Macrocell to Femtocell and Femtocell to Femtocell handoff

1. A method for handing off a Mobile Station (MS) from a Macrocell Base Station (MBS) to a target Femtocell Base Station (FBS) in a wireless network, the method comprising:

receiving, by a Wireless Soft Switch (WSS), a message indicating that handoff of an MS to an FBS should be performed;

determining, by the WSS, one or more candidate FBSs for the handoff;

determining, by the WSS, the target FBS, from the one or more candidate FBSs, to which the MS is to handoff; and

exchanging messages with the MS, MBS, and the target FBS for the handoff of the MS from the MBS to the target FBS.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, at the MBS, a message from the MS including a Pseudo-random Noise (PN) code used in a beacon signal transmitted by an FBS;

determining, at the MBS, an WSS identifier based on the PN code; and

transmitting, at the MBS, the message indicating that the handoff of the MS should be performed.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the message indicating that the handoff of the MS should be performed comprises at least one of a Round Trip Delay (RTD) between the MS and MBS, an MSC Identifier, a Cell Identifier, a Sector Identifier, a Current Macrocell channel on which the MS is active, Electronic Serial Number (ESN) and International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) identifiers of the MS, and a Long Code Mask assigned to the MS by the MBS.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, at a Mobile Switching Center, a message from the MBS indicating that handoff of an MS to an FBS should be performed, the message including a WSS identifier; and

routing the message from the MBS to the WSS based on the WSS identifier.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining, by the WSS, of the one or more candidate FBSs for the handoff comprises:

identifying, by the WSS, one or more FBSs located within an area the MS is located in, wherein the area is determined based on a longitude, latitude, azimuth and beamwidth of the MBS, a longitude and latitude of the MS, and a distance between the MBS and MS; and

determining, by the WSS, the one or more FBSs located within the area and the one or more candidate FBSs for the handoff.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining, by the WSS, of the one or more candidate FBSs for the handoff comprises:

requesting, by the WSS, location information of the MS from a Position Determining Entity (PDE); and

receiving, by the WSS, the location information of the MS from the PDE.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining, by the WSS, the target FBS, from the one or more candidate FBSs, to which the MS is to handoff comprises:

sending, by the WSS, a message to the one or more candidate FBSs requesting at least one of a signal strength and a round trip delay measurement of signals transmitted by the MS to the MBS;

receiving, by the WSS, the at least one of the signal strength and the round trip delay measurement of signals transmitted by the MS to the MBS, from each of the one or more candidate FBSs; and

determining, by the WSS, the target FBS from the one or more candidate FBSs that measured at least one of the greatest signal strength and shortest round trip delay.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, by each of the each of the one or more candidate FBSs, a message from the WSS requesting at least one of a signal strength and a round trip delay measurement of signals transmitted by the MS to the MBS;

determining, by each of the each of the one or more candidate FBSs, the at least one of the signal strength and the round trip delay measurement of signals transmitted by the MS to the MBS; and

transmitting to the WSS, by each of the each of the one or more candidate FBSs, the at least one of the signal strength and the round trip delay measurement of signals transmitted by the MS to the MBS.

9. A Wireless Soft Switch (WSS) apparatus for use in a wireless network to handoff a Mobile Station (MS) from a Macrocell Base Station (MBS) to a target Femtocell Base Station (FBS), the apparatus comprising:

a first transceiver for transmitting to and receiving messages from one or more FBSs;

a second transceiver for transmitting to and receiving messages from the MBS; and

a controller for controlling to receive a message indicating that handoff of an MS to an FBS should be performed, for determining one or more candidate FBSs for the handoff, for determining the target FBS, from the one or more candidate FBSs, to which the MS is to handoff, and for controlling to exchange messages with the MS, MBS, and the target FBS for the handoff of the MS from the MBS to the target FBS.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the controller, when determining the one or more candidate FBSs for the handoff, identifies one or more FBSs located within an area the MS is located in, wherein the area is determined based on a longitude, latitude, azimuth and beamwidth of the MBS, a longitude and latitude of the MS, and a distance between the MBS and MS, and determines the one or more FBSs located within the area and the one or more candidate FBSs for the handoff.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the controller, when determining the one or more candidate FBSs for the handoff, controls to request location information of the MS from a Position Determining Entity (PDE), and controls to receive the location information of the MS from the PDE.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the controller, when determining the target FBS, from the one or more candidate FBSs, to which the MS is to handoff, controls to send a message to the one or more candidate FBSs requesting at least one of a signal strength and a round trip delay measurement of signals transmitted by the MS to the MBS, controls to receive the at least one of a signal strength and a round trip delay measurement from each of the one or more candidate FBSs, and determines the target FBS from the one or more candidate FBSs that measured at least one of the greatest signal strength and shortest round trip delay.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the message indicating that the handoff of the MS should be performed comprises at least one of a Round Trip Delay (RTD) between the MS and MBS, an MSC Identifier, a Cell Identifier, a Sector Identifier, a Current Macrocell channel on which the MS is active, Electronic Serial Number (ESN) and International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) identifiers of the MS, and a Long Code Mask assigned to the MS by the MBS.

14. A method for handing off a Mobile Station (MS) from a serving Femtocell Base Station (FBS) to a target FBS in a wireless network, the method comprising:

sending, by the serving FBS, a message to the MS including neighbor information that comprises a frequency allocation and Pseudo-random Noise (PN) code used by each of the FBSs neighboring the serving FBS;

receiving, by the serving FBS, a message from the MS including a frequency allocation and PN code used by an FBS detected by the MS;

determining, by the serving FBS, an identifier for each of at least one candidate FBS using the frequency allocation and PN code received from the MS;

sending, by the serving FBS, a message to a Wireless Soft Switch (WSS) indicating that handoff of the MS should be performed, the message including the determined identifier for each of the at least one candidate FBS using the frequency allocation and PN code received from the MS; and

exchanging messages, by the serving FBS, with the MS and WSS for the handoff of the MS from the serving FBS to the target FBS, wherein the target FBS is one of the at least one candidate FBS using the frequency allocation and PN code received from the MS.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein, when only one candidate FBS uses the frequency allocation and PN code received from the MS, the one FBS is the target FBS.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein, when more than one candidate FBS uses the frequency allocation and PN code received from the MS, the WSS determines the target FBS.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the WSS determines the target FBS by:

sending a message to the more than one candidate FBS requesting at least one of a signal strength and a round trip delay measurement of signals transmitted by the MS to the serving FBS;

receiving the at least one of the signal strength and the round trip delay measurement of signals transmitted by the MS to the serving FBS, from each of the more than one candidate FBS; and

determining as the target FBS, an FBS of the more than one candidate FBS that measured at least one of the greatest signal strength and shortest round trip delay.

18. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

receiving, by each of the more than one candidate FBS, a message from the WSS requesting at least one of a signal strength and a round trip delay measurement of signals transmitted by the MS to the serving FBS;

determining, by each of the more than one candidate FBS, the at least one of the signal strength and the round trip delay measurement of signals transmitted by the MS to the MBS; and

transmitting to the WSS, by each of the more than one candidate FBS, the at least one of the signal strength and the round trip delay measurement of signals transmitted by the MS to the serving FBS.

19. A Femtocell Base Station (FBS) apparatus for use in a wireless network to handoff a Mobile Station (MS) to a target FBS, the apparatus comprising:

a first transceiver for transmitting to and receiving messages from a Wireless Soft Switch (WSS);

a second transceiver for transmitting to and receiving messages from the MS; and

a controller for controlling to sending a message to the MS including neighbor information that comprises a frequency allocation and Pseudo-random Noise (PN) code used by each of the FBSs neighboring the FBS, for controlling to receive a message from the MS including a frequency allocation and PN code used by an FBS detected by the MS, for determining an identifier for each of at least one FBS using the frequency allocation and PN code received from the MS, for controlling to send a message to the WSS indicating that handoff of the MS should be performed, the message including the determined identifier for each of the at least one FBS using the frequency allocation and PN code received from the MS, and for controlling to exchange messages with the MS and WSS for the handoff of the MS from the FBS to the target FBS, wherein the target FBS is one of the at least one FBS using the frequency allocation and PN code received from the MS.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein, when only one FBS uses the frequency allocation and PN code received from the MS, the one FBS is the target FBS.

21. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein, when more than one FBS uses the frequency allocation and PN code received from the MS, the target FBS is determined by the WSS.