HK1151162A - Centralized mobile access point acquisition - Google Patents

Description

Centralized mobile access point acquisition

Claiming priority based on 35U.S.C. § 119

This patent application claims priority to the following U.S. provisional applications:

application No.60/978,744 entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD OF meeting OF ACCESS POINT BASE STATIONS", filed on 9.10.2007;

application No.60/978,746 entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD toptomize acid OF ACCESs SPOINT BASE STATIONS", filed on 9/10/2007;

application No.60/978,747 entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD TOFACILITATE PREFERRED ROAMING LIST PROVISION IN ACCESSPOINT BASE STATIONS", filed on 9/10/2007;

application No.60/978,750 entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD TOFACILITATE A CENTRALIZED FEMTO PREFERED ROAMING LISTCONGURATION", filed on 9/10/2007; each of the above applications is assigned to the assignee of the present application and is hereby expressly incorporated by reference.

Co-pending patent application

This patent application is related to the following co-pending U.S. patent application "DISTRIBUTED MOBILE ACCESS POINT ACCESS request," to Srinivasan balaubamanian et al, having attorney docket No.072357U2, filed herewith, assigned to the assignee of the present application, and expressly incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

The following disclosure relates generally to wireless communications, and more particularly to managing remote access for devices in a hybrid access point environment.

Background

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication (e.g., voice, data, multimedia services, etc.) to multiple users. Subscription-based services allow users to access and use a variety of communication content through the service provider's network. With the rapidly growing demand for high-rate and multimedia data services, there is a challenge to implement efficient and robust communication systems with enhanced performance.

Conventional fixed line communication systems, such as Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), cable or dial-up network access technologies provided by Internet Service Providers (ISPs), are an alternative and sometimes competitive communication platform for wireless communications. However, in recent years, users have begun replacing fixed line communications with mobile communications. Several advantages of mobile communication systems, such as user mobility, the relatively small size and easy access of User Equipment (UE) to the public switched telephone network and the internet, have made such systems convenient and therefore widespread. As users have come to rely more on mobile systems to obtain communication services traditionally obtained through fixed line systems, the demand for increased bandwidth, reliable service, high voice quality, and low price has increased.

In addition to the currently existing mobile telephone networks, a new class of small base stations has emerged. These small base stations are low power and can typically use fixed line communications to connect with the mobile operator's core network. In addition, these base stations may be distributed for personal use/exclusive use in homes, offices, apartments, and private entertainment facilities, etc., to provide indoor/outdoor wireless coverage to mobile units. These personal base stations are generally referred to as access point base stations, or as home node B units (HNBs) or femtocells. Femtocell base stations offer a new model in mobile network connectivity that allows users to directly control mobile network access and access quality.

Disclosure of Invention

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

The subject disclosure provides centralized and distributed access management for different types of mobile network access points. In some aspects, a network component can generate a System Determination List (SDL) for a User Terminal (UT) that is customized for access capabilities of the UT and/or a current location of the UT. The SDL can be used by the UT to determine which network access points to camp on or handover to. The network components may include: a network database that maintains UT user and associated home femtocell information; or a Home Location Register (HLR) of the network operator. Alternatively, the information can be obtained over the air from the UT or from a Base Station (BS) served by the UT.

In other aspects of the subject disclosure, network access point management can be managed by a femto-capable UT and/or an access point of a mobile network to provide distributed access point management. An interface application maintained at the femtocell can facilitate communications between the femtocell and a femto-capable UT. Upon initial power up and/or acquisition, a bootstrapping process can be implemented to establish a connection between the femtocell and the femto UT. The bootstrap process can be used by a femtocell to configure a UT with an SDL that establishes the femtocell as a high priority access point in a particular geographic area (GEO) or home GEO. Thus, when the femto UT is in the home GEO, the UT is more likely to acquire, camp on, and/or handoff to the femto cell. When outside the home GEO, the mobile network can provision the femto UT over the air with a custom SDL that fits into the non-home GEO area, which establishes the non-femto cell as a higher priority access point.

In some aspects of the subject disclosure, a method for facilitating remote access to a mobile network is provided. The method may include: UT-specific information is obtained, and access capabilities of the UT are determined using the UT-specific information. Additionally, the method may include: a custom SDL is generated for selecting between different types of access points based on access capabilities of the UT.

According to further aspects, an apparatus that facilitates remote access to a mobile network is disclosed. The apparatus may include: a communication processor that obtains UT-specific information via a data link with a Base Station (BS) serving the UT or an airlink with the UT; and a data analyzer that determines access capabilities of the UT using the UT-specific information. Moreover, the apparatus can include an SDL module that generates a custom SDL for selecting between different types of access points based on access capabilities of the UT.

In one or more other aspects, an apparatus configured to facilitate remote access to a mobile network is provided. The apparatus may include: means for obtaining UT-specific information; and means for determining access capabilities of the UT using the UT-specific information. In addition, the apparatus may include: means for generating a custom SDL for selecting between different types of access points based on access capabilities of the UT.

According to other aspects, a processor configured to facilitate remote access to a mobile network is provided. The processor may include: a first module configured to obtain UT-specific information; and a second module configured to determine access capabilities of the UT using UT-specific information. Additionally, the processor can include a third module configured to generate a custom SDL for selecting between different types of access points based on access capabilities of the UT.

In at least one additional aspect, a computer program product is disclosed that includes a computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium may include: a first set of codes for causing a computer to obtain UT-specific information; and a second set of codes for causing the computer to determine access capabilities of the UT using the UT-specific information. Additionally, the computer-readable medium can comprise a third set of codes for causing the computer to generate a custom SDL for selecting between different types of access points based on access capabilities of the UT.

In accordance with further aspects of the subject disclosure, a method for selecting an access point for a mobile network is provided. The method may include: submitting a network registration request to a cell of the mobile network, the network registration request including a UT ID; and obtaining a customized SDL configured for the UT ID, the customized SDL establishing a preferred access point type according to a characteristic of the UT. Additionally, the method may include: searching for neighboring cells using the customized SDL if the cell is not a preferred cell or a non-preferred cell.

In a further aspect, a UT configured to select an access point for a mobile network is provided. The UT may include: a communication processor that submits a network registration request to a cell of the mobile network, the network registration request including a UT ID; and a receiver that obtains a custom SDL configured for the UT ID, the custom SDL establishing a preferred access point type as a function of a characteristic of the UT. Moreover, the UT can include a base station reselection module that searches for a neighboring cell using the custom SDL if the cell is not a preferred cell or a non-preferred cell.

In addition to the foregoing, an apparatus configured to select an access point for a mobile network is disclosed. The apparatus may include: means for submitting a network registration request to a cell of the mobile network, the network registration request including a UT ID; and means for obtaining a custom SDL configured for the UT ID, the custom SDL establishing a preferred access point type as a function of a characteristic of the UT. Moreover, the apparatus can include means for searching for a neighboring cell using the custom SDL if the cell is not a preferred cell or a non-preferred cell.

In accordance with one or more other aspects, a processor configured to select between access points of a mobile network is disclosed. The processor can include a first module that submits a network registration request to a cell of the mobile network, the network registration request including a UT ID; and a second module that obtains a customized SDL configured for the UT ID, the customized SDL establishing a preferred access point type as a function of characteristics of the UT. Also, the processor can include a third module that searches for a neighboring cell using the custom SDL if the cell is not a preferred cell or a non-preferred cell.

In at least one additional aspect, a computer program product is disclosed that includes a computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium may include: a first set of codes for causing a computer to submit a network registration request to a cell of the mobile network, the network registration request comprising a UT ID; and a second set of codes for causing the computer to obtain a customized SDL configured for the UT ID, the customized SDL establishing a preferred access point type as a function of characteristics of the UT. Also, the computer-readable medium can comprise a third set of codes for causing the computer to search for neighboring cells using the custom SDL if the cell is not a preferred cell or a non-preferred cell.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects 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 aspects. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspects may be employed and the described aspects are intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.

Drawings

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an example wireless communication environment in accordance with aspects of the subject disclosure.

Fig. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an example wireless network including a femtocell Base Station (BS), in accordance with other aspects.

Fig. 3 depicts a block diagram of an example system that configures a User Terminal (UT) with a System Determination List (SDL) for femto cell acquisition.

Fig. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an example system that facilitates selective BS acquisition as a function of capabilities of a UT.

Fig. 5 depicts a block diagram of an example system that employs distributed access point management for UTs.

Fig. 6 illustrates a block diagram of an example system that configures a UT using a boot configuration in accordance with some aspects disclosed herein.

Fig. 7 depicts a block diagram of an example environment including various femtocell networks dispersed therein and a macro access environment.

Fig. 8 depicts a block diagram of an example customized SDL to facilitate GEO-specific access point management, in accordance with some aspects.

Fig. 9 illustrates a block diagram of an example system that includes a femto BS communicatively coupled with one or more UTs, in accordance with some aspects.

Fig. 10 depicts a block diagram of an example system that includes a femto-enabled UT communicatively coupled with one or more BSs.

Fig. 11 illustrates a flow diagram of an example method for providing centralized access point management in a mobile environment.

Fig. 12 illustrates a flow diagram of an example method for obtaining UT-specific information to generate a customized SDL, in accordance with some aspects.

Fig. 13 depicts a flow diagram of an example method for accessing a mobile network using a custom SDL.

Fig. 14 depicts a flow diagram of an example method for providing distributed access point management in a mobile environment.

Fig. 15 illustrates a flow diagram of an example method for interfacing with a femtocell to generate an SDL customized for a particular UT.

Fig. 16 illustrates a flow chart of an example method for selecting a preferred access point for a mobile network using a customized SDL.

Fig. 17 depicts a block diagram of an example system that provides centralized access point management for mobile networking.

Fig. 18 shows a block diagram of an example system for accessing a mobile network BS using a custom SDL.

Fig. 19 illustrates a block diagram of an example system that provides distributed access point management for mobile networking.

Fig. 20 depicts a block diagram of an example system that facilitates distributed access point management for a mobile network.

Detailed Description

Various aspects are now described with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. 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 such aspect(s) 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 one or more aspects.

Further, various aspects of the disclosure are described below. It should be apparent that the teachings herein may be embodied in a wide variety of forms and that any specific structure and/or function disclosed herein is merely representative. Based on the teachings herein one skilled in the art should appreciate that an aspect disclosed herein may be implemented independently of any other aspects and that two or more of these aspects may be combined in various ways. For example, an apparatus may be implemented and/or a method practiced using any number of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, an apparatus may be implemented and/or a method practiced using other structure and/or functionality in addition to or other than one or more of the aspects set forth herein. As one example, many of the methods, devices, systems, and apparatuses described herein are described in the context of improved network access in a mobile environment that includes different types of access points. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that similar techniques can be applied to other communication environments.

