Abstract:
An approach to support self-configuring feature on femtocell access points (FAP) is disclosed. A FAP may scan the neighboring base-stations provisioned in the network environment to collect the base-station identifiers of the neighboring base-stations. The FAP may detect a self-organizing server, which in turn may cooperatively operate with an OAM&amp;P server to provide configuration values to the FAP. The FAP may automatically perform self-configuration without any or minimal user intervention. Such an approach may avoid cumbersome tasks of manual configuration and deployment of FAPs or avoiding the truck-roll.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    The present application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 61/236,056, filed Aug. 21, 2009, (docket # P82109Z), the entire content of which is incorporated by reference herein. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Rapid development in broadband access technologies has led to a faster deployment of broadband services in homes, offices and enterprises, and cities and towns. To enable wireless broadband access, the service providers have started deploying overlaid macro base stations (OMBS). The service provides that deploy OMBS may track or maintain the location of the OMBS and the attributes that may be used to provision each of the OMBS. As the number of OMBS that need to be deployed are less compared to the femtocell access points (FAP), it may be comparatively easier for the service provider to deploy the OMBS to insure that the OMBS in a serving area operate harmoniously. 
         [0003]    There is a substantial increase in the number of mobile users wanting to access both voice and data services with a good network coverage from wherever they are positioned. Especially, many a times the mobile network coverage may be annoyingly poor within homes and small office buildings that may cause frustration to mobile users. To improve the quality of mobile or cellular coverage, the service providers are planning to deploy huge number of femtocell access points (FAP) in homes and small offices and such other places. Such huge deployments of FAPs are expected to improve the mobile coverage, substantially, within homes, small offices, and such other places. However, performing the truck roll of FAPs or managing the FAPs manually will be a great burden on the operators. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0004]    The invention described herein is illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation in the accompanying figures. For simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference labels have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. 
           [0005]      FIG. 1  illustrates a network environment  100 . 
           [0006]      FIG. 2  illustrates a state-diagram  200  for enabling self configuration of the femtocell access points (FAP) in accordance with one embodiment. 
           [0007]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a femtocell access point (FAP), which may support self-configuration of the FAP in accordance with one embodiment. 
           [0008]      FIG. 4  is a flow-chart  400 , which illustrates the operation of the FAP while performing self-configuration in accordance with one embodiment. 
           [0009]      FIGS. 5A and 5B , respectively, illustrate a parameters table  365  and a configuration table  375 , which the FAP may use to perform self-configuration in accordance with one embodiment. 
           [0010]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram of a first server, which may support self-configuration of the FAP in accordance with one embodiment. 
           [0011]      FIG. 7  illustrates a configuration table  770  populated by the first server after receiving a response from the SON server in accordance with one embodiment. 
           [0012]      FIG. 8  is a flow-chart  800 , which illustrates the operation of the first server while supporting the FAP to perform self-configuration in accordance with one embodiment. 
           [0013]      FIG. 9  is a block diagram of a second server, which may support self-configuration of the FAP in accordance with one embodiment. 
           [0014]      FIG. 10  is a flow-chart  1000 , which illustrates the operation of the second server while supporting the FAP to perform self-configuration in accordance with one embodiment. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0015]    The following description describes a self-configuration technique performed by a femtocell access point (FAP). In the following description, numerous specific details such as logic implementations, resource partitioning, or sharing, or duplication implementations, types and interrelationships of system components, and logic partitioning or integration choices are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be appreciated, however, by one skilled in the art that the invention may be practiced without such specific details. In other instances, control structures, gate level circuits, and full software instruction sequences have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure the invention. Those of ordinary skill in the art, with the included descriptions, will be able to implement appropriate functionality without undue experimentation. 
         [0016]    References in the specification to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, “an example embodiment”, indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described. 
         [0017]    Embodiments of the invention may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof. Embodiments of the invention may also be implemented as instructions stored on a machine-readable medium, which may be read and executed by one or more processors. A machine-readable storage medium may include any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computing device). 
         [0018]    For example, a machine-readable storage medium may include read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media; flash memory devices; electrical, optical forms of signals. Further, firmware, software, routines, and instructions may be described herein as performing certain actions. However, it should be appreciated that such descriptions are merely for convenience and that such actions in fact result from computing devices, processors, controllers, and other devices executing the firmware, software, routines, and instructions. 
         [0019]    In one embodiment, the femtocell access points (FAP) may perform self-configuration, which may enable the FAPs to operate harmoniously with the neighboring FAPs (NFAP) and overlaid macro base stations (OMBS). In one embodiment, a serving FAP may scan the neighboring FAPs (NFAP) and overlaid macro base stations (OMBS). In response to scanning, the serving FAP may receive the base station identifiers (BSID) of the base-stations such as neighboring FAPs (NFAP) and OMBS provisioned in the network. In one embodiment, the signal strength of each of the NFAPs and the OMBSs, which may respond to the scan signal, may be determined. 
         [0020]    In one embodiment, the serving FAP may then determine a self-organizing network (SON) server to which a list of BSIDs and the corresponding RSSIs may be sent. In one embodiment, the SON server may send the list of BSIDs to an OAM&amp;P server and in response may receive configuration data, associated with each base-station identified in the list, from the OAM&amp;P server. In one embodiment, the SON server may generate the configuration parameters specific for the serving FAP from the configuration data and send the configuration parameters to the serving FAP. In one embodiment, the serving FAP may then receive one or more configuration parameters/values such as medium access control (MAC) values and physical (PHY) layer values from the SON server. In one embodiment, the serving FAP may use the configuration parameters/values to perform self-configuration, which may avoid manual management of the FAPs. 
         [0021]    An embodiment of a network environment  100  in which femtocell access points (FAPs) that may perform self-configuration may be deployed is illustrated in  FIG. 1 . In one embodiment, the network environment  100  may include mobile coverage areas  110 -A and  110 -B, femtocell access points  120 -A and  120 -B, a wireless network  130 , an overlaid macro base station OMBS  140 , and a core network  150 . In one embodiment, the wireless network  130  may include a self-organizing network server (SON)  160 , FAP gateway  165 , an overlaid OMBS (OMBS) gateway  170 , an AAA server  175 , and an operation, administration, maintenance, and provisioning (OAM&amp;P) server  180 . In one embodiment, the FAP  120 -A and FAP  120 -B may be coupled to the FAP gateway  165  via the core network  150  using modems  104 -A and  104 -B. In one embodiment, the mobile coverage areas  110 -A and  110 -B may, respectively, include one or more mobile stations MS  105 -A, MS  105 -B, and  105 -K and MS  106 -A, MS  106 -B, and MS  106 -K. In one embodiment, the core network  150  may include public switching telephone network (PSTN), Internet protocol (IP) based networks, and such other networks. 
         [0022]    In one embodiment, the network environment  100  may comprise many more FAPs and OMBS similar to the FAP  120  and the OMBS  140 . In one embodiment, the FAP  120 -A may be referred to as a “serving FAP” (SFAP) and the serving FAP  120 -A may scan neighboring FAPs (NFAP) such as NFAP  120 -B and overlaid macro base-stations such as the OMBS  140 . In one embodiment, the serving FAP  120 -A may receive a broadcast signal from the neighboring FAPs such as NFAP  120 -B and overlaid macro base-stations such as OMBS  140  at regular intervals of time. In one embodiment, the broadcast signal may comprise base-station identifiers (BSID) of the neighboring FAPs and OMBS. In one embodiment, the serving FAP  120 -A may receive base-station identifiers (BSID) from the FAPs such as NFAP  120 -B and OMBSs such as OMBS  140  in a broadcast message sent from the neighboring FAPs and OMBS at regular intervals or in response to occurrence of specific events or triggers. In other embodiment, the serving FAP  120 -A may receive the BSID from a downlink map (DL-MAP) broadcast message sent by the responding NFAPs  120 -B and OMBS  140 . 
