Methods and apparatus for dynamic carrier selection for cell base stations

A method by a first base station that provides a served cell that at least partially overlaps a served cell of a second base station, where the first and second base stations are part of a telecommunications system, the method comprising:

• receiving measurement information from at least one user equipment node operating in the served cell of the first base station that identifies measurements of frequencies by the at least one user equipment node;
• identifying at least one carrier that is preferable for the second base station to utilize for communications with the at least one user equipment node to avoid interference in response to the measurement information;
• communicating an instruction message from the first base station to the second base station that instructs the second base station to use the at least one carrier for communications,
• wherein communicating the instruction message to the second base station comprises initiating communication of the instruction message to the second base station in response to a X2 Setup Request/Response message received from the second base station during setup of an X2 interface with the second base station and/or in response to a configuration update message received from the second base station through the X2 interface.

A method by a first base station that provides a served cell that is at least partially overlapped by a served cell of a second base station, where the first and second base stations are part of a telecommunications system, the method comprising:

• receiving an instruction message from at least one user equipment node operating in the served cell of the first base station that identifies frequencies detected by the at least one user equipment node as being used by at least one neighbor cell;
• communicating neighbor carrier usage information from the first base station to the second base station in response to the interference information;
• receiving an instruction message from the second base station that instructs the first base station to use at least one identified carrier, wherein the at least one identified carrier in the instruction message is identified based on selection by the second base station in response to the neighbor carrier usage information;
• and
• communicating with the at least one user equipment node using the at least one identified carrier.

A first base station of a telecommunications system that includes a second base station and a control element node (MME/S-GW), the first base station comprising:

• a core network interface that communicatively connects the first base station to the control element node (MME/S-GW);
• an X2 interface that communicatively connects the first base station to the second base station;
• a radio interface that provides a served cell for communications with at least one user equipment node, wherein the served cell at least partially overlaps a served cell of the second base station;
• and
• a carrier suggestion generator that selects at least one carrier for use by the second base station in response to neighbor carrier usage information that identifies carriers used by another base station and/or in response to interference information received from the at least one user equipment node that identifies frequencies detected by the at least one user equipment node as being used by another base station, that identifies at least one carrier that is preferable for the second to utilize for communications with the at least one user equipment node to avoid interference, and that communicates an instruction message through the core network interface and/or the X2 interface to the second base station that instructs the second base station to use the at least one carrier for communications by performing operations comprising initiating communication of the instruction message to the second base station in response to a X2 Setup Request/Response message received from the second base station during setup of an X2 interface with the second base station and/or in response to a configuration update message received from the second base station through the X2 interface.