD system, the forward and reverse link transmissions are in the same frequency region, and therefore, the forward link channel can be estimated from the reverse link channel using reciprocity principles. This enables the access point to extract transmit beamforming gain on the forward link when multiple antennas are available at the access point.

The teachings herein may be incorporated into a node (e.g., an apparatus) that uses various means for communicating with at least one other node. Fig. 7B illustrates several exemplary components that may be employed to facilitate inter-node communication. In particular, fig. 7B illustrates a wireless device 710 (e.g., an access point) and a wireless device 750 (e.g., an access terminal) of a MIMO system 700. At the device 710, traffic data for a number of data streams is provided from a data source 712 to a Transmit (TX) data processor 714.

In some aspects, the data streams are transmitted on each transmit antenna. TX data processor 714 formats, codes, and interleaves the traffic data for each data stream based on a particular coding scheme selected for that data stream to provide coded data.

The coded data for each data stream may be multiplexed with pilot data using OFDM techniques. The pilot data is typically a known data pattern that is processed in a known manner and may be used at the receiver system to estimate the channel response. The multiplexed pilot and coded data for each data stream is then modulated (i.e., symbol mapped) based on a particular modulation scheme (e.g., BPSK, QPSK, M-PSK, or M-QAM) selected for that data stream to provide modulation symbols. The data rate, coding, and modulation for each data stream may be determined by instructions performed by processor 730. A data memory 732 may store program code, data, and other information used by the processor 730 or other components of the device 710.

The modulation symbols for all data streams are then provided to a TX MIMO processor 720, which may further process the modulation symbols (e.g., for OFDM). TX MIMO processor 720 then forwards N_TA plurality of transceivers (XCVR)722A through 722T providing N_TA stream of modulation symbols. In some aspects, TX MIMO processor 720 applies beamforming weights to the symbols of the data streams and to the antenna from which the symbol is being transmitted.

Each transceiver 722 receives and processes a respective symbol stream to provide one or more analog signals, and further conditions (e.g., amplifies, filters, and upconverts) the analog signals to provide a modulated signal suitable for transmission over the MIMO channel. Then, respectively from N_TThe antennas 724A through 724T transmit N from the transceivers 722A through 722T_TA modulated signal.

At device 750, N_RThe transmitted modulated signals are received by antennas 752A through 752R and the received signal from each antenna 752 is provided to a respective transceiver (XCVR)754A through 754R. Each transceiver 754 conditions (e.g., filters, amplifies, and downconverts)Frequency), digitizes the conditioned signal to provide samples, and further processes the samples to provide a corresponding "received" symbol stream.

Receive (RX) data processor 760 then receives data from N_RN of transceivers 754_RA received symbol stream and processing the symbol streams based on a particular receiver processing technique to provide N_TA "detected" symbol stream. RX data processor 760 can then demodulate, deinterleave, and decode each detected symbol stream to recover the traffic data for the data stream. The processing by RX data processor 760 is complementary to that performed by TX MIMO processor 720 and TX data processor 714 at device 710.

A processor 770 periodically determines which precoding matrix to use (discussed below). Processor 770 formulates a reverse link message comprising a matrix index portion and a rank value portion. A data memory 772 may store program code, data, and other information used by processor 770 or other components of device 750.

The reverse link message may comprise various types of information regarding the communication link and/or the received data stream. The reverse link message can then be processed by a TX data processor 738, modulated by a modulator 780, conditioned by transceivers 754A through 754R, and transmitted back to device 710, where TX data processor 738 also receives traffic data for a number of data streams from a data source 736.

At the device 710, the modulated signals from the device 750 are received by the antennas 724, conditioned by the transceivers 722, demodulated by a demodulator (DEMOD)740, and processed by a RX data processor 742 to extract the reverse link message transmitted by the device 750. Processor 730 then determines which pre-coding matrix to use for determining the beamforming weights then processes the extracted message.