         [0023]    In one embodiment, the serving FAP  120 -A may receive the identifiers or BSID from the neighboring NFAPs and OMBS and determine the radio signal strength indicator (RSSI) for the responding NFAPs and OMBSs. In one embodiment, the serving FAP  120 -A may determine RSSI-A and RSSI-B, respectively, for the NFAP  120 -A and OMBS  140  in response to receiving base-station identifiers (BSIDs) from the NFAP  120 -B and OMBS  140 . In one embodiment, the serving FAP  120 -A may send the combination of BSID and the corresponding RSSI value for each base-station to the SON server  160 . In one embodiment, the serving FAP  120 -A may receive one or more configuration parameters/values from the SON server  160  in response to sending the combinations of BSID and RSSI. In one embodiment, the configuration values may include MAC and PHY configuration data and other attributes such as transmission power, uplink center frequency, downlink center frequency, and preamble sequence. In one embodiment, the serving FAP  120 -A may use the configuration data to configure the attributes, which may facilitate normal operation of the serving FAP  120 -A. As the serving FAP  120 -A performs its configuration, automatically, without manual intervention, the serving FAP  120 -A may be referred to as a self-configuring FAP. 
         [0024]    In one embodiment, the SON server  160  may receive BSID and RSSI for each base-station. In one embodiment, the SON server  160  may generate a query including the selected BSIDs and then send the query or queries to the OAM&amp;P server  180 . In one embodiment, the SON server  160  may receive MAC and PHY configuration data in response to the query sent to the OAM&amp;P server  180 . 
         [0025]    In one embodiment, the SON server  160  may receive MAC and PHY configuration data for each BSID in the query. In one embodiment, the MAC and PHY configuration data may comprise PHY independent uplink channel characteristics, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing access (OFDMA) uplink channel characteristics, (OFDMA) uplink burst profiles, (OFDMA) downlink channel characteristics, OFDMA downlink burst profiles, and/or such other configuration data. 
         [0026]    In one embodiment, the SON server  160  may use the MAC and PHY configuration data to determine configuration values for the serving FAP  120 -A based on the neighboring base station configuration data. In one embodiment, the SON server  160  may add other attributes to the MAC and PHY configuration data received from the OAM&amp;P server  180 . In one embodiment, the other attributes may include transmission power, uplink center frequency, downlink center frequency, preamble sequence, and such other attributes. 
         [0027]    In one embodiment, the SON server  160  may use the RSSI values received from the serving FAP  120 -A to prepare a preliminary list of neighboring devices. For example, the preliminary list may include OMBS  140  as OMBS  140  represents the overlaid macro base-station for the serving FAP  120 -A. In addition to the overlaid OMBS, the SON server  160  may identify the neighboring FAPs such as NFAP  120 -B, which may have a RSSI value satisfying handoff threshold, for example. 
         [0028]    In one embodiment the SON server  160  may use the handoff threshold, for example, −50 dbm and any base-station in the neighborhood of the serving FAP  120 -B that has a RSSI value greater than −50 dbm may qualify to the preliminary list of neighboring devices. In one embodiment, the SON server  160  may dynamically populate the neighboring list if the RSSI of the neighboring base-stations exceed the handoff threshold. In one embodiment, the preliminary list may be changed, dynamically, based on additional measurements received from the mobile stations  105  and  106 . In one embodiment, the SON server  160  may send the configuration values to the serving FAP  120 -A. 
         [0029]    In one embodiment, the OAM&amp;P server  180  may generate MAC and PHY configuration data in response to receiving the one or more queries from the SON server  160 . In one embodiment, the MAC and PHY configuration data provided by the OAM&amp;P server  180  may include PHY independent uplink channel characteristics, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing access (OFDMA) uplink channel characteristics, (OFDMA) uplink burst profiles, (OFDMA) downlink channel characteristics, OFDMA downlink burst profiles, and/or such other configuration data. 
