Patent ID: 9686691
Date: 2017-06-20
CPC Classifications: H04W

Claim:
1. A method for classifying a basestation in a cellular communications network, comprising: obtaining an identifier used by the basestation, wherein the identifier is obtained by a first basestation of a first operator; comparing the identifier to a pool of identifiers reserved for a first class of basestations; obtaining a frequency on which the basestation is operating; comparing the frequency to a pool of frequencies used by the first class of basestations; receiving a broadcast from the basestation including a cell attribute of the basestation; comparing the cell attribute with a first attribute value range for the first class of basestations; identifying the basestation as belonging to the first class of basestations based on a determination that the identifier is in the pool of identifiers and the frequency is in the pool of frequencies, wherein the first class of basestations corresponds to small cell basestations of the first operator; identifying the basestation as belonging to a second class of basestations based on a determination that the cell attribute is within the first attribute value range and the identifier is not within the pool of identifiers, wherein the second class of basestations corresponds to small cell basestations of another operator; comparing the cell attribute to a second attribute range for a third class of basestations based on a determination that the cell attribute is not within the first attribute value range; identifying the basestation as belonging to the third class of basestations based on a determination that the cell attribute is not within the first attribute value range for the first class of basestations and that the cell attribute is within the second attribute range for the third class of basestations, wherein the third class of basestations corresponds to medium area macro cell basestations; identifying the basestation as belonging to a fourth class of basestations based on a determination that the cell attribute is not within the first attribute value range for the first class of basestations and that the cell attribute is not within the second attribute range for the third class of basestations, wherein the fourth class of basestations corresponds to wide area macro cell basestations; forming one or more neighbor lists for the first basestation based on whether the basestation belongs to the first, the second, the third or the fourth class of basestations; and adapting a Radio Resource Management (RRM) policy for the first basestation based on whether the basestation belongs to the first, the second, the third or the fourth class of basestations, wherein the RRM policy identifies uplink power limits, downlink power limits, a handover policy and a reselection policy for the first basestation.