Patent ID: 9179378
Filing Date: 2015-11-03
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
1. A method of selecting carrier frequency band of a femtocell base station that provides a femtocell and resides within a macrocell provided by a macrocell base station, the method comprising: the femtocell base station operating at a carrier frequency band of the macrocell comprising detecting that a first user terminal is in or close to the femtocell, determining that said first user terminal is connectable to the femtocell base station and so connecting said first user terminal to the femtocell base station using the carrier frequency band allocated to the macrocell; detecting that a second user terminal connected to the macrocell base station at the carrier frequency band of the macrocell is in or close to the femtocell; wherein the femtocell base station switches its carrier frequency band to one not allocated to the macrocell upon determining that the second user terminal is not connectable to the femtocell base station, in which said first user terminal is handed over to the macrocell base station at the carrier frequency band of the macrocell, whereupon the femtocell base station is switched to the frequency band not allocated to the macrocell and then said first user terminal is handed over to the femtocell base station.