The development of wireless access points for communication networks has been one solution provided to enable convergence between conventional wireless communication systems and conventional fixed line communication systems. The convergence, also known as fixed-wireless convergence, relates to the degree of interoperability between fixed line networks (e.g., intranets, the internet, etc.) and mobile communication networks (e.g., cellular telephone networks). A Base Station (BS) provides radio access to a network of a mobile communications operator, such as a circuit switched voice network (e.g., a code division multiple access [ CDMA ]1-X or CDMA 1X network), a combined circuit switched and packet switched voice and data network (e.g., a CDMA evolution data optimized [ EV-DO ] network), or a full packet voice and data network (e.g., a long term evolution [ LTE ] network). Examples of access points, BSs, (also referred to herein as BSs) include node BS (nb), Base Transceiver Stations (BTS), home node BS (hnb), or BSs only, of various transmit powers/cell sizes, including macrocells, microcells, picocells, femtocells, and so forth.

The introduction of various types of access points BS into a conventional macro BS network enables significant flexibility and consumer control in terms of personal access to such networks. The user may configure the terminal device to select a nearby access point BS or macro network BS from time to time, depending on which provides a better signal. In addition, the access point BS may provide a better rate plan than the macro network, at least in some cases, enabling the user to reduce usage costs.

However, because typical macro networks often deploy large-scale public use as the primary market, indoor reception is often inferior to outdoor reception (e.g., due to radio frequency signals being absorbed by buildings, insulation, terrain, etc.), making mobile devices less effective than fixed-line computers in such environments. However, the access point BS may provide significant improvements in such an environment. As one example, femtocell technology provides users with significant control of personal wireless connections, both indoors and outdoors, often eliminating most or all of such connection problems. Thus, the femto BS may further extend UT mobility even in sub-optimal environments for macro networks.

Despite the significant advantages of femto BS and other access point deployments, problems arise due to the increased complexity in coupling femto BSs with operator's macro networks. For example, access point deployment, particularly in the case of femto cells, is typically unplanned or semi-planned, meaning that the BSs are installed outside the control of the network operator. Thus, operators have limited ability to achieve ideal placement of these access points relative to other such access points or relative to macro BSs. Moreover, spatial shaping of wireless signals relative to other femtocells or even accurate knowledge of the location of such cells can be severely limited. In addition, when femto BS deployment is open to consumer purchase and installation, very dense installation of such cells can occur in densely populated cities or commercial areas, resulting in wireless resource competition between nearby femto and macro cells. Also, the femto BS may be associated with a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) and provide network access only to members of the CSG; in such a case, access is not provided to the general cellular public, for example. Thus, femto deployment in a macro network integrates a Restricted Access (RA) BS with a Generic Access (GA) BS.

Many conventional UTs are not equipped to distinguish between GA BSs and RA BSs, especially if such BSs all use cellular frequencies, and thus may spend a significant amount of power searching for and attempting to access RA BSs that refuse to serve the UT. In addition, conventional terminals and conventional wireless networking standards require mobile terminals to scan incoming wireless signals to identify the best signal. This is generally a viable process when there are only a few nearby BSs that the terminal can distinguish. However, in a dense deployment of access points, tens or hundreds of access points may exist in close proximity to one another (e.g., in a large city apartment building). If the home access point of a UT with its CSG is in the dense deployment, it can be a significant problem to distinguish the home access point from hundreds or thousands of closely located foreign access points. For example, the UT may use significant power to camp (analyze the pilot and control channels) or to send signals to foreign access points that will deny network access to the UT.

When the UT is not in an area including the home access point (or when the UT has no active subscription to the femto BS, for example), the problem becomes to distinguish the RA BS from the General Access (GA) BS and ignore the RA BS. In addition, although femto BSs may be deployed on different frequencies than a macro network, in some cases, femto cells and macro cells share one or more network frequencies and are therefore less easily distinguished. Therefore, the femto BS needs to be distinguished from the macro network BS. In addition, it may be beneficial to limit the UT signaling to the RABS when it is not possible to find a home BS. Also, when a home BS is expected to be found, it may be beneficial to increase the probability of signaling or searching for an RA BS and reduce redundant signaling to foreign femto BSs. Aspects of the subject disclosure may provide improvements to many of the problems described above.

To address some of the above and similar problems, the subject disclosure provides mobile network parameterization for user terminal access to a hybrid macrocell and femtocell access network. The parameterization may be used to direct the UT to one or another cell or frequency channel, etc., to increase the likelihood that the UE will find a preferred cell, when applicable, or ignore a non-preferred cell. In some implementations, a femto System Identifier (SID) that is different from a macro network identifier (SID) is reserved for all femto cells. Accordingly, the receiving terminal can distinguish the femto cell transmitting the femto SID from the macro BS. In addition, each femto cell of the femto network is assigned a different network ID or node ID (nid). In some aspects, each femtocell may be further assigned a cell ID, e.g., when NID reuse is required, which may optionally include a modified NID based on additional data, such as a physical address of a user, a Mobile Station Identifier (MSI), or an international MSI (imsi), etc. Accordingly, by including SID/NID/cell ID in the transmitted signal, the femto BS can be distinguished from the macro BS and can be distinguished from other femto BSs.

Thus, for example, the above-described parameterization can be used to direct a UT capable of accessing a femtocell to a nearby femtocell or frequency channel used by the femtocell, based on the femto SID/NID and optionally the cell ID. The parameterization may identify one or more home femto cells as preferred or high priority network access points. The preferred or high priority status may cause the femto UT to acquire such a cell if the femto UE detects wireless signals transmitted by the home femto cell, or to handover to such a cell if already camped on another network cell. If the femto UT is not currently camped on the home femtocell, the UT may periodically search for nearby cells to find a preferred femtocell.

In some aspects of the disclosure, a second parameterization may be provided to a femto-unable UT or a macro UT for directing such terminals away from a femto cell or towards a macro cell or both. If a femto cell shares a common frequency channel or carrier with a macro cell, then the parameterization may establish the macro cell as a preferred or high priority cell relative to the femto cell. Such relative priority may cause the macro UT to select a macro cell instead of a femto cell, or cause the macro UT to periodically search for a macro cell while camped on a femto cell. The parameterization may exclude femto cell data if the femto cell and macro cell are deployed on different frequency channels, such that the macro UT ignores signals originated by the femto cell. In at least some aspects of the subject disclosure, the parameterization may include a system determination list (SDL, see below) (e.g., a preferred roaming list) that optionally establishes cell priority based on a particular geographic area or access/registration area of the network. Thus, macro-UTs and femto-capable UTs may be selectively configured to optionally improve the likelihood of acquiring a particular type of cell depending on where the UT is located (see below).

According to other aspects, directing a UT to or from a particular type of cell can be accomplished according to a geographic area (GEO) in which the UT is currently located. For example, if a femto-capable UT is located in the GEO where the home femto cell is located, a network parameterization (e.g., SDL) may be provided for directing the femto UT to the preferred femto cell. Alternatively or additionally, the parameterization may specify cell priority based on the current GEO. Thus, in one or more home GEO, the parameterization may designate the femto cell as a higher relative priority than other cells, such as macro cells. On the other hand, when the femto UT is in a non-home GEO, the lowest priority may be provided to the femto cell. In this way, the set of parameterizations will not need to be updated over the network as the UT travels from GEO to GEO. In either case, relative cell priorities can be established based on whether the femto UT can expect to find a home femto cell based on the current GEO in which the femto UT is located.

Configuring the UT with appropriate parameterization according to UT capability and/or UT location can be implemented in various suitable ways. In at least one aspect, a femto database can be maintained in a mobile network, including UT-specific information. Information identifying the UT can be provided to the network when the UT attempts to register on the cell. The network can then determine whether the UT is attempting to register on a macro cell or a femto cell, and in the latter case, whether the femto cell is a home cell on which the UT is authorized to access the mobile network or a foreign cell on which the UT is not authorized to make such access. If the UT is registering on a macrocell, a parameterization can be sent over-the-air (OTA) to the UT (e.g., from the macrocell or a nearby femtocell) for increasing the likelihood that the UT will search for and acquire the femtocell, optionally conditioned on the UT being in a home GEO. If the UT is registering with a foreign femtocell, the UT may be provided with different sets of parameters for directing the UT to search for other femtocells, to search for other frequencies, to search for macrocells, or a combination thereof. If the UT is registering on a home femtocell, a third parameterization can be provided to the UT for increasing the likelihood that the UT will remain on the home femtocell (e.g., by establishing a high threshold value above which the UT searches for or hands off to other cells).

According to other aspects, parameterization can be implemented dynamically based on UT information when the UT is registered on a cell. In such an aspect, UT-specific information can be provided to the mobile network, which can generate or update a customized System Determination List (SDL) (e.g., preferred roaming list PRL, etc.) of the UT. The customized SDL can include appropriate parameterization for the UT based on whether the UT is femto-capable and, optionally, based on what GEO the UT is currently located. The UT-specific information, current GEO information, and home GEO information, which are used to dynamically configure the SDL, may be obtained in various suitable manners. In at least one aspect, the UT information or home GEO can be obtained from a directory of an operator (e.g., a home location register [ HLR ], or like device) maintained by a mobile operator of the UT. In other aspects, the UT can store such information and provide the information with the registration request. In other aspects, the user may manually enter this information onto the UT (e.g., by dialing a service number and including UT-specific information), which may be uploaded with the registration or sent to the mobile network on an uplink channel. Once the UT-specific information is received by the network, a dynamic SDL can be generated and sent over the air to the UT.

As an alternative to the foregoing, a bootstrapping procedure can be used to generate a dedicated bootstrapping SDL when a femto UT is paired with a home femtocell or an initial configuration is established with a home femtocell. When a femto cell powers up and connects to a mobile network, it can generate a bootstrap SDL and a femto SDL, which can specify the identity of the femto cell as well as a bootstrap cell ID and/or bootstrap channel for providing the SDL to the femto UT. Femto SDLs, on the other hand, can specify typical systems, networks, and frequency channels used in the communication of ordinary femto cells and UTs. When the femto UT is paired with the femto cell, the bootstrap SDL and the femto SDL can be sent over the air to the femto UT. A femto UT may use bootstrap SDL when it first powers up or when it is handed over from a different mobile system (e.g., transitioning between a third generation partnership project [3GPP ] system and a third 3GPP2 system) to obtain a femto cell. Once obtained, the femto cell can update the femto SDL at the femto UT as necessary. The femto UT can then use the femto SDL to acquire the femto cell, search for other cells, handover to other cells, or handover to the femto cell, or a combination thereof.