The teachings herein may be incorporated into various types of communication systems and/or system components. In some aspects, the teachings herein may be useful to enable sharing of available system resources (e.g., by specifying one or more ofMultiple bandwidths, transmit powers, coding, interleaving, etc.) to support a multiple access system for communication with multiple users. For example, the teachings herein may be applied to any one of the following techniques, or combinations thereof: code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, multi-carrier CDMA (MCCDMA), wideband CDMA (W-CDMA), high speed packet access (HSPA, HSPA +), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems, or other multiple access techniques. Wireless communication systems employing the teachings herein may be designed to implement one or more standards, such as IS-95, CDMA2000, IS-856, W-CDMA, TDSCDMA, and others. A CDMA network may implement a radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), CDMA2000, or some other technology. UTRA includes W-CDMA and Low Chip Rate (LCR). cdma2000 technology covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. TDMA networks may implement wireless technologies such as global system for mobile communications (GSM). OFDMA networks may use techniques such as evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.16, IEEE802.20, Flash-Etc. wireless technologies. UTRA, E-UTRA and GSM are part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). The teachings herein may be implemented in 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) systems, and other types of systems. LTE is a release of UMTS that uses E-UTRA. Although 3GPP terminology may be used to describe certain aspects of the present disclosure, it should be understood that the teachings herein are applicable not only to 3GPP (Rel99, Rel5, Rel6, Rel7) technologies, but also to 3GPP2(IxRTT, 1xEV-DO, RelO, RevA, RevB) technologies and other technologies.

The teachings herein may be incorporated into (e.g., implemented in or performed by) a variety of devices (e.g., nodes). In some aspects, a node (e.g., a wireless node) implemented in accordance with the teachings herein may comprise an access point or an access terminal.

For example, an access terminal may comprise, be implemented as, or referred to as user equipment, a subscriber station, a subscriber unit, a mobile station, a mobile node, a remote station, a remote terminal, a user agent, a user device, or some other terminology. In some implementations, an access terminal may comprise a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device having wireless connection capability, or some other suitable processing device connected to a wireless modem. Accordingly, one or more aspects taught herein may be incorporated into a phone (e.g., a cellular phone or smart phone), a computer (e.g., a notebook), a portable communication device, a portable computing device (e.g., a personal data assistant), an entertainment device (e.g., a music device, a video device, or a satellite radio), a global positioning system device, or any other suitable device configured to communicate over a wireless medium.

An access point may include, be implemented as, or referred to as a node B, an evolved node B, a Radio Network Controller (RNC), a Base Station (BS), a Radio Base Station (RBS), a Base Station Controller (BSC), a Base Transceiver Station (BTS), a Transceiver Function (TF), a radio transceiver, a radio router, a basic service unit (BSs), an extended service unit (ESS), or some other similar terminology.

In some aspects, a node (e.g., an access point) may comprise an access node of a communication system. For example, such an access node may provide a connection for or to a network (e.g., a wide area network such as the internet or a cellular network) through a wired or wireless communication link to the network. Accordingly, an access node may enable another node (e.g., an access terminal) to access a network, or perform some other function. Additionally, it should be understood that one or both of the nodes may be portable or, in some cases, relatively non-portable.

Also, it should be appreciated that wireless nodes may be capable of transmitting and/or receiving information in a non-wireless manner (e.g., via a wired connection). Thus, the receivers and transmitters discussed herein may include suitable communication interface components (e.g., electrical or optical interface components) that communicate over a non-wireless medium.

The wireless nodes may communicate over one or more wireless communication links based on or supporting any suitable wireless communication technology. For example, in some aspects a wireless node may be associated with a network. In some aspects, the network may comprise a local area network or a wide area network. The wireless device may support or use one or more of a variety of wireless communication technologies, protocols, or standards (e.g., CDMA, TDMA, OFDM, OFDMA, WiMAX, Wi-Fi, etc.) as described herein. Similarly, the wireless node may support or use one or more of a variety of corresponding modulation or multiplexing schemes. Accordingly, the wireless node may include suitable components (e.g., air interfaces) to establish and communicate over one or more wireless communication links using the above or other wireless communication techniques. For example, a wireless node may comprise a wireless transceiver with associated transmitter and receiver components, which may include various components (e.g., signal generators and signal processors) that facilitate communication over a wireless medium.

The following embodiments describe another method of augmenting the UE database. Fig. 8 illustrates a method of augmenting a UE220 database based on changes in the macro cell environment 250. In step 802, when the UE220 receives the strongest signal, the UE220 stores the femto cell to neighboring macro cell RF measurements. In step 804, the UE220 performs RF measurements with respect to the macrocell phase offset. In step 806, information about the change in the macro cell environment is downloaded to the UE220 database. The information in the UE220 database is updated each time the UE220 samples a stronger signal from the femto cell. Finally, if there is a large divergence in the measurements reported by the relevant UE and measurements made at the femto cell, the RF measurements at the femto cell may be used to trigger an error condition at the UE.

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a system 900 in accordance with further aspects described herein. System 900 provides an apparatus that can facilitate locating a femto cell. In particular, system 900 may include a number of modules or units, such as an execution module 910, a connection module 920, a download module 930, a transmission or transmit module 940, a processing module 950, and a storage module 960, each of which may be connected to communication link 905 and may communicate with other modules or units over communication link 905.