         [0030]    A state diagram  200  depicting a self-configuration operation of the serving femtocell access point (FAP)  120 -A is illustrated in  FIG. 2 . In one embodiment, the state diagram  200  may be initiated on events such as power-on reset. In one embodiment, the serving FAP  120 -A may enter an initialization phase  210  on detecting such initialization events. During the initialization phase  210 , in one embodiment, the serving FAP  120 -A may scan the neighborhood by sending a scanning signal and may receive identifiers of the base-stations in the neighborhood that may respond to the scan signal using a DL-MAP signal. In one embodiment, the serving FAP  120 -A may determine the RSSI for each of the base-stations identified by an identifier (BSID). In one embodiment, the serving FAP  120 -A may discover the SON server  160  during the initialization phase  210 . A location authorization phase  220  may be reached on detecting the SON server  160 . 
         [0031]    During the location authorization phase  220 , the SON server  160  may determine if the serving FAP  120 -A is located in the authorized location. A self-configuration phase  240  may be reached, if the serving FAP  120 -A is located in the authorized location. During the self-configuration phase  240 , the serving FAP  120 -A may scan the neighboring FAPs and OMBSes. In one embodiment, the BSID of each of the base-stations in the neighborhood of the serving FAP  120 -A may be received as a result of serving FAP  120 -A scanning the neighboring FAPs and OMBSes. Also, the scanning report may include RSSI values for each base-station represented the BSID. In one embodiment, the SON server  160  may send a query including one or more BSID taken from the report or may generate a multiple queries each having BSID of a base-station in the neighborhood. In one embodiment, the SON server  160  may receive MAC and PHY configuration data from the OAM&amp;P server  180  in response to sending the query. In one embodiment, the SON server  160  may generate configuration values based on the MAC and PHY configuration data and may send such configuration values to the serving FAP  120 -A. A self-configuration phase  240  may be reached in response to SON server  160  sending the configuration values to the serving FAP  120 -A. 
         [0032]    An operational phase  250  may be reached after self-configuration is successful. In one embodiment, the serving FAP  120 -A may perform normal operation, which may include supporting voice and/or data transfer between the mobile stations MS  105  and  106  and the core network  150 . The initialization phase  210  may be reached if a reset or any other such event may be detected during the operation phase  250 . 
         [0033]    An embodiment of a serving FAP  120 -A that may perform self-configuration is illustrated in  FIG. 3 . In one embodiment, the serving FAP  120 -A may include an interface  310 , a parse  320 , a data processing unit  330 , a memory  335 , a control unit  340 , a scanning engine  350 , a parameters table  365 , and a configuration table  375 . 
         [0034]    In one embodiment, the interface  310  may allow the serving FAP  120 -A to communicate with the other blocks in the network environment  100 . In one embodiment, the interface  310  may support wireless protocols such as IEEE Std 802.16™ accepted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. In one embodiment, the interface  310  may provide electrical, physical, and protocol interfaces to the other blocks in the network  100 . In one embodiment, the interface  310  may receive incoming units over a wireless link and forward the incoming units to the parser  320 . In one embodiment, the interface  310  may receive outgoing data units from the data processing unit  330  and process the outgoing data units before sending the processed outgoing data units over the wireless link. In one embodiment, the operation of the interface  310  may be controlled by the control unit  340 . 
         [0035]    In one embodiment, the parser  320  may route the incoming units to one of the data processing unit  330  or the control unit  340  based on the content of the incoming units. In one embodiment, the parser  320  may receive incoming units, which may include base-station identifiers and may forward such packets to the control unit  340 . In one embodiment, the incoming unit may include a data or voice packet and forward such packets to the data processing unit  330  for further processing. In one embodiment, the data processing unit  330  may process the packets before storing the packets in the memory  335  or may retrieve packets stored in the memory  335  and process the packets before sending the processed packets to the interface  310 . 
         [0036]    In one embodiment, the scanning engine  350  may scan the network environment  100  in response to receiving a scan initiation signal from the control unit  340 . In one embodiment, the scanning engine  350  may receive base-station identifier from one or more base stations such as NFPA  120 -B and/or OMBS  140  provisioned in the network environment  100 . In one embodiment, the scanning engine  350  may send the identifier units to the control unit  340 . In other embodiment, the scanning operation may be performed by the control unit  340  as well. 