According to other aspects, an application interface can be established on a femtocell that allows the femtocell to communicate with any suitable femto UT. Such communication can be established to determine whether the femto UT is included in a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) associated with the femtocell, and is thus authorized to register on the femtocell. Additionally, such an interface may be used to configure a guest femto UT to temporarily access and register on a femto cell. Upon establishing a connection to a femtocell through an application interface, the femto UT can analyze received signals, including macrocell signals and other nearby femtocell signals, and provide the femtocell with information related to surrounding networks. The femtocell may then generate a dynamic SDL based on the surrounding network information, the dynamic SDL including the best cell selection parameters. For example, dynamic SDL may set the relative priorities of the macro network and the femto cell. Alternatively or additionally, dynamic SDL may establish nearby femtocells as preferred or non-preferred cells; the latter is blacklisted by dynamic SDLs. Dynamic SDLs can be provided to femto UTs, which can be used by femto UTs in cell selection and handover procedures. By using information of the surrounding network, the dynamic cell does not have to generate an exhaustive list of alien femto cells to be blacklisted. Rather, only those femtocells that are close enough (e.g., have sufficiently strong pilot signals) to interfere with the configured femtocell may be blacklisted, enabling smaller size dynamic SDL. In addition to the foregoing, the femto cell can update the dynamic SDL if a change in the surrounding network occurs, and push the updated SDL over the air to the femto UT via an application interface. Accordingly, the femto UT can be configured with updated network information to optimize search and acquisition functionality in an evolved network deployment.

The techniques described herein may be used for various wireless communication systems such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (ofdma), SC-FDMA (single-carrier FDMA), and other systems. The terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably. A CDMA system may implement a radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), CDMA2000, etc. UTRA includes wideband CDMA (W-CDMA) and other variations of CDMA. CDMA2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. TDMA systems may implement wireless technologies such as global system for mobile communications (GSM). OFDMA systems may implement methods such as evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11(Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16(WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, and,Etc. wireless technologies. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). LTE (long term evolution) is an upcoming release of UMTS using E-URTA, which uses OFDMA on the downlink and SC-FDMA on the uplink. In a plant from "UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, and GSM are described in documents of the third Generation partnership project "(3 GPP) organization. CDMA2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization named "third generation partnership project 2" (3GPP 2).

The terms "component," "system," and "module" as used in the subject disclosure are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, software in execution, firmware, middleware, microcode, and/or any combination thereof. For example, a module may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, a device, and/or a computer. One or more modules may reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a module may be localized on one electronic device and/or distributed between two or more electronic devices. Also, the modules can execute from various computer readable media having various data structures stored thereon. The modules may communicate by way of local and/or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal having one or more data packets (e.g., data from one component interacting with another component in a local system, distributed system, and/or across a network such as the internet with other systems by way of the signal). Additionally, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the components or modules of the systems described herein can be rearranged or complimented by other components/modules/systems in order to facilitate attaining the various aspects, goals, advantages, etc., described with regard to the precise configurations set forth in a given figure, which are not limiting.

In addition, various aspects are described herein in connection with a user terminal-UT. A UT can also be called a system, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile communication device, mobile device, remote station, remote terminal, Access Terminal (AT), User Agent (UA), user device, or User Equipment (UE). A subscriber station may be 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 other processing device connected to a wireless modem or similar mechanism that facilitates wireless communication with a processing device.

In one or more exemplary embodiments, the functions described may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, or any suitable combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes computer-readable hardware including computer storage media and hardware communication media, and communication media includes any software, middleware, firmware, microcode, and/or hardware media that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another.

Computer storage media, as used herein, may be any physical media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such storage media can include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, smart cards and flash memory devices (e.g., card, stick, key drive, etc.), or any other suitable medium that can be used to carry or store program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. A hardware communication medium may include any suitable device or data connection that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one entity to another entity using, at least in part, electronic, mechanical, and/or electromechanical hardware. Generally, a data connection is also properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if a program, software, or other data is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), communication bus structure, ethernet, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium, and any suitable hardware components associated with such medium are included in the definition of hardware communication medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes Compact Disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

For a hardware implementation, the various illustrative logics, logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, general purpose processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may 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 suitable configuration. Additionally, at least one processor may comprise one or more modules operable to perform one or more of the steps and/or actions described herein.

In addition, various aspects or features described herein may be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques. Additionally, the steps and/or actions of a method or algorithm described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. Additionally, in some aspects, the steps or actions of a method or algorithm may reside as one or any combination or set of codes or instructions on a device-readable medium, machine-readable medium, and/or computer-readable medium, which may be incorporated into a computer program product. The term "article of manufacture" as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device or media.

Additionally, the word "exemplary" is used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any aspect or design described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs. Rather, use of the word exemplary is intended to introduce a concept in a detailed manner. As used in this application and the appended claims, the term "or" is intended to mean an inclusive "or" rather than an exclusive "or". That is, unless specified otherwise, or clear from context, "X employs A or B" is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, if X employs A; b is used as X; or X employs A and B, then "X employs A or B" is satisfied in any of the cases previously mentioned. In addition, the articles "a" and "an" as used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean "one or more" unless specified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form.

As used herein, the term to "infer" or "inference" refers generally to the process of reasoning about or inferring states of the system, environment, and/or user from a set of observations as collected via events and/or data. Inference can be employed to identify a specific context or action, or can generate a probability distribution over states, for example. The inference can be probabilistic-that is, the computation of a probability distribution over states of interest based on a consideration of data and events. Inference can also refer to techniques employed for composing higher-level events from a set of events and/or data. Such inference results in the construction of new events or actions from a set of observed events and/or stored event data, whether or not the events are correlated in close temporal proximity, and whether the events and data come from one or several event and data sources.

Referring to the drawings, 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, the system 100 provides communication for a plurality of cells, such as macro cells 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, 102e, 102f, 102g (or macro cells 102a-102g), each of which is served by a corresponding Access Point (AP)104a, 104b, 104c, 104d, 104e, 104f, 104g (or APs 104a-104 g). Each cell 102a-102g may be further divided into one or more sectors. The various UTs 106a, 106b, 106c, 106d, 106e, 106f, 106g, 106h, 106i, 106j, 106k (or UTs 106a-106k) are dispersed throughout system 100. Each AT 106a-106k may communicate with one or more APs 104a-104g on a Forward Link (FL) and/or a Reverse Link (RL) AT a given moment, depending on whether the AT (106a-106k) is active or 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 adjacent blocks.

Fig. 2 depicts an exemplary communication system 200 for implementing deployment of BSs (e.g., macro BSs, femto BSs) in a network environment. The system 200 includes a plurality of BSs including femto BSs 210, each femto BS 210 being installed in a corresponding small-scale network environment. Examples of small scale network environments may include user residences, businesses, and indoor/outdoor facilities 230, among others. The femto BS 210 may be configured to serve the associated UT 220 (e.g., included in a CSG associated with the femto BS 210), or alternatively serve an alien or visiting UT 220 (e.g., a CSG that is not configured for the femto BS 210). Each femto BS 210 is also coupled to the internet 240 and the mobile operator core network 250 via a DSL router (not shown) or via a cable modem, a power line broadband connection, a satellite internet connection, or similar broadband internet connection (not shown).

To enable wireless services through the femto BS 210, the owner of the femto BS 210 subscribes to mobile services, such as 3G mobile services provided through the mobile operator core network 250. Moreover, the UT 220 can operate in a macro-cellular environment and/or in a residential small-scale network environment using the various techniques described herein. Thus, in at least some disclosed aspects, the femto BS 210 may be backward compatible with any suitable existing UT 220. Moreover, in addition to the macro cell mobile network 250, the UT 220 may be served by a predetermined number of femto BSs 210, the predetermined number of femto BSs 210 being in particular femto BSs 210 residing in a corresponding one or more user residences, businesses or indoor/outdoor facilities 230, and the UT 220 cannot be in a soft handover state with the macro network 250. It should be appreciated that although 3GPP terminology is used for the aspects described herein, it should be understood that the aspects may also be applied to 3GPP technologies (release 99, release 5, release 6, release 7) as well as 3GPP2 technologies (1xRTT, 1xEV-DO release 0, revision a, revision B) and other known and related technologies.

Fig. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an example system 300 that provides centralized access point management in a mobile communication environment. Suitable mobile environments may include GA macro access points (e.g., macro cells, micro cells, pico cells, or even femto cells set to GA in some cases), and RA femto access points with restricted CSG. Because system 300 is centralized, access point management can be provided to UTs served by multiple BSs or all UTs served by a network of BSs. As an illustrative example, if system 300 is located at a Base Station Controller (BSC) for managing several BSS of a Base Station Subsystem (BSS), access point management may be provided by system 300 for each BS of the BSS. Likewise, if the system 300 is located at a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) or Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) of a system using GPRS (general packet radio system), access management can be provided for all BSs served by the MSC and/or SGSN. Additionally or alternatively, system 300 may be located in an operator's core network such that access point management can be centrally managed at the core network for all BSs coupled to the core network. In some cases, system 300 may be deployed on a centralized network of femtocells, on an internet server, or in an operator's core network (e.g., at an internet gateway of such a network) to facilitate access management for each femtocell.

The system 300 includes a configuration module 302 that facilitates access point selection for a UT coupled with a mobile network. The configuration module 302 can generate a System Determination List (SDL) (see, e.g., fig. 8, below) that can be used by the UT to select between a plurality of available access points to the mobile network. Additionally, the configuration module 302 can be customized to the UT based at least on femto capabilities of the UT. Thus, for example, a first type of SDL can be customized for a femto-incapable UT and a second type of SDL can be customized for a femto-capable UT. Additionally, the second type of SDL for each femto-capable UT can be personalized to, for example, identify femto cells that allow network access to a particular femto UT.

To customize the SDL, the configuration module 302 can include an SDL module 308 that obtains UE-specific and femtocell-specific data from the UE-femto data analyzer 306. The communication processor 304 may be coupled to various external sources to obtain information. For example, the configuration module 302 can use the communication processor 304 to couple to a particular femtocell (e.g., via an internet gateway that communicates with the femtocell over the internet) to obtain femtocell data or data related to a UT coupled to the femtocell (e.g., MSI, IMSI, electronic serial number [ ESN ], or similar unique ID of the UT). Alternatively or additionally, the communication processor 304 can couple to the femto UT using a macro network (not shown) to obtain such information. In other aspects, the communications processor can be coupled with a femto database (see, e.g., fig. 4 below) or an operator's home location register, where such register stores femto-UT data.

