# US 9,439,140 B2 · Method for managing the state of micro base stations by following the variations of traffic requirements, and associated controller device

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- Number: US 9,439,140 B2
- Document ID: US9439140B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 14/111,901
- Filed: 2012-04-11
- Published: 2014-06-05
- Granted: 2016-09-06
- Earliest claimed: 2011-04-14
- Assignees: Alcatel Lucent
- Applicants: Carine Balageas; Vinod Kumar
- Inventors: Carine Balageas; Vinod Kumar
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9439140B2

## CPC

- H04W 52/0206: {in access points, e.g. base stations}
- H04W 24/02: Arrangements for optimising operational condition
- H04W 28/16: Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service]
- H04W 52/0274: {by switching on or off the equipment or parts thereof}
- H04W 36/04: Reselecting a cell layer in multi-layered cells
- H04W 84/045: {using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B}
- H04W 88/08: Access point devices
- Y02D 30/70: in wireless communication networks
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)
- Y02D: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE

## Abstract

A method manages the state of a plurality of micro base stations inside a mobile communication network. The network comprises at least a macro cell containing at least one Tracking Area covering a plurality of micro cells each one associated with a micro base station. The method to manage the states of micro cells comprises the steps of: switching on of all the micro base stations contained in said Tracking Area of the macro cell, counting of the messages of paging to determine the number of portable devices in Idle mode inside said Tracking Area, and switching off at least one micro base station in the Tracking Area when the number of portable devices in Idle mode in the said Tracking Area is lower than a first determined value. According to an improvement, the switching on of all the micro base stations contained in a Tracking Area is triggered when the current load of the macro cell exceeds a second determined value.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method to manage an energy mode of a plurality of micro base stations inside a mobile communications network, the network comprising at least one macro cell containing at least one Tracking Area covering a plurality of micro cells, each micro cell being associated with one of the plurality of micro base stations, wherein the method comprises:
determining a current load of the macro cell,
if the current load of the macro cell exceeds a first determined value, then switching on all the micro base stations associated with all the micro cells contained in said at least one Tracking Area of the macro cell,
counting, for each micro base station, how many portable devices request be managed by each micro base station in response to the switching on of all the micro base stations, to determine a number of portable devices in an Idle mode on each micro cell inside said Tracking Area, and
switching off at least one micro base station associated with at least one micro cell in the Tracking Area when the number of portable devices in Idle mode managed by the at least one micro base station is lower than a second determined value.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein a number of idle and active portable devices managed by the at least one micro base station takes into account information of localization provided by applicative servers in communication with the portable devices located in the micro cell.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the macro cell contains only one Tracking Area.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the macro cell contains more than one Tracking Area, and the switching on of all the micro base stations contained in the Tracking Areas is successively performed for each Tracking Area.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the switching on of all the micro base stations contained in said Tracking Area is periodically performed, spaced by a regular time interval.

### Claim 6

A controller of a mobile communications network for controlling traffic inside a macro cell, said controller being operative to communicate with a plurality of micro base stations each associated with a micro cell, the macro cell containing at least one Tracking Area covering a plurality of micro cells, wherein said controller is operative to:
determine a current load of the macro cell,
emit a first signal to switch on all of the micro base stations associated with all of the micro cells in said Tracking Area when the current load of the macro cell exceeds a first determined value,
count, for each micro base station, how many portable devices request to be managed by each micro base station in response to the switching on of all the micro base stations, to determine a number of portable devices in an Idle mode in each micro cell inside said Tracking Area of the macro cell, and
emit a second signal to switch off at least one micro base station associated with a micro cell of said Tracking Area, said second signal being emitted when the number of portable devices in Idle mode managed by the at least one micro base station is lower than a second determined value.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The controller according to claim 6, wherein said controller is further operative to communicate with applicative servers adapted to locate portable devices in each micro cell, and a determination by the controller of a number of idle and active portable devices managed in a given micro base station takes into account information of locating provided to said controller by said applicative servers.

### Claim 8 (depends on 6)

The controller according to claim 6, wherein the macro cell managed by the controller contains only one Tracking Area.

### Claim 9 (depends on 6)

The controller according to claim 6, wherein the macro cell managed by the controller contains more than one Tracking Area, said first signal being successively emitted for each Tracking Area.

### Claim 10 (depends on 6)

The controller according to claim 6, wherein the first signal is emitted periodically, spaced by a regular time interval.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

A non-transitory computer readable medium having thereon a computer program comprising computer-executable instructions for performing a method when the program is run on a network controller, the method comprising the steps according to claim 1.