Grouping of cells for efficient neighbor cell information distribution

1. A method, comprising:

grouping at least one cell of a network according to at least one characteristic of a physical layer cell identification of the at least one cell, and

signaling a representation comprising the at least one characteristic of the grouped at least one cell to a mobile station, where the signaling comprises:

a first field comprising bits indicating a pattern length in bits of most significant bits of a physical layer cell identification;

a second field comprising a pattern of bits of a length defined based on said first field; and

a third field comprising a sense bit to indicate whether the group of at least one cell includes each cell identified by a physical layer cell identification of which the most significant bit or bits equal said pattern of bits, or each cell identified by a physical layer cell identification of which the most significant bit or bits do not equal said pattern of bits.

2. The method as in claim 1 , where the first field comprising the bits indicating the length of the pattern is a three bit field and the third field comprising the sense bit is a one bit field.

3. The method as in claim 1 , where if the sense bit is equal to 0 then each cell of the grouped at least one cell is identified by the most significant bit or bits of the physical layer cell identification being equal to the pattern of bits, and if the sense bit is equal to 1 then each cell of the grouped at least one cell is identified by the most significant bit or bits of the physical layer cell identification being not equal to the pattern of bits.

4. The method as in claim 1 , where the network is a long term evolution network.

5. The method as in claim 1 , performed by a network node in the network.

6. A memory embodying a computer program executable by a processor to perform the method as in claim 1 .

7. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code, where the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus to at least:

group at least one cell of a network according to at least one characteristic of a physical layer cell identification of the at least one cell, and

signal a representation comprising the at least one characteristic of the grouped at least one cell to the mobile station, where the signaling comprises:

a first field comprising bits indicating a pattern length in bits of most significant bits of a physical layer cell identification;

a second field comprising a pattern of bits of a length defined based on said first field and

a third field comprising a sense bit to indicate whether the grouped at least one cell includes each cell identified by a physical layer cell identification of which the most significant bit or bits equal said pattern of bits, or each cell identified by a physical layer cell identification of which the most significant bit or bits do not equal said pattern of bits.

8. The apparatus as in claim 7 , where the first field comprising the bits indicating the length of the pattern is a three bit field and the third field comprising the sense bit is a one bit field.

9. The apparatus as in claim 7 , where if the sense bit is equal to 0 then each cell of the grouped at least one cell is identified by the most significant bit or bits of the physical layer cell identification being equal to the pattern of bits, and if the sense bit is equal to 1 then each cell of the grouped at least one cell is identified by the most significant bit or bits of the physical layer cell identification being not equal to the pattern of bits.

10. The apparatus as in claim 7 , embodied in a network node of the network.

11. An apparatus comprising:

means for grouping at least one cell of a network according to at least one characteristic of a physical layer cell identification of the at least one cell, and

means for signaling a representation comprising the at least one characteristic of the grouped at least one cell to a mobile station, where the signaling comprises:

a first field comprising bits indicating a pattern length in bits of most significant bits of a physical layer cell identification;

a second field comprising a pattern of bits of a length defined based on said first field; and

a third field comprising a sense bit to indicate whether the grouped at least one cell includes each cell identified by a physical layer cell identification of which the most significant bit or bits equal said pattern of bits, or each cell identified by a physical layer cell identification of which the most significant bit or bits do not equal said pattern of bits.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , where the means for identifying and signaling comprises a processor and an interface.

13. A method comprising:

receiving, at a mobile station, signaling comprising a representation of a grouped at least one cell of a network, where the representation is according to at least one characteristic of a physical layer cell identification of the at least one cell; and

determining, based on the signaling, whether the grouped at least one cell are to be considered for an operation including at least one of reselection and measurement reporting, where the signaling comprises:

a first field comprising bits indicating a pattern length in bits of most significant bits of a physical layer cell identification;

a second field comprising a pattern of bits of a length defined based on said first field; and

a third field comprising a sense bit to indicate whether the grouped at least one cell includes each cell identified by a physical layer cell identification of which the most significant bit or bits equal said pattern of bits, or each cell identified by a physical layer cell identification of which the most significant bit or bits do not equal said pattern of bits.

14. The method as in claim 13 , where if the sense bit is equal to 0 then each cell of the grouped at least one cell is identified by the most significant bit or bits of the physical layer cell identification being equal to the pattern of bits, and if the sense bit is equal to 1 then each cell of the grouped at least one cell is identified by the most significant bit or bits of the physical layer cell identification being not equal to the pattern of bits.

15. A memory embodying a computer program executable by a processor to perform the method as in claim 13 .

16. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code, where the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus to at least:

receive signaling comprising a representation of a grouped at least one cell of a network, where the representation is according to at least one characteristic of a physical layer cell identification of the at least one cell; and

determine, based on the signaling, whether the grouped at least one cell are to be considered for an operation including at least one of reselection and measurement reporting, where the signaling comprises:

a first field comprising bits indicating a pattern length in bits of most significant bits of a physical layer cell identification;

a second field comprising a pattern of bits of a length defined based on said first field; and

a third field comprising a sense bit to indicate whether the grouped at least one cell includes each cell identified by a physical layer cell identification of which the most significant bit or bits equal said pattern of bits, or each cell identified by a physical layer cell identification of which the most significant bit or bits do not equal said pattern of bits.

17. The apparatus as in claim 16 , where if the sense bit is equal to 0 then each cell of the grouped at least one cell is identified by the most significant bit or bits of the physical layer cell identification being equal to the pattern of bits, and if the sense bit is equal to 1 then each cell of the grouped at least one cell is identified by the most significant bit or bits of the physical layer cell identification being not equal to the pattern of bits.

18. The apparatus as in claim 16 , embodied in a network node of the network.

19. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving signaling comprising a representation of a grouped at least one cell of a network, where the representation is according to at least one characteristic of a physical layer cell identification of the at least one cell; and

means for determining, based on the signaling, whether the grouped at least one cell are to be considered for an operation including at least one of reselection and measurement reporting, where the signaling comprises:

a first field comprising bits indicating a pattern length in bits of most significant bits of a physical layer cell identification;

a second field comprising a pattern of bits of a length defined based on said first field; and

a third field comprising a sense bit to indicate whether the grouped at least one cell includes each cell identified by a physical layer cell identification of which the most significant bit or bits equal said pattern of bits, or each cell identified by a physical layer cell identification of which the most significant bit or bits do not equal said pattern of bits.

20. The apparatus as in claim 19 where the means for receiving comprises an interface, and the means for determining comprises a processor.