Methods for managing co-located macro and femto base station deployments and methods for initiating mobile station handoff

1. A method for managing a plurality of neighboring base stations and handoff of a mobile station, the method comprising:

organizing, by a radio frequency equipment, the plurality of neighboring base stations into groups according to base station grouping characteristics associated with the plurality of neighboring base stations;

transmitting, by the radio frequency equipment, an advertisement message including a plurality of base station group identifiers such that each base station, upon receiving the advertisement message, is notified of a group to which the base station belongs as well as remaining ones of the plurality of base station group identifiers for other groups of base stations, each of the plurality of base station group identifiers identifying one of the groups; and

managing the handoff of the mobile station to a base station in an advertised group.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the base station grouping characteristics include at least one of radio frequency characteristics associated with the plurality of neighboring base stations, geographic location characteristics associated with the plurality of neighboring base stations, base station paging groups, Frequency Assignment, and Internet Protocol address subnet for the mobile station.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the radio frequency characteristics include at least one of frequency assignment, unique preamble sequence, and cyclic prefix.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

assigning, by the radio frequency equipment, one of the plurality of base station group identifiers to each group of base stations based on the associated base station grouping characteristics;

wherein the transmitting step includes,

advertising, by the radio frequency equipment, each of the groups in the advertisement message.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the advertisement message is an NBR-ADV or an AAI_NBR-ADV message.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

selecting a base station in each group as a representative base station;

wherein the transmitting step includes,

advertising, by the radio frequency equipment, each of the groups in the advertisement message,

the base station group identifier for each group is a base station identifier for the selected base station, and

the base station identifier is at least one of indicative and representative of base station grouping characteristics.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the advertisement message is an NBR-ADV or an AAI_NBR-ADV message.

8. A method for managing a plurality of neighboring base stations and initiating handoff of a mobile station, the method comprising:

organizing, by a radio frequency equipment, the plurality of neighboring base stations into groups according to base station grouping characteristics associated with each of plurality of neighboring base stations;

advertising, by the radio frequency equipment, each of the groups in an advertisement message, the advertisement message including a plurality of a base station group identifiers such that each base station, upon receiving the advertisement message, is notified of a group to which the base station belongs as well as remaining ones of the plurality of base station group identifiers for other groups of base stations, each of the plurality of base station group identifiers identifying one of the groups based on the base station grouping characteristics associated with a corresponding group; and

at least one of managing and initiating, by the radio frequency equipment, handoff of the mobile station to a base station in an advertised group.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the base station group identifier for each group is not a base station identifier for a base station in the corresponding group.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

selecting a base station in each group as a representative base station; wherein

the base station group identifier for each group is a base station identifier for the selected base station.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the advertisement message is an NBR-ADV or an AAI_NBR-ADV message.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the at least one of managing and initiating steps comprises:

determining, by a radio frequency equipment, whether the mobile station is in a vicinity of at least one of the organized plurality of neighboring base stations;

comparing, by the radio frequency equipment, a received signal strength indicator with a signal strength indicator threshold, the received signal strength indicator being associated with the at least one neighboring base station; and

initiating, by the radio frequency equipment, handoff of the mobile station to the at least one neighboring base station if the received signal strength indicator passes the signal strength indicator threshold.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the at least one of managing and initiating steps comprises:

generating, by the radio frequency equipment, a list of base stations in response to a scan request message from the mobile station, the scan list including a temporary list of allowed base stations among the organized plurality of neighboring base stations, the allowed list of base stations being generated based on reported signal strength indicator values associated with the organized plurality of neighboring base stations;

initiating, by the radio frequency equipment, a scan of the organized plurality of neighboring base stations in response to a request for a scanning interval from the mobile station; and wherein

the determining step determines whether the mobile station is in the vicinity of at least one of the organized plurality of neighboring base stations based on scan results and measurements acquired during the scan.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the at least one of managing and initiating steps comprises:

initiating, by the mobile station a scan of the organized plurality of neighboring base stations in response to the advertisement message; and wherein

the determining step determines whether the mobile station is in the vicinity of at least one of the organized plurality of neighboring base stations based on scan results and measurements acquired during the scan.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

iteratively scanning, by the mobile station, the organized plurality of neighboring base stations if the determining step determines that the mobile station is not in the vicinity of at least one of the organized plurality of neighboring base stations.

16. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

determining whether the at least one neighboring base station corresponds to an identified valid base station if the radio frequency equipment determines that the mobile station is in the vicinity of a valid base station group; and wherein

the comparing step compares the received signal strength indicator associated with the at least one neighboring base station with a signal strength indicator threshold if the at least one neighboring base station corresponds to the identified valid base station; wherein

the valid base station group is a group of base stations of which the mobile station is a subscriber and the mobile station expects entry and service.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein if a plurality of neighboring base stations have received signal strength indicators passing the signal strength indicator threshold, the method further comprises:

selecting, by the radio frequency equipment, the base station having a highest received signal strength indicator as the base station to which the mobile station is to be handed off; and wherein

the initiating step initiates handoff of the mobile station to the selected base station.

18. The method of claim 12 , wherein if a plurality of neighboring base stations have received signal strength indicators passing the signal strength indicator threshold, the method further comprises:

selecting, by the radio frequency equipment, the valid target base station based on a loading of the base stations; and wherein

the initiating step initiates handoff of the mobile station to the selected valid base station.

19. The method of claim 12 , wherein if a plurality of neighboring base stations have received signal strength indicators passing the signal strength indicator threshold, the method further comprises:

selecting, by the radio frequency equipment, the valid target base station based on an expected packet error rate; and wherein

the initiating step initiates handoff of the mobile station to the selected valid base station.

20. A method for managing a plurality of neighboring base stations and initiating handoff of a mobile station to one of the plurality of neighboring base stations, the method comprising:

organizing, by a radio frequency equipment, the plurality of neighboring base stations into groups according to base station grouping characteristics associated with each of plurality of neighboring base stations;

advertising, by the radio frequency equipment, each of the groups in an advertisement message, the advertisement message including a plurality of base station group identifiers such that each base station, upon receiving the advertisement message, is notified of a group to which the base station belongs as well as remaining ones of the plurality of base station group identifiers for other groups of base stations, each of the plurality of base station group identifiers identifying one of the groups based on the base station grouping characteristics associated with a corresponding group; and

at least one of managing and initiating, by the radio frequency equipment, handoff of the mobile station to a base station in an advertised group; wherein

the base station group identifier associated with each of the groups is a base station identifier for a representative base station within each group.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the at least one of managing and initiating steps comprises:

determining, by a radio frequency equipment, whether the mobile station is in a vicinity of at least one of the plurality of neighboring base stations;

comparing, by the radio frequency equipment, a received signal strength indicator with a signal strength indicator threshold, the received signal strength indicator being associated with the at least one neighboring base station; and

initiating, by the radio frequency equipment, handoff of the mobile station to the at least one neighboring base station if the received signal strength indicator passes the signal strength indicator threshold.

22. The method of claim 21 , further comprising:

determining whether the at least one neighboring base station corresponds to an identified valid base station if the radio frequency equipment determines that the mobile station is in the vicinity of a valid base station group; and wherein

the comparing step compares the received signal strength indicator associated with the at least one neighboring base station with the signal strength indicator threshold if the at least one neighboring base station corresponds to the identified valid base station; wherein

the valid base station group is a group of base stations of which the mobile station is a subscriber and the mobile station expects entry and service.

23. The method of claim 21 , wherein if a plurality of neighboring base stations have received signal strength indicators passing the signal strength indicator threshold, the method further comprises:

selecting, by the radio frequency equipment, the base station having a highest received signal strength indicator as the base station to which the mobile station is to be handed off; and wherein

the initiating step initiates handoff of the mobile station to the selected base station.

24. The method of claim 21 , wherein if a plurality of neighboring base stations have received signal strength indicators passing the signal strength indicator threshold, the method further comprises:

selecting, by the radio frequency equipment, the valid target base station based on a loading of the base stations; and wherein

the initiating step initiates handoff of the mobile station to the selected valid base station.

25. The method of claim 21 , wherein if a plurality of neighboring base stations have received signal strength indicators passing the signal strength indicator threshold, the method further comprises:

selecting, by the radio frequency equipment, the valid target base station based on an expected packet error rate; and wherein

the initiating step initiates handoff of the mobile station to the selected valid base station.