Data obtained by the communications processor 304 is provided to the UE-femto data analyzer 306 to extract relevant information. Such information may include the SID of the serving BS (e.g., femto SID, macro SID reserved for femto cells) and a subset of the NID and/or cell ID of the cell associated with the SID. Also, the extracted information can include ID information of the UT attempting to register on the mobile network. The SDL module 308 can generate a default SDL (e.g., PRL) for UTs coupled with the macro BS, UTs that are not capable of accessing the femto (determined at least in part from UT data), or UTs that are not in the home GEO. The default SDL may contain a list of macro SIDs/NIDs (or other node IDs, such as subnet IDs in an EV-DO system) to which the UT may connect. In some aspects, the SDL may establish one or more SIDs/NIDs as preferred IDs, as described in more detail below.

For custom SDLs, the SDL module 308 can provide the SDL with information related to a particular UT or cell serving the UT. Thus, for example, if the particular UT is a femto-capable UT, the SID reserved for the femto BS may be included in the custom SDL. Using such a custom SDL, the UT can identify signals originating from the femto cell that include the reserved SID. Also, the custom SDL may include a subset of the NID and/or cell ID associated with the femto SID. Thus, the UT may ignore signals that do not include a subset of NIDs/cell IDs, or may analyze signals that include a subset of NIDs/cell IDs only in conjunction with signals that include a different SID (e.g., a macro SID). In some aspects, the subset of NIDs/cell IDs may include one or more NIDs/cell IDs of a home femtocell associated with the femto UT being registered.

In accordance with some aspects of the subject disclosure, the SDL module 308 may establish one or more system and/or network IDs as preferred, one or more other system and/or network IDs as non-preferred, indicate no particular preference for system and/or network IDs, or perform a combination thereof. Thus, the UT may select between one or more signals based on signal strength and/or quality and SID/NID preference status. When the UT is provisioned with a custom SDL having one or more preferred SID/NIDs, the UT may continue to search for the preferred SID/NID even when currently coupled to a non-preferred cell or a cell without a priority status. Additionally, if the UT acquires the preferred SID/NID, a high threshold may be established above which the UT will search for other BSs. Thus, as a particular example, a UT, when coupled to a preferred cell, can ignore neighboring cells unless the signal strength of the preferred cell falls below a lower threshold or the signal strength difference between the preferred cell and the neighboring cell exceeds a larger threshold-which is favorable for the neighboring cell.

According to other aspects, the SDL may be configured according to one or more GEO. Thus, the available SID/NID in the GEO in which the cell that obtained the registration request resides may be included in the SDL. In some aspects, the SDL may also include an adjacent GEO and an associated SID/NID if the UT travels outside of the current GEO. For SDLs customized for a femto UT, if the current GEO is a home GEO associated with the femto UT, the current CEO may contain a macro BS SID/NID and one or more femto SIDs/NIDs. In addition, the femto SID/NID can be provided with a preferred status for directing the UT to a favored femto cell rather than other types of network access points, as described above. If the current GEO is not a home GEO, the SDL may be configured to not contain the femto SID/NID, such that the femto UT can ignore wasted signaling for alien femto cells. Thus, the custom SDL can be used to retain overhead signaling for femto UTs by: the femto cell SID/NID is listed as preferred when a home femto cell can be expected to be found (e.g., in one or more home GEO), and excluded when a femto cell cannot be expected to be found (e.g., outside of a home GEO).

Fig. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an example system 400 that provides access point management of UTs 404A, 404B of different access capabilities for the example system 400. The system 400 can include a configuration module 402 that generates an SDL for a UT based on respective UT capabilities. The configuration module 402 can receive a registration request at the communication processor 408 from an access point, such as a macro access point 406A or a femto access point 406B, that includes ID information (e.g., MSI, IMSI, ESN, etc.) of the registered UTs 404A, 404B. The ID information may be used to obtain user information at various network databases (416). For example, if the registered UT is femto UT 404B, UE-cell data analyzer 412 can access network femto database 414. The femto database 414 can store a user profile 416 that indicates what user femto UTs (404A) are allowed to access a particular femto cell (406B) and what femto cell (406B) is the home cell for the particular user's femto UT (404A). Additionally, the database 414 can indicate the associated GEO for each femto cell (406B) and one or more home GEO for each femto UT (404A). Thus, using the ID of registered femto UT404A, configuration module 402 can identify the femto cells (406B) associated with such ID and the GEO of those cells. If femto UT404A is in the home GEO, a customized SDL can be generated by SDL module 422, which SDL module 422 is configured to identify a home femto cell and establish such cell as a preferred cell. Otherwise, the SDL may include a macrocell SID/NID for directing the femto UT to search for and/or remain coupled to the macrocell.

Alternatively or in addition to the above, the configuration module 402 may include a data interface 418, which may be coupled to the internet and/or a mobile core network 420. Thus, data interface 418 may communicate with such cells 406B using an internet gateway (not shown) used by femto cell 406B. The data interface can be used to query the femtocell 406B and obtain ID information for such cells and/or UTs (404B) coupled to the femtocell 406B. Additionally, the data interface may communicate with the macro core network 420 to obtain UT user information. In some aspects, such information may include user ID information. The user ID information may be used to establish a particular GEO for the femtocell 406B. As an example, a femto GEO may be established using a physical address (e.g., mailing address), zip code, and/or the like. Thus, the femto GEO may be a smaller area surrounding the femto cell 406B for limiting the number of other access points (406A) included in the GEO of the femto cell. If the registered UT is a femto UT (404A) and the home GEO of the femto UT (404A) is the same as the GEO of the femto cell 406B, the femto GEO and SID/NID/cell ID of the femto cell 406B may be included in a custom SDL provided to the UT by the SDL module 422. Otherwise, an SDL containing the macro BS SID/NID/cell ID may be generated and provided to the UT, such that the UT ignores the femto cell signals and instead searches for macro signals.

Fig. 5 depicts a block diagram of an example system 500 that provides distributed access point management of UTs 504. As shown, system 500 can include one or more femto cells 502 and one or more UTs, including femto UT 504. The femtocell 502 can include an interface application 506 configured to provide wireless data exchange between a femto UT504 and a home femtocell 502 associated with the UT 504. The interface application 506 can be used to generate SDLs specifically tailored to the femto UT504 in a similar manner as described above, but from the home femto cell 502 rather than from a centralized network location. In addition, the interface application 506 can use frequency channels that are typically used by the femtocell 502 for wireless communications or can use special configuration or pilot channels to provide a custom SDL (see, e.g., fig. 6 above).

The interface application 506 may be used by the home femtocell 502 to perform a self-configuration procedure with the macro core network 518 via a connection to the internet. Thus, for example, femtocell 502 can obtain information related to neighboring cells (not shown) of femtocell 502, including macrocells and other femtocells. Additionally, the femtocell 502 can obtain data indicating whether the other femtocell is a home femtocell for the femto UT504 or a foreign femtocell that provides limited or no access to the femto UT 504.

The interface application 506 can include an SDL provisioning module 512, which the SDL provisioning module 512 can generate a customized SDL for the femto UT 504. If the femto UT504 is included in a CSG associated with the femto cell 502, the SDL can be configured to designate the femto cell 502, as well as any neighboring home femto cells, as preferred cells, proximate macro cells as lower priority, and proximate alien femto cells as non-preferred. If the femto UT504 is not included in the CSG, the femtocell 502 can look at a guest user group (GSG) to determine whether guest access should be provided to the femto UT 504. Visitor access may include full access (as with the home femtocell) or limited access that limits the bandwidth, mobile resources, and/or amount of time that the visitor UT may use the femtocell 502. For a visitor SDL, the femtocell 502 may be established as a preferred cell and the neighboring cells (macro cells or femtocells) may be established as lower priority cells. Alternatively, the guest SDL may not provide any special preference for the femtocell 502 and neighboring cells, allowing the guest UT to acquire and access the neighboring cells based on signal strength.

In some aspects of the subject disclosure, femto UT504 can provide SDL to femto cell 502 using interface application 506. Thus, for example, a default SDL obtained from the mobile core network 518 via an over-the-air configuration function (OTAF)520 and the macro BS 522 may be forwarded to the interface application 506. The SDL provisioning module 512 may then modify the default SDL to generate a customized SDL that includes the SID/NID/cell ID of the femtocell 502 as the preferred cell and designates neighboring cells as non-preferred cells, as described above.

Once the customized SDL is generated and provided to the femto UT504, the femto UT504 and the femto cell 502 can use normal wireless communications (e.g., using typical operating channels of the femto cell 502 as opposed to, for example, steering or configuring channels). The femto cell 502 and femto UT504 can periodically use the interface application 506 (optionally using a special bootstrap frequency) to update the SDL configuration at the SDL configuration module 512. For example, the change in neighboring cell/cell ID can be added to the SDL used by the femto UT504 by periodically using the interface application 506. Accordingly, the system 500 may use the interface application 506 and the SDL configuration module 512 to generate and update a custom SDL to reflect changing network conditions.

In accordance with certain aspects of the subject disclosure, the custom SDL may reflect prevailing signal conditions in the vicinity of the femtocell 502. In such an aspect, femto UT504 can be coupled to femto cell 502 via interface application 506 for SDL provisioning. During such configuration, the femto UT504 may use the signal analysis module 508 to monitor and analyze wireless signals of neighboring macro and femto BSs (522). Signal analysis module 508 may be used to obtain signal strength, signal quality, and the like statistics. In addition, the signal analysis module 508 may identify SID/NID/cell ID information transmitted with each signal to identify the BS transmitting the signal (522). The information can be provided to the femtocell 502 via the reporting module 510. In this case, the SDL configuration module 512 may identify the following neighboring cells (522): the neighboring cell creates potentially strong interference or has a sufficiently strong signal that the femto UT504 attempts to acquire or handoff to such a signal. If the femto UT504 is included in the CSG or GSG of the femto cell 502, the SDL provisioning module 512 can blacklist neighboring alien femto cells to prevent the femto UT504 from seeking to acquire such cells. During SDL update configuration, new alien femto cells determined by the signal analysis module 508 may also be blacklisted as necessary, as described above. Thus, the custom SDL can be configured to blacklist only those neighboring cells that may interfere with the femto UT504 or cause the femto UT504 to handoff to such cells, which provides a smaller blacklist than blacklisting all femto cells that share a common GEO with the femto cell 502.