         [0037]    In one embodiment, the control unit  340  may send a scan initiation signal to the scanning engine  350 . In one embodiment, the control unit  340  may receive the base-station identifiers in response to sending the scan initiation signal to the scanning engine  350 . In one embodiment, the control unit  340  may store the base-station identifiers in the parameters table  365 . In one embodiment, the control unit  340  may determine the power present in the radio signal for each of the base-stations for which the base-station identifiers are received. In one embodiment, the control unit  340  may determine the radio signal strength indicator (RSSI), which may provide an indication of the power of the radio signal between the serving FAP  120 -A and the other base-stations such as the NFAP  120 -B and the OMBS  140 . In one embodiment, the control unit  340  may include a basic circuit to pick-up the basic radio frequency signals and generate an output equivalent to the signal strength. In one embodiment, the control unit  340  may update the RSSI values for the base-stations provisioned in the network environment  100 . In one embodiment, the control unit  340  may store the RSSI values associated with the corresponding base-station identifiers (BSID) in the parameters table  365 . 
         [0038]    In one embodiment, the control unit  340  may provide the base-station identifiers (BSID) and the corresponding RSSIs to the self-organizing network (SON) server  160 . In one embodiment, the control unit  340  may receive configuration values from the SON server  160  in response to providing the BSIDs and the corresponding RSSIs. In one embodiment, the control unit  340  may self-configure the serving FAP  120 -A by setting the MAC and PHY parameters defined in IEEE® 802.16 Standard using the MAC and PHY parameters received from the SON server  160 . In one embodiment, the control unit  340  may store the configuration values corresponding to each BSID in the configuration table  375 . In one embodiment, the control unit  340  may further include configuration registers  342 , which may be configured with the configuration values to enable the serving FAP  120 -A to establish connectivity with the base-stations in the network for which the configuration values may be received. 
         [0039]    An embodiment of an operation of a serving FAP  120 -A that may perform self-configuration is illustrated in flow-chart of  FIG. 4 . In block  420 , the scanning engine  350  may scan the network environment  100  to determine the presence of overlaid macro base-stations such as OMBS  140  and neighboring femtocell access points such as NFAP  120 -B. 
         [0040]    In block  430 , the control unit  340  may determine whether base-stations such as overlaid macro base-stations and neighboring femtocell access points (NFAPs) are found in the network environment  100 . Control passes to block  440  if the neighboring base-stations are found and may continue to scan the network at regular intervals as depicted in block  420  otherwise. 
         [0041]    In block  440 , the control unit  340  may receive information units that may include the base-station identifiers of the neighboring base-stations. In one embodiment, the report from the NFAP  120 -B may include an identifier field equaling BSID # 2  and the report from the OMBS  140  may include an identifier equal to BSID # 1 . In one embodiment, the control unit  340  may store the base-station identifiers in the parameters table  365 . 
         [0042]    In block  450 , the control unit  340  may determine or measure the receive signal strength using the information signal sent by the base-stations such as NFPA  120 -B and OMBS  140 . In one embodiment, the control unit  340  may include basic electronic circuits to measure the strength of the radio frequency signals and provide the measured signals in a format such as RSSI. 
         [0043]    In block  460 , the control unit  340  may generate a report, which may include the BSIDs of the base-stations and the corresponding RSSI of the base-stations (e.g., NFPA  120 -A and OMBS  140 ) provisioned in the network environment  100 . In one embodiment, the report stored in the parameters table  365  may be as depicted in  FIG. 5A . In one embodiment, the parameters table  365  may comprise columns BSID  510  and RSSI  515 . In one embodiment, the BSID  510  may include identifiers BSID# 1 , BSID# 2 , . . . BSID#n of the base-stations. In one embodiment, the identifiers BSID # 1  and BSID # 2  may, respectively, represent the base-station identifiers of NFAP  120 -B and OMBS  140 . In one embodiment, the column RSSI  515  may include radio signal strength indicator values X 1 , X 2 , . . . Xn. In one embodiment, the RSSI value X 1  and X 2  may, respectively, represent the RSSI values for the base-stations NFAP  120 -B and the OMBS  140 . 
