Patent ID: 9699696
Date: 2017-07-04
CPC Classifications: H04W

Claim:
1. A method for a communication network comprising: configuring a plurality of common channels for each of a plurality of small cell access points to form a pool of common channels for use in relocation operations; receiving a request to relocate a first user equipment (UE) from a source macro radio to an ambiguous small cell access point, wherein the request includes, at least in part, a first target cell identity (ID) encoded with a source macro cell identifier for the source macro radio and a target sub-carrier identifier for the ambiguous small cell access point, wherein the first target cell ID is 24-bits in length in which one of the target sub-carrier identifier is 4-bits in length or the source macro cell identifier is 16-bits or 20 bits in length; determining a plurality of potential target small cell access points from the plurality of small cell access points for which the plurality of common channels are configured for relocation of the first UE using the using the first target cell ID, wherein determining the plurality of potential target small cell access points further comprises: preparing, for each of the plurality of potential target small cell access points, a particular common channel to receive relocation of the first UE, wherein the first UE attempts to relocate to a particular target small cell access point using the particular common channel prepared for each of the plurality of potential target small cell access points.