Fig. 6 depicts a block diagram of an example system 600 that facilitates initial boot-up configuration of a terminal device coupled to a mobile network. The system 600 includes a configuration module 602 that is coupled to a femto UT604 via a BS-UT interface. Such interfaces may include wireless transceivers coupled to femtocell equipment (not shown) of the configuration module and wireless channels used by such transceivers. The startup configuration can be used to generate a customized SDL for femto UT604, as described herein, and provided for selection and handoff to a network BS identified in the SDL.

The configuration module 602 includes a boot configuration module 606, which is a femto coupled to the configuration module 602The micro cell and establishes a bootstrap configuration for the femto UT 604. The bootstrap configuration module 606 may obtain femto-specific information from a data processor 610, which data processor 610 may communicate with a mobile operator's network (e.g., via an internet connection coupled with a femtocell). The femto information can include a SID reserved for use by a femto cell. In addition, the femto information can include pilot and cellular information used by femto UT604 for initial configuration and for cell signaling/acquisition and traffic resources, respectively. The bootstrap information may include a SID and a bootstrap NID to identify the femtocell at startup and a bootstrap channel to communicate with the femtocell for startup configuration. Guide information<SID，NID_bootstrap，Channel_bootstrap>Can be included in a customized SDL provided to femto UT604, wherein femto UT604 is provided via a femto cell coupled to configuration module 602 or femto UT604 is provided via macro network configuration if communication has been established between such cell and femto UT 604.

Once femto UT604 obtains a customized SDL that includes the bootstrap information listed above, UT604 can perform initialization or pairing routines with the femto cell using the bootstrap NID and bootstrap channel. In some aspects, the bootstrap process is performed with a femto cell radiating at very low power (e.g., a fraction of a watt), and the femto UT604 is in proximity to the femto cell (e.g., within one meter). In a particular aspect, the bootstrap channel can be used to bypass the CSG used by the femtocell, as it can be assumed that the femto UT604 is operated by the owner of the femtocell in such close proximity. Thus, in such an aspect, femto UT604 can be initially included in the CSG of the femtocell using the bootstrapping operations provided by system 600.

Upon initial pairing with a femtocell, the configuration module 602 can generate a custom SDL for mobile communications with the femtocell. The bootstrap SDL may be used during initial acquisitionFemto UT604 is provided to the femto cell, which may forward the SDL to data processor 610. The femto SDL provisioning module 608 can modify the bootstrap SDL to include a femto-specific SID/NID and channel for cellular communication with the femto cell. Such information may be represented as<SID_Femto，NID_Femto，Channel_Femto>Indicating the operating femto-related SID/NID/channel. Subsequent interactions between femto UT604 and the femto cell can be conducted using femto related information at a typical femto transmit power/distance, wherein the CSG of the femto cell is used to verify UT 604. In some aspects, the analysis of neighboring cells may be performed during initial configuration as described above (e.g., as described above in fig. 5). Thus, the femto information can also include blacklisted alien femto cells having signal strengths/qualities of a threshold value or greater, which can result in the UT604 acquiring or handing off to a neighboring alien femto cell rather than being configured as a home femto cell. As described above, system 600 can provide an efficient mechanism for distributed access point management using an initial femto device pairing routine.

Fig. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an example integrated femto-macro mobility environment 700 in accordance with aspects of the subject disclosure. The mobile environment 700 includes at least one macro BS 702, the macro BS 702 being configured to provide GA wireless services to UTs 704. Thus, the UT704 can be communicatively coupled to the macro BS 702 under favorable macro radio conditions or when a preferred BS (706A, 706B) is not within sufficient range.

Additionally, the environment 700 includes a plurality of GEO708A, 708B, 708C, 708D (or 708A-708D) in the coverage area of the macro BS 702. Such GEO includes at least two home GEO708A, 708D, where the UT704 is associated with at least one home femtocell 706A, 706B. For example, GEO708A may include a residential area where a user establishes a home femtocell 706A in such a user's residence. Additionally, GEO 708D may comprise a business or industrial area where a user establishes a second home femtocell 706B in an office building or other business. The other GEO 708B, 708C are foreign GEO, in which the user does not have a home femtocell (706A, 706B).

It should be appreciated that various criteria may be used to define the GEOs 708A-708D described by the environment 700. In one example, the GEO708A-708D may be defined using network area information, such as a location area id (lai) or a routing area id (rai) of the macro network (702). In other examples, GEO708A-708D may be defined using administrative/legal geographic boundaries, such as city boundaries, county boundaries, or state boundaries, among others. In other examples, the GEO708A-708D may be defined according to user data associated with the home femto cell 706A, 706B. Thus, for example, a mailing address, zip code, or other location/area identifier (e.g., global positioning system) associated with the respective home femto cell 706A, 706D can be used to define at least the respective home GEO708A, 708D. In some aspects, the CEOs 708A, 708D may be defined using a combination of the above examples.

As the UT704 travels from GEO to GEO, it may report to the serving BS the identity of the GEO in which the UT704 is currently located. The serving BS may forward the CEO to the mobile network to update the current location of the UT 704. Additionally, the current GEO can be used to generate a customized SDL for the UT704, as described herein (e.g., when providing priority to the appropriate BS over other BSs based on the current type of GEO-home or foreign). In a centralized access point management architecture, the network can use macro BSs 702 or femto cells (706A, 706D) coupled to UTs 704 to generate and provide customized SDLs to UTs 704. The network may page the UT704, e.g., using current location/position information, and provide such data, as is known in the art. In a distributed access point management architecture, a serving BS (702, 706A, 706B) can selectively generate and provide a custom SDL to a UT704 upon initiation of configuration. In this case, when the UT704 travels to a new GEO and first attempts to register with a BS in the new GEO, the serving BS (702, 706A, 706B) may update the custom SDL as necessary. Thus, using SDL for access point management may be a suitable mechanism to adapt to UT mobility and dynamic networks (e.g., including new macro BS and/or femto BS deployments).

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an example custom SDL 806 in accordance with aspects of the subject disclosure. Optionally, the SDL 806 can be provided by the access point 802 to the UT 804 using over-the-air communications during a boot or pairing routine after the UT 804 is initiated. The SDL 806 can be used by the UT 804 to identify available access points in a particular GEO where the UT 804 is currently located. The current GEO may be broadcast by the access point 802 or determined from a positioning location measurement (e.g., GPS), and so on.

As described above, the SDL 806 includes three different GEO: GEO 1, GEO 2, and GEO 3. GEO 1 is associated with a Home Femtocell (HFC) of UT 804 as well as one or more macrocells and one or more Alien Femtocells (AFCs). Because the home femtocell is contained in GEO 1, such GEO is indicated as home GEO. In addition, each access point is associated with a particular cell ID (e.g., SID/NID/cell ID) with which the UT 804 can identify the particular access point. Each access point is also given priority. The home cell has a high priority in GEO 1, the macro access point has a medium priority, and the alien femto cells in GEO 1 are blacklisted (or optionally given a low priority). Thus, as long as the signal of the home femtocell is identified and greater than a lower threshold value, the UT 804 will acquire the home femtocell. Otherwise, the macro cell is selected. If an alien femto cell is identified, signals associated with such cell may be ignored.

GEO 2 and 3 are both alien GEO, which do not include the home femtocell associated with UT 804. In GEO 2, which includes at least one alien femtocell, all femtocells have non-preferred priority and one or more macrocells have high priority. Thus, the UT 804 will select the macrocell as long as the signal of the macrocell is greater than a lower threshold value. If the macro cell cannot be distinguished, an alien femtocell may be accessed to optionally initiate signaling with the mobile network if the alien femtocell allows such signaling. In some aspects, the UT 804 may attempt to register as a guest UT on the alien femtocell, which has a higher priority (e.g., medium or preferred status), and obtain a special SDL. For GEO 3 that includes only macro cells, the UT 804 may connect to the macro cells. It should be appreciated that whenever a UT 804 is connected to a non-preferred cell (or if the signal of the preferred cell falls below a lower threshold value), the UT 804 can periodically search for a preferred cell in order to identify and acquire such a cell. Thus, if the UT 804 is connected to a macro cell but travels from GEO 2 to GEO 1, the home femto cell may eventually be identified.

In addition to the above, the SDL 806 may also indicate the frequency channels used by the various access points. In a multi-carrier environment, when multiple channels are available, the UT 804 can search among and/or between such channels to identify cells, and periodically search for a preferred cell when connecting to a medium or non-preferred cell. As described above, the SDL 806 can selectively determine a network access point to facilitate identifying a preferred cell over other cells based on the particular GEO in which the UT 804 is currently located. Therefore, the probability of obtaining a preferred cell increases, resulting in more efficient overall mobile communications.

Fig. 9 depicts a block diagram of an example system 900 that includes a BS 902 and one or more UTs 904 (e.g., mobile devices), in accordance with an aspect of the subject disclosure. The BS 902 may be configured to select access to different types of mobile network access points, as described herein. For UTs 904 configured to identify and distinguish between these types of access points, a custom SDL containing identification information for the various types of access points and the priority of such access points may be provided by BS 902. When the UTs 904 are not configured to identify and/or differentiate between different types of access points, an SDL containing information identifying suitable macro network access points can be provided to enable one or more of the UTs 904 to ignore non-macro access points.

BS 902 (e.g., access point..) may include: a receiver 910 that receives one or more signals and over-the-air (OTA) messages from one or more UTs 904 through one or more receive antennas 906; and a transmitter 930 that transmits the encoded/modulated OTA signals and messages provided by modulator 928 to the one or more UTs 904 through the one or more transmit antennas 908. Receiver 910 can receive information from receive antennas 906 and can further comprise a signal acceptor (not shown) for receiving uplink data transmitted by one or more UTs 904. In addition, receiver 910 can be operatively associated with a demodulator 912 that demodulates received information. Demodulated symbols can be analyzed by a processor 914. Processor 914 is coupled to memory 916, and memory 916 stores information related to functions provided by BS 902. In one example, the stored information can include rules for obtaining various access point IDs and femto-specific information and generating femto-specific SDLs to one or more UTs 904. In addition, the stored information may include a set of parameters configured to establish preferred and non-preferred BSs (902).