         [0044]    In block  470 , the control unit  340  may send the report to a self-organizing network (SON) server  160 . In block  480 , the control unit  340  may receive configuration data or configuration values for each base-station that had earlier responded (in block  440 ) with the base-station identifier. In one embodiment, the control unit  340  may receive the configuration values from the SON server  160  in response to sending the report. 
         [0045]    In block  485 , the control unit  340  may update the configuration table  475 . In one embodiment, the configuration table  375  may be as depicted in  FIG. 5B . In one embodiment, the configuration table  375  may include two columns BSID  565  and configuration values  575 . In one embodiment, the BSID  565  may include BSID # 1 , BSID # 2  . . . BSID #n and the configuration values  575  may include, for example, channel bandwidth (CBW), fast-fourier transform (FFT) size, cyclic prefix, and such other values. 
         [0046]    In block  490 , the control unit  340  may use the configuration values to self-configure the serving FAP  120 -A. As the result, the serving FAP  120 -A may self-configure and operate without any or minimal manual intervention. 
         [0047]    An embodiment of a SON server  160 , which may support serving FAP  120 -A to perform self-configuration is illustrated in  FIG. 6 . In one embodiment, the SON server  160  may include an interface  610 , a parse  620 , a data processing unit  630 , a memory  640 , a control unit  650 , a configuration table  660 , and a query generator  670 . 
         [0048]    In one embodiment, the interface  610  may allow the SON server  160  to communicate with the other blocks in the network environment  100 . In one embodiment, the interface  610  may provide electrical, physical, and protocol interfaces to the other blocks in the network  100 . In one embodiment, the interface  610  may receive incoming units comprising information such as the list of BSIDs and the corresponding RSSIs received from the serving FAP  120 -A and configuration data received from the OAM&amp;P server  180  and forward the incoming units to the parser  620 . In one embodiment, the interface  610  may receive outgoing units such as queries or the data units received from the control unit  650  or the data processing unit  630  and send the outgoing units to a next block. 
         [0049]    In one embodiment, the parser  620  may route the incoming units to one of the data processing unit  330  or the control unit  340  based on the content of the incoming units. In one embodiment, the parser  320  may receive query signals and may forward queries to the control unit  650 . In one embodiment, the data processing unit  630  may process the packets, provided by the parser  620 , before storing the packets in the memory  640  or may retrieve the packets stored in the memory  640  and process the packets before sending the processed packets to the interface  610 . 
         [0050]    In one embodiment, the control unit  650  may receive the base-station identifiers (BSID) and the corresponding RSSIs from the serving FAP  120 -A and store the BSIDs in the configuration table  660 . In one embodiment, the control unit  650  may provide the BSIDs and a control signal such as a ‘query generate’ signal to the query generator  670 . In one embodiment, the control unit  650  may receive one or more queries in response to sending the ‘query generate’ signal. In one embodiment, the control unit  650  may determine the address of the OAM&amp;P server  180  and include the address of the OAM&amp;P server  180  into the one or more queries received from the query generator  670 . In one embodiment, the control unit  650  may send the one or more queries to the interface  610 , which may forward the one or more queries to the OAM&amp;P server  180 . 
         [0051]    In one embodiment, the control unit  650  may receive the configuration data from the OAM&amp;P sever  180  in response to sending the one or more queries. In one embodiment, the configuration data may include medium access control (MAC) layer data and physical layer (PHY) data for each of the base-stations for which the BSIDs were included in the query. In one embodiment, the control unit  650  may store the configuration data in the configuration table  660 . In one embodiment, the control unit  650  may add, delete, or modify the configuration values stored in the configuration table  660 . In one embodiment, the control unit  650  may add other attributes to configuration data for the BSIDs, which were included in to one or more queries. In one embodiment, the control unit  650  may send the configuration values to the interface  610 , which in turn may send the configuration values to the serving FAP  120 -A. 
