Method and arrangements in a cellular network with femtocells
AssigneeTelefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson (publ)
InventorsTomas Nylander, Johan Rune, Jari Vikberg, Arne Norefors
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Abstract
The present invention provides method and arrangements for dynamically and automatically obtaining a macro layer TA footprint for a femtocell, i.e. the femtocell's location in relation to the macro layer TAs, and to use this information to minimize signaling load from Tracking Area Updating in conjunction with femtocells.
Claims14
A method in a network node of a core network of a cellular network comprising at least one femtocell and at least one macrocell, wherein an area covered by the cellular network is divided into a plurality of macro tracking areas, TAs, wherein the network node is configured to be aware of one or more pre-determined home base stations serving one or more pre-determined femtocells which a UE connected to the cellular network is allowed to access, the method comprising:
- obtaining an association of each of the pre-determined femtocells with a specific femto layer TA,
- retrieving information to obtain an association between the femto layer TA(s) and its (their) neighboring or covering macro layer TAs,
- creating a list per UE, including macro layer TAs and/or femto layer TAs in which the UE can move without performing a tracking area update, based on the association of each of the pre-determined femtocells with a femto layer TA used in the pre-determined femtocell and the obtained association between the femto layer TAs and their neighboring or covering macro layer TAs, and
- sending the created list.
A network node connectable to a cellular network comprising at least one femtocell and at least one macrocell, wherein an area covered by the cellular network is divided into a plurality of macro tracking areas, TAs, wherein the network node is configured to be aware of one or more pre-determined home base stations serving one or more pre-determined femtocells which a UE connected to the cellular network is allowed to access, the network node comprises an association finder for obtaining an association of each of the pre-determined femtocells with a specific femto layer TA, a unit for retrieving information to obtain an association between the femto layer TA(s) and its (their) neighboring or covering macro layer TAs, a unit for creating a list per UE, including macro layer TAs and/or femto layer TAs in which the UE can move without performing a tracking area update, based on the association of each of the pre-determined femtocells with a femto layer TA used in the pre-determined femtocell and the obtained association between the femto layer TAs and their neighboring or covering macro layer TAs, and a sender for sending the created list.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.