In addition, the BS 902 can include a configuration module 918 that utilizes capabilities of the UT (904) and customizes the SDL of the UT (904) based on such capabilities. For example, if the UT is a femto-capable device, the configuration module 918 can use the signaling interface 920 to communicate with a mobile core network and a femto-specific database maintained by such network. The signaling interface can obtain user information associated with femto-capable UTs (904), and can also obtain home femtocells associated with such UTs from a femto database. Optionally, when the BS 902 is a femtocell BS, the user information and femto capabilities of the UTs 904 included in the CSG 924 may be stored in the memory 916 for internal use by the BS 902. Upon obtaining the user and capability information, a customized SDL can be generated for femto UT904, establishing a home femto cell (902) as a preferred cell, and optionally establishing a macro cell and/or a foreign cell as a medium or low priority cell and blacklisted cell, respectively. In some aspects, the BS 902 may include a data interface 922 coupled to the internet for communicating with other femto BSs or to a mobile core network (e.g., if the BS 902 is a femtocell BS).

In accordance with one or more other aspects, the BS 902 can include a steering module 926 for initial UT configuration. The bootstrap module 926 may communicate with the femto UT using the bootstrap node ID and/or bootstrap frequency channel for initial configuration, as described herein. The bootstrap module 926 may be configured to establish a UT as part of the CSG 924 during initial configuration (904). In this case, the boot module 926 can also provide low power transmission parameters for the processor 914 to limit the boot communications to a smaller range (e.g., less than 1 meter) to reduce the potential for unauthorized UTs to couple with the BS 902 during the boot process. Moreover, the bootstrap module 926 may obtain nearby wireless conditions from the appropriate UT (904) during such initial configuration to enable the configuration module 918 to customize the SDL with respect to nearby network signals. Thus, for example, nearby alien femtocells may be blacklisted to prevent a UT (904) included in a CSG from performing useless handovers towards alien femtocells. As a result, the UT (904) is more likely to remain coupled with the BS 902 rather than being transferred to other cells.

Fig. 10 shows a block diagram of an example system 1000, the example system 1000 including a UT (e.g., mobile device) 1002 that can be configured to connect with a BS 1004. The UT1002 may be configured to wirelessly couple with one or more such BSs 1004 (e.g., access points) of a wireless network. Thus, for example, UT1002 may receive over-the-air signals from BS 1004 on the FL channel and respond with over-the-air signals and messages on the RL channel, as is known in the art. Moreover, the UT1002 can obtain system determination information from the BS 1004 to selectively select between access points to the wireless network. In some aspects, the UT1002 can provide UT and/or user-specific information to generate a customized SDL according to capabilities of the UT 1002. The customized SDL may, for example, establish one or more types of access points as preferred or non-preferred access points to facilitate such selected network access, as described herein.

The UT1002 includes at least one antenna 1006 for receiving a signal (e.g., a transport receiver including an input interface or a set of such receivers) and one or more receivers 1008 that perform conventional operations (e.g., filtering, amplifying, downconverting, etc.) on the received signal. In accordance with at least some aspects, one or more processors 1012 can selectively analyze a portion of the signals received from demodulator 1010 and obtain synchronization and/or control information related to a selected base station (1004) or selected type of base station. In general, antenna 1006 and a transmitter 1034 (collectively referred to as a transceiver) that wirelessly transmits modulation symbols provided by modulator 1028 may be configured to facilitate wireless data exchange with one or more base stations 1004.

The antenna 1006 and the one or more receivers 1008 are further coupled to a demodulator 1010 that may demodulate received symbols and provide them to one or more processors 1012 for evaluation. It is to be appreciated that one or more processors 1012 can control and/or access one or more components of UT1002 (1006, 1008, 1010, 1014, 1016, 1018, 1020, 1022, 1024, 1026, 1028). Further, the one or more processors 1012 can execute one or more modules, applications, or engines, etc. (1016, 1018, 1022, 1024, 1026) that include information or controls related to performing the functions of the UT 1002. For example, such functions may include scanning received wireless signal strength and/or quality statistics, using a custom SDL to selectively access or handoff to a particular BS (1004) or type of BS, or the like, as described herein.

The UT1002 can additionally include memory 1014 operatively coupled to one or more processors 1012. Memory 1014 may store data to be transmitted, received, etc. and instructions (1020) suitable for wireless communication with a remote device (1004). Moreover, memory 1014 may store modules, applications, engines, etc. (1016, 1018, 1022, 1024, 1026) that are executed by the one or more processors 1012.

In addition to the above, the one or more processors 1012 and memory 1014 can be coupled to a reselection module 1016, and the reselection module 1016 can perform a base station reselection to acquire a network access point (1004), or identify and handover to a preferred access point (1004). The reselection module 1016 may obtain such an indication from a custom SDL obtained from the BS 1004 and stored in the memory 1014. Reselection may include scanning for wireless signals obtained at antenna 1006 and receiver 1008 to identify a cell ID for such signals, and comparing the cell ID to a customized SDL.

To facilitate generating a custom SDL, the one or more processors 1012 can provide data identifying the UT1002 or data associated with the user from a user profile 1020 stored in the memory 1014. The user data can be used to establish a home GEO for the UT1002 (e.g., from data such as a user address or zip code). In some aspects, the one or more processors 1012 may query a user via a user interface (UT) (not shown) of the UT1002 to obtain: user data, such as location data to establish a home GEO; or data for identifying the UT1002, such as the UT 1002's phone number, serial number, MSI, or IMSI. Additionally, the user profile 1020 and/or information obtained from the user interface can indicate femto capabilities of the UT 1002. The data may be forwarded to BS 1004 to generate a custom SDL, as described herein.

In addition to the foregoing, the UT1002 can include an analysis module 1018 for determining signal statistics of received wireless signals. The signal statistics may include signal strength and/or quality information. Such statistics can also be provided to BS 1004 in conjunction with initial startup and/or acquisition routines (e.g., bootstrap routines) implemented by startup module 1026 to configure UT1002 for communication with BS 1002 and/or to blacklist nearby alien femto cells stored in blacklisting module 1024. The statistical information may be transmitted to BS 1004 via routing module 1022, which routing module 1022 may use a particular pilot channel to communicate with BS 1004 during startup/acquisition routines. Upon completion of the initiation and/or acquisition routines, the UT1002 can acquire a nearby access point (1004) using a custom SDL and attempt to register with a mobile network associated with the access point (1004).

The above-described system has been described with reference to interaction between several components, modules, and/or communication interfaces. It is to be understood that such systems and components/modules/interfaces may include those components or sub-components specified therein, some of the specified components or sub-components, and/or additional components. For example, the system may include a femtocell 210 coupled to the configuration module 302, the internet 240, the core network 518, and the UT1002, or various combinations of these and other components. A sub-component may also be implemented as a component communicatively coupled to other components rather than included in a parent component. Additionally, it should be noted that one or more components may be combined into a single component providing aggregate functionality. For example, the signal analysis module 508 may include a routing module 518 or vice versa to facilitate analyzing received signal statistics and reporting such statistics to the home femtocell through a single component. The multiple components may also interact with one or more other components not specifically described herein but known to those of skill in the art.

Moreover, it will be appreciated that the various parts of the method below of the above disclosed system may include or consist of: artificial intelligence or knowledge or rule based components, subcomponents, processes, modules, methods, or mechanisms (e.g., support vector machines, neural networks, expert systems, bayesian belief networks, fuzzy logic, data fusion engines, classifiers). Such components, in particular, may automate certain mechanisms or processes performed in addition to those already described herein, thereby making portions of the systems and methods more adaptive as well as efficient and intelligent.

In the exemplary systems described above, methodologies that may be implemented in accordance with the disclosed subject matter may be better appreciated with reference to the flow charts of fig. 11-16. 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 hereinafter. Additionally, it should be further appreciated that the methodologies disclosed hereinafter and throughout this specification are capable of being stored on an article of manufacture to facilitate transporting and transferring such methodologies to computers. The term article of manufacture, as used herein, is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, device in combination with a carrier wave, or storage medium.

Fig. 11 depicts a flow diagram of an example method 1100 for providing centralized access management in a mobile communication environment. At 1102, method 1100 can obtain UT-specific data. The data can include identification information suitable for uniquely determining the UT. Such data may include the MSI, IMSI, ESN, or similar identifier of the UT. The data can be obtained via direct over-the-air communication with the UT or via a network access point coupled with the UT. In the latter case, the data may be accompanied by an access request, which is used by the UT to access the mobile network.

At 1104, method 1100 can determine access capabilities of the UT using the UT-specific data. In some aspects, the data may be referenced against a femto database that includes data associated with femto usage or femto subscription plans. The database can include a table listing home femtocells for various femto-capable UTs and authorized UTs for a particular femtocell. By accessing a femto database, it can be determined whether the UT is a femto-capable UT (e.g., whether UT-specific information is included in the database), what home femto cell is associated with the UT, and information identifying a home GEO associated with each such home femto cell.

Alternatively or in addition to the above, the home location register of the operator associated with the UT may be accessed using UT-specific data. In some such aspects, the femto capabilities of the UT and the home femtocell and GEO of the cell may also be obtained from the home location register. Alternatively, UT-specific data can be included in a registration request submitted by a UT and obtained, either directly or indirectly, from the UT or from a serving cell associated with the UT. As an example, a user of the UT can submit ID information and/or femto capabilities (including a reference to home femto/home GEO) into a user interface of the UT. Such information may then be received instead of or in addition to visiting the femto database or the operator's home location register.

At 1106, the methodology 1100 can generate a customized SDL for the UT based at least in part upon access capabilities of the UT. The SDL may include, for example, access information for a macrocell near the UT if the UT is not a femto-capable UT, and macro cell and femtocell access information if the UT is a femto-capable UT. In addition to the foregoing, the SDL can indicate relative priority for types of access points (e.g., femto, macro) based on the location of the UT. Thus, for example, if the UT is currently in the home GEO, then femto cell access information may be given a high priority and macro access information may be given a lower priority. The priority can facilitate increasing a likelihood that the UT will access the femtocell and remain coupled with the femtocell. In some aspects, the custom SDL may identify a particular home femtocell for the UT, and thus such cells may be identified by the UT. The home femtocell may be given the highest priority. In further aspects, alien femto cells may also be identified and given the lowest priority, or may be blacklisted in the custom SDL. Thus, the UT can avoid unwanted signaling to foreign femtocells. Once the custom SDL is generated, it can be forwarded to the UT to selectively access various network access points based at least on access point type.

Fig. 12 depicts a flow diagram of an example method 1200 for obtaining UT-specific data to generate a customized SDL for a UT. At 1202, method 1200 can obtain UT-specific data from a UT, as described herein. At 1204, method 1200 may query the HLR for subscriber data associated with the UT. At 1206, it is determined whether the UT is a femto-capable UT based at least in part on user data. If the UT is not a femto-capable UT, method 1200 can proceed to 1208, where a macro SDL establishing priority for the macro access point is generated and provided to the UT at 1222.

If the UT is determined to be a femto-capable UT, method 1200 can proceed to 1210. At 1210, method 1200 can optionally (as indicated by dashed lines) query a femto database for one or more home femto cells and related information related to the UT. Alternatively, rather than accessing the femto database, the method 1200 can dynamically obtain the one or more femto cells and related information from the network HLR or from the UT. In either case, the method 1200 can obtain one or more home femtocells and home GEO related to the UT at 1212. Additionally, at 1214, method 1200 can obtain a current GEO for the UT and neighboring cells within such GEO. At 1216, method 1200 may determine whether the UT is in a home cell or home GEO. If not, method 1200 may proceed to 1218 where a custom SDL in an alien microenvironment may be generated. Such an alien SDL may give a low priority to alien femto cells or blacklist such cells and give higher priority to macro cells. On the other hand, if it is determined at reference numeral 1216 that the UT is in a home cell or home GEO, the methodology 1200 can proceed to 1220, where a home SDL can be generated for the UT. The home SDL can identify a home femtocell associated with the UT and give it high priority. At 1222, method 1200 can send the customized SDL to the UT, regardless of whether the SDL is macro, alien, or home femto.

Fig. 13 depicts a flow diagram of an example method for accessing a mobile network. At 1302, method 1300 can submit a registration request that includes an ID of a requesting UT. The ID can include any suitable information that can be used to distinguish the UT from other such UTs. According to some aspects, the registration request optionally includes: access capabilities of the UT, such as whether the UT is configured to access a femtocell; ID information (e.g., SID/NID/cell ID) of a home femto cell and a frequency channel used by such a cell; the current location of the UT or GEO; and, the ID of the BS currently serving the UT.

At 1304, the method 1300 can obtain an SDL tailored to the UT information submitted at reference numeral 1302. Thus, for example, a custom SDL can include information identifying a home femtocell, an alien femtocell, and/or a nearby macrocell in a current GEO occupied by a UT. In other aspects, the SDL may provide relative priority to various access points based on the access point type and frequency channels used by the various access points. The UT may select among the various received signals to identify a preferred access point based on the relative priorities. If the preferred access point is not located on a particular frequency channel, the UT can switch frequency channels to further attempt to locate the preferred access point. However, if no such access point can be found, the UT may select a non-preferred cell or a cell that is not given any particular preference (or, e.g., medium preference). However, the UT may periodically scan the received signal and available frequency channels to continue attempting to obtain a preferred cell. Such periodic scanning can continue until a preferred cell is found, or until the UT is provided with a new SDL (e.g., if the UT moves to a new GEO or if the network topology changes, the UT powers off or on, etc.) that does not include the preferred cell.

Fig. 14 illustrates a flow diagram of an example method for providing distributed access management in a mobile communication environment. At 1402, method 1400 can obtain a registration request with UT-specific data, as described herein. At 1404, the method 1400 can obtain femto capabilities of the requesting UT (e.g., from the UT, from a femto database, from an operator's HLR, etc.). At 1406, method 1400 can obtain neighboring cell data for a cell in a particular GEO in which the UT is located or a cell proximate to a serving cell coupled to the UT. The neighbor cell data can be obtained from a network component or from a UT, which can analyze signals transmitted by neighbor cells and provide statistics of such signals as an analysis of the network environment in the vicinity of the UT. At 1408, the method 1400 can generate an SDL with UT capabilities and neighbor cell data. The UT capabilities can be utilized to customize the SDL to enable selective access point management by the UT, as described herein. Additionally, the UT can use the neighbor cell data to search for the preferred cell, if any, indicated in the SDL. In at least one aspect, the neighbor cell data can be used to blacklist one or more non-preferred access points in the vicinity of the serving cell if the serving cell is a preferred access point (e.g., a home femtocell). By using data of neighboring cells, a smaller blacklist of cells may be maintained, thereby reducing the processing and memory requirements for analyzing and storing the customized SDL, respectively.

Fig. 15 depicts a flow diagram of an example method for coupling to a UT using a startup routine and generating a customized SDL for the UT based on access capabilities of the UT. At 1502, the methodology 1500 can establish a core network link with a core mobile network. At 1504, method 1500 can obtain boot parameters for initial acquisition of a nearby UT. At 1506, method 1500 may obtain cellular parameters for cellular communication with a remote device. At 1508, method 1500 may enter a boot configuration mode. At 1510, method 1500 can establish a link with a nearby UT. The link can optionally use particularly low transmit power so that communications with the UT are only possible in close proximity. At 1512, method 1500 can receive UT data and surrounding network statistics from the UT. At 1514, method 1500 can generate a custom SDL for the UT based on the UT data and network statistics. At 1516, method 1500 can add the UT to the CSG to establish the UT as an authorized UT. At 1518, the method 1500 can provide the customized SDL to the UT. At 1520, the method 1500 may obtain updated network topology parameters from the network. The updated network topology parameters can include additional and/or modified UT data in the surrounding GEO. At 1522, the method 1500 can modify the customized SDL provided to the UT based on the updated network topology parameters. At 1524, the method 1500 can provide the updated SDL to the UT to facilitate access point selection in the updated network environment.

Fig. 16 illustrates a flow diagram of an example method that facilitates generation of a customized SDL as a function of UT-specific data and UT-specific access capabilities. At 1602, method 1600 can obtain UT data from memory or from user input. At 1604, method 1600 may obtain a boot SDL. The bootstrap SDL may be obtained from the mobile network, for example, by using a GA BS (e.g., macro BS) associated with the network. At 1606, method 1600 can enter a boot start-up and/or acquisition mode on a boot channel provided by the boot SDL. At 1608, method 1600 can couple to the pilot cell (e.g., identified by the pilot NID) on a pilot channel. At 1610, method 1600 can provide UT data to a pilot cell. At 1612, method 1600 can analyze wireless signals received from surrounding networks, optionally excluding signals obtained from the pilot cell. At 1614, the method 1600 may extract signal statistics, such as signal strength and signal quality, from the received wireless signal. At 1616, the method 1600 may provide the extracted signal statistics to the pilot cell. At 1618, the method 1600 can obtain a custom SDL based on the UT data and the extracted signal statistics. At 1620, method 1600 may search for and obtain a preferred network cell using the customized SDL. At 1622, the method 1600 can register with the preferred cell on the femto frequency channel specified in the customized SDL. At 1624, method 1600 can obtain an updated SDL based on the change in the network topology information.

Fig. 17 and 18 depict block diagrams of example systems 1700, 1800 that enable and use, respectively, centralized access point management for access points of mobile networks, as described herein. For example, systems 1700, 1800 can reside, at least partially, within a wireless communication network and/or within a transmitter, such as a node, base station, access point, user terminal, or personal computer coupled to a mobile interface card. It is to be appreciated that systems 1700, 1800 are represented as including functional blocks, which can be functional blocks that represent functions implemented by a processor, software, or combination thereof (e.g., firmware).

The system 1700 can include a first module 1702 for obtaining data related to a UT. The data can include information for distinguishing the UT from other such UTs and for identifying an operator providing mobile services to the UT. A second module 1704 can employ the data to obtain access capabilities of the UT. The capabilities can be obtained from a femto database if the UT is identified as a femto-capable UT. Alternatively or additionally, the capabilities may be obtained from an operator's HLR maintained at the operator's core network. In other aspects of the subject disclosure, the capabilities can be obtained using data related to the UT, or derived directly or indirectly from such data (e.g., the capabilities are derived from the data or a hash of such data). The system 1700 may also include a third module 1706 for generating a custom SDL. The custom SDL can list mobile network access points that can be utilized by the UT based at least in part on UT capabilities. In some aspects, the network access point may be filtered according to a current GEO in which the UT is located. Moreover, the access points can be given a particular priority order or priority order to enable selective access and/or acquisition for one or more such access points. In at least one such aspect, the order/priority can be based on capabilities of the UTs. Thus, for example, when the UT is a femto-capable device, priority can be given to femto access points or home access points associated with the UT. When the UT is not a femto-capable device, priority may be given to another type of access point, such as a GA macro access point.

The system 1800 can include a first module 1802 for submitting a registration request to an access point of a mobile network, wherein the registration request includes an ID of a requesting device. Moreover, the system 1800 can include a second module 1804 for obtaining the customized SDL based at least in part on the ID of the requesting device. The SDL may, for example, identify a particular access point associated with the requesting device and give it a high priority. In addition to the foregoing, the system 1800 can include a third module 1806 for using the customized SDL to search for and/or obtain an access point identified in the SDL. This module 1806 can employ the access point priority specified in the SDL in conducting the search. Thus, a cell with a higher priority may be selected relative to other cells. When a preferred cell cannot be identified by means of module 1806, module 1806 may select a less preferred or non-preferred cell for network access. In this case, however, the module may periodically restart the search to identify a preferred access point. If a preferred access point is identified, system 1800 can connect to such access point and request mobile services therefrom. Additionally, when a preferred access point is identified, module 1806 can decrease a threshold below which system 1800 will search for other cells in place of the preferred access point to increase the likelihood that system 1800 will remain coupled with the preferred access point.

Fig. 19 and 20 depict block diagrams of example systems 1900, 2000 that implement and use, respectively, centralized access point management for access points of mobile networks, as described herein. For example, the systems 1900, 2000 can reside at least partially within a wireless communication network and/or a transmitter such as a node, base station, access point, user terminal, or personal computer coupled to a mobile interface card. It is to be appreciated that systems 1900, 2000 are represented as including functional blocks, which can be functional blocks that represent functions implemented by a processor, software, or combination thereof (e.g., firmware).

The system 1900 includes a first module 1902 for initiating a boot mode based on a boot parameter. These parameters may specify a frequency channel for wireless communication associated with the boot mode, a boot ID for identifying the system 1900, and a transmit power of the wireless communication during the boot mode. Additionally, the system 1900 can comprise a second module 1904 that obtains UT access capabilities via wireless data exchange. Moreover, the system 1900 can include a third module 1906 for generating a customized SDL based on the access capabilities. The custom SDL can indicate a priority of one or more types of access points based on capabilities of the UT. In some aspects, a home access point associated with the UT may be identified and listed as a highest priority access point in the SDL to facilitate an increased likelihood of searching for and acquiring the home access point. According to particular aspects, the SDL may also add access points to the blacklist based on relative signal strengths of such access points determined to be in the vicinity of the preferred access point. Thus, SDL can contribute to a reduced likelihood that a UT will avoid a preferred access point while favoring other such access points.

