Patent ID: 8315629
Filing Date: 2012-11-20
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
1. A method of operating a second base station in a mobile communication system that comprises a radio network controller (RNC) operatively connected to a first base station and the second base station, the method comprising: the second base station performing: monitoring one or more channels of at least the first base station to receive a signal transmitted by a user equipment that is being served by the first base station; detecting that a power level of the signal transmitted by the user equipment exceeds a threshold power level; using the received signal transmitted by the user equipment to acquire an identifier of the user equipment; communicating one or more control signals with the radio network controller (RNC) of the mobile communication system to arrange for the second base station to serve the user equipment in only the uplink direction, wherein the one or more communicated control signals include uplink transmit parameters to be used when serving the user equipment and include an instruction that indicates whether the second base station is to act as a master or a slave; and serving the user equipment in only the uplink direction, wherein monitoring one or more channels of at least the first base station to receive a signal transmitted by the user equipment comprises: monitoring a random access channel (RACH) of the first base station to receive a random access channel (RACH) signal transmitted by the user equipment.