Patent ID: 9467880
Filing Date: 2016-10-11
CPC Classification: H04W

Claim Text:
1. A cellular communication system comprising: a macrocell communication station providing wireless service within a macrocell service area in accordance with a communication specification; and a small cell communication station providing wireless service within a small cell service area and connected to a core network through a backhaul, the small cell service area at least partially overlapping the macrocell service area; the communication specification defining frames and subframes of time-frequency communication resources for wireless communication between the macrocell communication station and mobile user equipment (UE) devices and between mobile device-to-device (D2D) UE devices, the communication specification allocating a discovery subframe for transmission of D2D discovery signals from mobile UE devices for detection by at least other mobile UE device, the small cell communication station configured to transmit small cell discovery signals within the discovery subframe, the small cell discovery signals received by at least one mobile UE device when the at least one mobile UE device is sufficiently close to the small cell communication station.