The system 2000 includes a first module 2002 that obtains a bootstrap SDL. The bootstrap SDL is obtained, for example, via over-the-air configuration from a component of the mobile network. Additionally, the system 2000 can include a second module 2004 for coupling to a cell via a bootstrap channel specified in a bootstrap SDL. Additionally, system, node, and/or cell IDs of cells can be extracted from the bootstrap SDL to facilitate identifying such cells. Moreover, the system 2000 can include a third module 2006 for obtaining and using the customized SDL in selecting an access point for the mobile network. The custom SDL may indicate typical radio frequency channels used by the access point to facilitate searching and access. Also, the custom SDL may identify such cells by cell ID or similar identifier. Thus, the system 2000 can end communication with a cell and initiate a search for a cell specified in the custom SDL and attempt to obtain mobile service from such specified cell. The custom SDL is optionally based on one or more surrounding GEO in which the system 200 is located. When the system 200 moves from one GEO to another, the SDL may be queried to determine which cells should be used to access the network. When the designated cell cannot be identified, a general cell, such as a macro network cell, may be used instead. In this case, the system 2000 may continue to search for cells specified by the SDL while coupled to the network through the general purpose cells.

The foregoing includes examples of aspects of the claimed subject matter. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing the claimed subject matter, but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that many further combinations and permutations of the disclosed subject matter are possible. Accordingly, the disclosed subject matter is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms "includes," "including," "has," "having," and the like are used in either the detailed description or the claims, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term "comprising" as "comprising" is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim.

Claims (50)

1. A method for facilitating remote access to a mobile network, comprising:

obtaining User Terminal (UT) specific information;

determining access capabilities of the UT using the UT-specific information; and

a customized System Determination List (SDL) is generated for selecting between different types of access points based on access capabilities of the UT.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: including in the custom SDL identification data for a home femtocell of the UT.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: the relative priority of the various access points is specified based at least in part on the access point type.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

defining or obtaining a home geographic area (GEO) in which a home femtocell of the UT is located and

providing a plurality of priority levels in the custom SDL, the plurality of priority levels establishing different access point priorities when the UT is inside and outside of the home GEO.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: the following parts are preferably established in the custom SDL:

a cell ID or frequency channel of a home femtocell when the UT is in a GEO containing the home femtocell; or

A cell ID or frequency channel of a macro cell when the UT is not in the GEO containing the home femto cell.

6. The method of claim 1, obtaining the UT-specific information further comprising: receiving an ID of the UT, and using the ID to extract the information from at least one of:

a database of a network operator; or

A centralized core network database.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising: accessing the centralized core network database according to a user authorized to use a home femtocell or according to a home femtocell associated with the UT.

8. The method of claim 1, generating the custom SDL further comprising:

obtaining a current SDL for the UT using an access point coupled to the UT;

identifying a home femtocell associated with the UT using UT-specific data;

obtaining updated network information for a current GEO of the UT; and

dynamically modifying the current SDL using the updated network information and data related to the home femtocell, and generating the customized SDL.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: pushing the custom SDL to the UT over-the-air (OTA) signaling using a macro or femto access point.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: if the UT is a non-femto device, parameters for redirecting the UT to a non-femto carrier are included in the custom SDL.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising: if the UT is in a multi-carrier environment and is femto-capable, a set of neighboring femtocell IDs are included in the custom SDL to facilitate searching for nearby femtocells on multiple carriers.

12. An apparatus for facilitating remote access to a mobile network, comprising:

a communications processor that obtains UT-specific information for a UT via a data link with a Base Station (BS) serving the UT or an airlink with the UT;

a data analyzer that determines access capabilities of the UT using the UT-specific information; and the number of the first and second groups,

an SDL module that generates a customized SDL for selecting between different types of access points based on access capabilities of the UT.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the SDL module configures the custom SDL to include data related to a home femtocell associated with the UT.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

a data interface coupled to an operator's core network to obtain the home femtocell data, or coupled to the Internet to obtain such data from a femtocell coupled to the UT.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, the SDL module specifies relative priorities of the different types of access points based at least in part on access point types.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising;

a database that maintains user data for the UT and data identifying one or more home femtocells of the UT, and optionally frequency channels used by the home femtocells.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the user data is used to establish a home GEO for the UT.

18. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the SDL module:

defining a home GEO for the UT in which the UT's home femtocell is located; and

configuring the custom SDL to establish a high relative priority for a femtocell when the UT is in the home GEO.

19. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the SDL module includes data in the custom SDL identifying one or more home femtocells obtained from:

a network database including femto ID data of a femtocell network;

a home location register of the mobile operator comprising femto cell ID data associated with the femto subscription; or

Over-the-air messages originating at the UT.

20. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the SDL module configures the custom SDL to establish a high relative priority for a macro cell when the UT is not in a home GEO or the UT is a non-femto device.

21. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the SDL module comprises an over-the-air service configuration function (OTAF) module configured to generate the custom SDL.

22. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising:

a bootstrap configuration module that generates a bootstrap SDL for initially configuring the UT with a home femtocell, the bootstrap SDL including a bootstrap cell ID or a bootstrap frequency channel.

23. An apparatus configured to facilitate remote access to a mobile network, comprising:

means for obtaining UT-specific information;

means for determining access capabilities of the UT using the UT-specific information; and

means for generating a custom SDL for selecting between different types of access points based on access capabilities of the UT.

24. A processor configured to facilitate remote access to a mobile network, comprising:

a first module configured to obtain UT-specific information;

a second module configured to determine access capabilities of the UT using the UT-specific information; and

a third module configured to generate a customized SDL for selecting between different types of access points based on access capabilities of the UT.

25. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium comprising:

a first set of codes for causing a computer to obtain UT-specific information;

a second set of codes for causing the computer to determine access capabilities of the UT using the UT-specific information; and

a third set of codes for causing the computer to generate a custom SDL for selecting between different types of access points based on access capabilities of the UT.

26. A method for selecting an access point to a mobile network, comprising:

submitting a network registration request to a cell of the mobile network, wherein the network registration request contains a UTID;

obtaining a customized SDL configured for the UT ID, the customized SDL establishing a preferred access point type as a function of characteristics of the UT; and

searching for neighboring cells or channels using the customized SDL if the cell is not a preferred cell or a non-preferred cell.

27. The method of claim 26, searching for neighboring cells using the custom SDL further comprising: matching the node ID of the cell with a node ID in the custom SDL to determine whether the cell is preferred or non-preferred.

28. The method of claim 26, further comprising: the GEO of the cell is identified and compared to the customized SDL to determine whether the cell is preferred or non-preferred.

29. The method of claim 28, identifying the GEO further comprises: analyzing signals transmitted by the cell, or determining a location of the UT.

30. The method of claim 28, further comprising: determining whether a GEO of the cell is a home GEO associated with the UT according to the comparison.

31. The method of claim 26, further comprising: coupling to the non-preferred cell if the preferred cell is not identified within a threshold time.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising: periodically searching for the preferred cell while coupled to the non-preferred cell.

33. The method of claim 26, obtaining the custom SDL further comprising: submitting data identifying a home GEO or a home femtocell to the mobile network.

34. The method of claim 26, wherein the characteristic of the UT is an access type characteristic.

35. The method of claim 26, further comprising: obtaining an updated SDL based on a network topology change from the cell of the mobile network.

36. The method of claim 26, further comprising: as UT IDs, Mobile Subscriber Identifiers (MSIs), International Mobile Subscriber Identifiers (IMSIs), Electronic Serial Numbers (ESNs), Device Numbers (DNs), or a combination thereof are used.

37. A UT configured to select an access point to a mobile network, comprising:

a communication processor that submits a network registration request to a cell of the mobile network, the network registration request including a UT ID;

a receiver that obtains a custom SDL configured for the UT ID, the custom SDL establishing a preferred access point type as a function of characteristics of the UT; and

a base station reselection module to search for a neighboring cell using the customized SDL if the cell is not a preferred cell or a non-preferred cell.

38. The UT of claim 37 wherein the base station reselection module matches the node ID of the cell with a node ID in the custom SDL to determine whether the cell is preferred or non-preferred.

39. The UT of claim 37 wherein the base station reselection module identifies a GEO of the cell and compares the GEO to the custom SDL to determine whether the cell is preferred or non-preferred.

40. The UT of claim 39, further comprising:

a signal analysis module that identifies the GEO by analyzing signals transmitted by the cell.

41. The UT of claim 39, wherein the base station reselection module determines whether the GEO of the cell is a home GEO associated with the UT as a function of the comparison.

42. The UT of claim 37 wherein the base station reselection module is coupled to the non-preferred cell if the preferred cell is not identified within a threshold time.

43. The UT of claim 42, wherein the base station reselection module periodically searches for the preferred cell when coupled to the non-preferred cell.

44. The UT of claim 37 wherein the communication processor submits data identifying a home GEO or a home femto cell to the mobile network to derive the custom SDL.

45. The UT of claim 37, wherein the characteristic of the UT is femto capability or femto subscription information.

46. The UT of claim 37 wherein the receiver obtains an updated SDL based on a network topology change from the cell of the mobile network.

47. The UT of claim 37, wherein the UT ID comprises an MSI, IMSI, ESN, or DN of the UT, or a combination thereof.

48. An apparatus configured to select an access point to a mobile network, comprising:

means for submitting a network registration request to a cell of the mobile network, the network registration request including a UT ID;

means for obtaining a custom SDL configured for the UT ID, the custom SDL establishing a preferred access point type as a function of a characteristic of the UT; and

means for searching for neighboring cells using the custom SDL if the cell is not a preferred cell or a non-preferred cell.

49. A processor configured to select between access points of a mobile network, comprising:

a first module that submits a network registration request to a cell of the mobile network, the network registration request including a UT ID;

a second module that obtains a customized SDL configured for the UT ID, the customized SDL establishing a preferred access point type as a function of characteristics of the UT; and

a third module that searches for a neighboring cell using the customized SDL if the cell is not a preferred cell or a non-preferred cell.

50. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium comprising:

a first set of codes for causing a computer to submit a network registration request to a cell of the mobile network, the network registration request comprising a UT ID;

a second set of codes for causing the computer to obtain a customized SDL configured for the UT ID, the customized SDL establishing a preferred access point type as a function of characteristics of the UT; and

a third set of codes for causing the computer to search for a neighboring cell using the custom SDL if the cell is not a preferred cell or a non-preferred cell.