Patent ID: 6801772
Filing Date: 2004-10-05
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
A method of operating a cellular telephone system having a subset of base stations only available to some subscribers to the system, the method comprising:transmitting, to each mobile station, neighboring base station data for constructing a list of beacon identities for base stations neighboring the mobile station's serving base station, the transmission being made in a control channel, dedicated to the particular mobile station, wherein the list of beacon identities includes members of the said subset only if the subset is available to the mobile station's subscriber, receiving signal reports from the mobile station for the plurality of base stations, and controlling a handover by selecting a base station for use by the mobile station based on said reports and on whether the base station is a member of the subset, the handover being controlled such that mobile stations for which access to the subset of base stations is permitted are not handed over to base stations not forming part of the subset unless the signal reports for the base stations indicate that reliable communication cannot be effected between the mobile station and any member of the subset.