US 2012/0069801 A1 · USING PARKED MODE TO EXTEND CLIENT SETS IN FEMTO-PROXY ARCHITECTURES

Abstract

Systems, methods, devices, and computer program products are described for handling of access terminals on an out-of-band piconet within a femto-proxy architecture. A femto-proxy system includes a femtocell (a femto access point, or FAP) and one or more out-of-band (OOB) proxies. One of the OOB proxies is configured to act as a master of an OOB piconet, through which various services are provided, including services to support the femtocell operation of the femto-proxy system. For example, the OOB piconet is used to facilitate lower power access to the macro communications services provided through the femtocell. In some cases, a combination of connected and inactive OOB operational modes are used to support an expanded number of slave access terminals on the piconet, where some of those slaves are operating in an active WWAN mode and others are operating in an idle WWAN mode. For example, parked mode may be used for idle WWAN mode access terminals.

Claims41

Dependent claims

A method for extending a client set using a femto-proxy architecture, the method comprising:

receiving a wireless wide area network (WWAN) communication at a femto-proxy system for a designated one of a plurality of access terminals communicatively coupled with the femto-proxy system, the femto-proxy system comprising:
a femtocell configured to communicatively couple the access terminals with the WWAN, the access terminals configured to operate on the WWAN in a WWAN active mode or a WWAN idle mode;
and
an out-of-band (OOB) femto-proxy configured to communicatively couple the plurality of access terminals with a piconet having the OOB femto-proxy as its master, the access terminals configured to operate on the piconet in an OOB connected mode or an OOB inactive mode;
determining, subsequent to receiving the communication at the femto-proxy system, that the designated access terminal is operating in the OOB inactive mode with an inactive OOB physical communications link between the femto-proxy system and the designated access terminal;
directing the designated access terminal to operate in the OOB connected mode;
and
establishing an active OOB physical communications link between the femto-proxy system and the designated access terminal.

5 more elements

A femto-proxy system for handling an extended client set, the system comprising:

a femtocell configured to communicatively couple a plurality of access terminals with a wireless wide area network (WWAN), the access terminals configured to operate on the WWAN in a WWAN active mode or a WWAN idle mode;
an out-of-band (OOB) femto-proxy, communicatively coupled with the femtocell, and configured to communicatively couple the plurality of access terminals with a piconet having the OOB femto-proxy as its master, the access terminals configured to operate on the piconet in an OOB connected mode or an OOB inactive mode;
and
a communications management subsystem, communicatively coupled with the femtocell and the OOB femto-proxy, and configured to:
receive a WWAN communication for a designated one of the plurality of access terminals;
determine, subsequent to receiving the communication at the femto-proxy system, that the designated access terminal is operating in the OOB inactive mode with an inactive OOB physical communications link between the OOB femto-proxy and the designated access terminal;
direct the designated access terminal to operate in the OOB connected mode;
and
establish an active OOB physical communications link between the OOB femto-proxy and the designated access terminal.

6 more elements

A femto-proxy system for handling an extended client set, the system comprising:

a femtocell configured to communicatively couple a plurality of access terminals with a wireless wide area network (WWAN), the access terminals configured to operate on the WWAN in a WWAN active mode or a WWAN idle mode;
an out-of-band (OOB) femto-proxy, communicatively coupled with the femtocell, and configured to communicatively couple the plurality of access terminals with a piconet having the OOB femto-proxy as its master, the access terminals configured to operate on the piconet in an OOB connected mode or an OOB inactive mode;
means for receiving a WWAN communication for a designated one of the plurality of access terminals;
means for determining, subsequent to receiving the communication at the femto-proxy system, that the designated access terminal is operating in the OOB inactive mode with an inactive OOB physical communications link between the OOB femto-proxy and the designated access terminal;
means for directing the designated access terminal to operate in the OOB connected mode;
and
means for establishing an active OOB physical communications link between the OOB femto-proxy and the designated access terminal.

4 more elements

A processor for handling an extended client set, the processor communicatively coupled with a femtocell configured to communicatively couple a plurality of access terminals with a wireless wide area network (WWAN), the processor communicatively coupled with an out-of-band (OOB) femto-proxy configured to communicatively couple the plurality of access terminals with a piconet having the OOB femto-proxy as its master, the access terminals configured to operate on the piconet in an OOB connected mode or an OOB inactive mode and to operate on the WWAN in a WWAN active mode or a WWAN idle mode, the processor comprising:

a WWAN communications controller configured to receive a WWAN communication for a designated one of the plurality of access terminals;
and
an access terminal controller, configured to:
determine, subsequent to receiving the communication at the femto-proxy system, that the designated access terminal is operating in the OOB inactive mode with an inactive OOB physical communications link between the OOB femto-proxy and the designated access terminal;
direct the designated access terminal to operate in the OOB connected mode;
and
establish an active OOB physical communications link between the OOB femto-proxy and the designated access terminal.

4 more elements

A computer program product residing on a processor-readable medium and comprising processor-readable instructions, which, when executed, cause a processor to perform steps comprising:

receiving a wireless wide area network (WWAN) communication at a femto-proxy system for a designated one of a plurality of access terminals communicatively coupled with the femto-proxy system, the femto-proxy system comprising:
a femtocell configured to communicatively couple the access terminals with the WWAN, the access terminals configured to operate on the WWAN in a WWAN active mode or a WWAN idle mode;
and
an out-of-band (OOB) femto-proxy configured to communicatively couple the plurality of access terminals with a piconet having the OOB femto-proxy as its master, the access terminals configured to operate on the piconet in an OOB connected mode or an OOB inactive mode;
determining, subsequent to receiving the communication at the femto-proxy system, that the designated access terminal is operating in the OOB inactive mode with an inactive OOB physical communications link between the femto-proxy system and the designated access terminal;
directing the designated access terminal to operate in the OOB connected mode;
and
establishing an active OOB physical communications link between the femto-proxy system and the designated access terminal.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Using parked mode to extend client sets in femto-proxy architectures

Life of this patent

Using parked mode to extend client sets in femto-proxy architectures

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims41