Method and system for small cell discovery in heterogeneous cellular networks
View Patent ↗A method and a user equipment in a network having a macro cell and at least one small cell, the method in one embodiment receiving a measurement restriction over a broadcast channel from the macro cell; and applying the restriction for a corresponding measurement at the user equipment. In one embodiment the method includes receiving a small cell list from the macro cell; and measuring at least one of a reference signal receive power and a reference signal received quality based on the received small cell list. The method includes, in one embodiment, receiving a neighboring small cell configurations from the macro cell; and utilizing the received small cell configurations to attach to a small cell. The method includes, in one embodiment, receiving an s-measure offset value over a broadcast channel from the macro cell; and applying the s-measure offset value to an s-measure for neighbor cell discovery.
1. A method at a user equipment in a network having a macro cell and at least one small cell, the method comprising:
receiving an indication over a dedicated connection from the macro cell to
activate or deactivate small cell measurements, the indication including a list of
small cells which are within a distance threshold of the user equipment; and
activating or deactivating the small cell measurements for small cells included in the list.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indication is a measurement configuration received based on the user equipment reporting a proximity to a small cell.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indication is a flag indicating whether an adaptive measurement is applied for the small cell measurements.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the adaptive measurement comprises:
determining a start time for the small cell measurements by the user equipment.
5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the indication is received on a Third Generation Partnership Project MeasObjectUTRA Information Element.
6. A user equipment configured to operate in a heterogeneous network having a macro cell and at least one small cell, the user equipment comprising:
a processor; and
a communication subsystem,
wherein the processor and communication subsystem cooperate to:
receive an indication over a dedicated connection from the macro cell to activate
or deactivate small cell measurements, the indication including a list of small cells
which are within a distance threshold of the user equipment; and
activate or deactivate the small cell measurements based on the indication.
7. The user equipment of claim 6 , wherein the indication is a measurement configuration received based on the user equipment reporting a proximity to a small cell.
8. The user equipment of claim 6 , wherein the indication is a flag indicating whether an adaptive measurement is applied for the small cell measurements.
9. The user equipment of claim 8 , wherein the adaptive measurement comprises: determining a start time for the small cell measurements by the user equipment.
10. The user equipment of claim 8 , wherein the indication is received on a Third Generation Partnership Project MeasObjectUTRA Information Element.
11. A method at a macro cell in a network having the macro cell and at least one small cell, the method comprising:
determining a location of a user equipment;
determining a list of small cells which are within a distance threshold of the user equipment;
sending an indication over a dedicated connection from the macro cell to the user equipment to activate or deactivate small cell measurements, the indication including the list of small cells which are within the distance threshold of the user equipment.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the indication is a measurement configuration sent based on the user equipment reporting a proximity to a small cell.
13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the indication is a flag indicating whether an adaptive measurement is applied for the small cell measurements.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the indication is sent on a Third Generation Partnership Project MeasObjectUTRA Information Element.
15. A macro cell configured to operate in a heterogeneous network having the macro cell and at least one small cell, the macro cell comprising:
a processor; and
a communication subsystem,
wherein the processor and communication subsystem cooperate to:
determine a location of a user equipment;
determine a list of small cells which are within a distance threshold of the user equipment;
send an indication over a dedicated connection from the macro cell to the user equipment to activate or deactivate small cell measurements, the indication including the list of small cells which are within the distance threshold of the user equipment.
16. The macro cell of claim 15 , wherein the indication is a measurement configuration sent based on the user equipment reporting a proximity to a small cell.
17. The macro cell of claim 15 , wherein the indication is a flag indicating whether an adaptive measurement is applied for the small cell measurements.
18. The macro cell of claim 17 , wherein the indication is sent on a Third Generation Partnership Project MeasObjectUTRA Information Element.