Patent ID: 9155013
Filing Date: 2015-10-06
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
1. A method for carrying out load balancing between cells in a heterogeneous network, comprising: identifying at least one macro cluster experiencing unbalanced load conditions; determining, based on the identifying the at least one macro cluster experiencing unbalanced load conditions, to offload at least one user equipment from a macro cell of the at least one macro cluster to a pico cell of the at least one macro cluster; determining that offloading to the pico cell was previously attempted within a predefined time window; identifying another pico cell of the at least one macro cluster for which offloading was not attempted within the predefined time window; setting a macro-to-pico offload indicator for the macro cell and the another pico cell, the macro-to-pico offload indicator being a trigger for a handover from the macro cell to the another pico cell; and sending balancing indicators to one or more cells in the at least one macro cluster, wherein the balancing indicators include the macro-to-pico offload indicator.