Those of skill in the art would understand that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present invention.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, which may alternatively be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

The previous description of the disclosed embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims (38)

1. A method for augmenting a User Equipment (UE) database, the method comprising:

performing Radio Frequency (RF) measurements by a femtocell to determine a location of the femtocell;

connecting a UE to the femtocell; and

downloading RF measurements obtained by the femtocell regarding the location of the femtocell into the UE database.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

making RF measurements by the UE; and

comparing the current RF measurements obtained by the UE with the femto cell's own RF measurements to estimate proximity to the femto cell.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the location of the femto cell comprises macro cell system parameters: in the area described by the Base Station (BS) set C, where the pilot exceeds the threshold E_Cthe/Io vector D and has an average pilot phase vector P within a tolerance Q.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the communicating of the RF measurements between the femtocell and the UE uses an over-the-air protocol.

5. A User Equipment (UE), comprising:

a database of femtocells acquired by the UE, personalized for the UE, and stored on the UE;

wherein when the UE connects to a femtocell, the femtocell makes RF measurements, downloads these RF measurements to the UE's database,

wherein the RF measurements are related to the location of the femtocell.

6. The User Equipment (UE) of claim 5 wherein the UE makes RF measurements and compares current RF measurements obtained by the UE to the femto cell's own RF measurements to estimate proximity to the femto cell.

7. The User Equipment (UE) of claim 5, wherein the location of the femto cell comprises macro cell system parameters: in the area described by the Base Station (BS) set C, where the pilot exceeds the threshold E_Cthe/Io vector D and has an average pilot phase vector P within a tolerance Q.

8. The User Equipment (UE) of claim 5 wherein the communication of RF measurements between the femtocell and the UE uses a protocol.

9. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium, comprising:

code for causing at least one computer to perform RF measurements through the femto cell to determine a location of the femto cell;

code for causing at least one computer to connect a UE to the femtocell; and

code for causing at least one computer to download, into a UE database, RF measurements obtained by the femtocell regarding the location of the femtocell.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises:

code for causing at least one computer to perform RF measurements by the UE; and

code for causing at least one computer to compare current RF measurements obtained by the UE to the femto cell's own RF measurements to estimate proximity to the femto cell.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the location of the femto cell comprises macro cell system parameters: in the area described by the Base Station (BS) set C, where the pilot exceeds the threshold E_Cthe/Io vector D and has an average pilot phase vector P within a tolerance Q.

12. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the communication of RF measurements between the femtocell and the UE uses an over-the-air protocol.

13. An apparatus for augmenting a User Equipment (UE) database, comprising:

means for performing, by a femtocell, RF measurements to determine a location of the femtocell;

means for connecting a UE to the femtocell; and

means for downloading RF measurements obtained by the femtocell regarding the location of the femtocell into the UE database.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

means for performing RF measurements by the UE; and

means for comparing current RF measurements acquired by the UE with the femto cell's own RF measurements to estimate proximity to the femto cell.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the location of the femto cell comprises macro cell system parameters: in the area described by the Base Station (BS) set C, where the pilot exceeds the threshold E_Cthe/Io vector D and has an average pilot phase vector P within a tolerance Q.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the communication of RF measurements between the femtocell and the UE uses an over-the-air protocol.

17. A method for augmenting a User Equipment (UE) database to locate a femto cell, the method comprising:

performing RF measurements by a plurality of UEs, wherein the RF measurements determine a location of the femto cell based on the location of the UEs relative to the at least one macro cell;

transmitting location information from the plurality of UEs to a backend server;

processing the location at the back-end server to find an average location of the femto cell;

connecting the UE to the backend server; and

downloading the average location of the femto cell into a database of the UE.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the communication of the location between the back-end server and the UE uses an application running on an existing internet protocol used by the femtocell.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the location of the femto cell comprises macro cell system parameters: in the area described by the Base Station (BS) set C, where the pilot exceeds the threshold E_Cthe/Io vector D and has an average pilot phase vector P within a tolerance Q.

20. A system for augmenting a User Equipment (UE) database to locate a femto cell, the system comprising:

a plurality of User Equipments (UEs);

a database of femtocells acquired by a UE, personalized for the UE, and stored on the UE;

a back-end server comprising a portion of a macrocell mobile network;

wherein the plurality of UEs perform RF measurements, wherein the RF measurements determine a location of the femtocell based on the location of the UEs relative to the at least one macrocell;

wherein the plurality of UEs send the location information to the backend server;

wherein the back-end server processes the location to find an average location of femto cells;

wherein the UE is connected to the backend server; and is

Wherein the back-end server downloads the average location of the femto cell into a database of the UE.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the communication of the location between the back-end server and the UE comprises an application running on an existing internet protocol used by the femtocell.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the location of the femto cell comprises macro cell system parameters: in the area described by the Base Station (BS) set C, where the pilot exceeds the threshold E_Cthe/Io vector D and has an average pilot phase vector P within a tolerance Q.

23. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium, comprising:

code for causing at least one computer to perform, by the UE, the RF measurements;

code for causing at least one computer to perform RF measurements by a plurality of UEs, wherein the RF measurements determine a location of a femto cell based on the location of the UEs relative to at least one macro cell;

code for causing at least one computer to transmit location information from the plurality of UEs to a backend server;

code for causing at least one computer to process the location at the back-end server to find an average location of femto cells;

code for causing at least one computer to connect the UE to the backend server; and

code for causing at least one computer to download the average location of the femto cell to a database of the UE.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the communication of the location between the back-end server and the UE uses an application running on an existing internet protocol used by the femtocell.

25. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the location of the femto cell comprises macro cell system parameters: in the area described by the Base Station (BS) set C, where the pilot exceeds the threshold E_Cthe/Io vector D and has an average pilot phase vector P within a tolerance Q.

26. An apparatus for augmenting a User Equipment (UE) database to locate a femto cell, the apparatus comprising:

means for performing RF measurements by a plurality of UEs, wherein the RF measurements determine a location of the femtocell based on the location of the UEs relative to the at least one macrocell;

means for transmitting location information from the plurality of UEs to a backend server;

means for processing the location at the back-end server to find an average location of the femto cell;

means for connecting a UE to the backend server; and

means for downloading the average location of the femtocell into a database of the UE.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the communication of the location between the back-end server and the UE uses an application running on an existing internet protocol used by the femtocell.

28. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the location of the femto cell comprises macro cell system parameters: in the area described by the Base Station (BS) set C, where the pilot exceeds the threshold E_Cthe/Io vector D and has an average pilot phase vector P within a tolerance Q.

29. A method for augmenting a User Equipment (UE) database, the method comprising:

when a UE receives a strongest signal from a femto cell, the UE storing RF measurements for neighboring macro cells, wherein the strongest signal corresponds to a closest location of the femto cell;

performing, by the UE, RF measurements with respect to a macro cell phase offset; and

downloading information about a change in a macro cell environment into a database of the UE.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising: rewriting an entry into a database of the UE each time the UE samples a stronger signal from the femtocell.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein the RF measurements at the femto cell are used to trigger an error condition at the UE and are deleted from the UE's database if there is a large divergence in the measurements reported by the associated UE.

32. A system for augmenting a User Equipment (UE) database, the system comprising:

a User Equipment (UE);

a database of neighboring macro cells acquired by the UE when accessing a neighboring area and stored in the database of the UE;

wherein the UE stores RF measurements of neighboring macro cells when the UE receives a strongest signal from a femto cell, wherein the strongest signal corresponds to a closest location of the femto cell;

wherein the UE performs RF measurements with respect to a macro cell phase offset; and is

Downloading information about a change in a macro cell environment into a database of the UE.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein an entry is rewritten into the UE's database each time the UE samples a stronger signal from the femto cell.

34. The system of claim 32, wherein the RF measurements at the femto cell are used to trigger an error condition at the UE and are deleted from the UE's database if there is a large divergence in the measurements reported by the associated UE.

35. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium, comprising:

code for causing at least one computer to store, by a UE, RF measurements for neighboring macro cells when the UE receives a strongest signal from a femto cell, wherein the strongest signal corresponds to a closest location of the femto cell;

code for causing at least one computer to perform, by the UE, RF measurements with respect to a macrocell phase offset; and

code for causing at least one computer to download information about a change in a macro cell environment into a database of the UE.

36. An apparatus for augmenting a User Equipment (UE) database, comprising:

means for storing, by a UE, RF measurements for neighboring macro cells when the UE receives a strongest signal from a femto cell, wherein the strongest signal corresponds to a closest location of the femto cell;

means for performing, by the UE, RF measurements with respect to a macro cell phase offset; and

means for downloading information about a change in a macro cell environment into a database of the UE.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, further comprising means for rewriting an entry into a database of the UE each time the UE samples a stronger signal from the femtocell.

38. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the RF measurements at the femto cell are used to trigger an error condition at the UE and are deleted from the UE's database if there is a large divergence in the measurements reported by the associated UE.