         [0052]    An embodiment of an operation of the SON server  160 , which may support the serving FAP  120 -A to perform self-configuration is illustrated in flow-chart of  FIG. 8 . In block  810 , the interface  610  may receive the list (or report) of BSIDs and RSSIs from the serving FAP  120 -A and may forward the list to the control unit  650 . 
         [0053]    In block  820 , the control unit  650  may send the one or more queries, which may include the BSIDs to the interface  610 . In one embodiment, the one or more queries may be forwarded to the OAM&amp;P server  180 . Before, the control unit  650  sends the one or more queries, in one embodiment, the control unit  650  may provide the BSIDs received from the serving FAP  120 -A and a control signal such as a ‘query generate’ signal to the query generator  670 . In one embodiment, the control unit  650  may receive one or more queries in response to sending the ‘query generate’ signal. In one embodiment, the control unit  650  may determine the address of the OAM&amp;P server  180  and include the address of the OAM&amp;P server  180  into the one or more queries received from the query generator  670 . 
         [0054]    In block  840 , the control unit  650  may store the configuration data for the base-stations for which the base-station identifiers were included in the one or more queries. In one embodiment, the control unit  650  may receive the configuration data from the OAM&amp;P sever  180  in response to sending the one or more queries. In one embodiment, the configuration data may include medium access control (MAC) layer data and physical layer (PHY) data for each of the base-stations for which the BSIDs were included in the query. In one embodiment, the control unit  650  may store the configuration data in the configuration table  660 . 
         [0055]    In block  850 , the control unit  650  may include the other attributes to configuration data for the BSIDs, which were included in the one or more queries. In one embodiment, the configuration values stored in the configuration table  660  may be as depicted in the table  700  of  FIG. 7 . In one embodiment, the table  700  may comprise four columns BSID  710 , MAC data  720 , PHY data  750 , and other attributes  770  and n rows  790 - 1  to  790 - n . In one embodiment, the entries in the row  790 - 1  may represent config value # 1 , which may include BSID # 1 , port # 1 , interface id # 1 , and A 1 , A 2 , and A 3 . In one embodiment, the other attributes A 1 , A 2 , and A 3  may represent channel bandwidth, FFT size, cyclic prefix and such other values. 
         [0056]    In one embodiment, the BSID # 1  may represent the base-station identifier of one of the base-stations (e.g., NFAP  120 -B) in the network environment  100  that responded to a scan signal sent by the serving FAP  120 -A. In one embodiment, the port # 1  and interface id # 1  may, respectively, represent the medium access control layer port address and physical layer address of NFAP  120 -B. In one embodiment, the serving FAP  120 -A may use the port # 1  and interface id# 1  to establish connectivity with the NFAP  120 -B. Similarly, the entries in row  790 - 2  may represent config value # 2 , which may represent the configuration values for another base-station such as OMBS  140  and the serving FAP  120 -A may use the config value # 2  to establish connectivity with the OMBS  140 . 
         [0057]    In block  870 , the control unit  650  may send the configuration values to the interface  610 , which in turn may send the configuration values to the serving FAP  120 -A. 
         [0058]    An embodiment of OAM&amp;P server  180 , which may support serving FAP  120 -A to perform self-configuration is illustrated in  FIG. 9 . In one embodiment, the OAM&amp;P server  180  may include an interface  910 , a query processor  920 , and a memory  930 . 
         [0059]    In one embodiment, the interface  910  may allow the OAM&amp;P server  180  to communicate with the other blocks such as the SON server  160  provisioned in the network environment  100 . In one embodiment, the interface  910  may support wired and wireless communications. In one embodiment, the interface  910  may provide electrical, physical, and protocol interfaces to the other blocks in the network  100 . In one embodiment, the interface  910  may receive one or more queries from the SON server  160  and forward the queries to the query processor  920 . In one embodiment, the interface  910  may receive configuration data from the query processor  920  and forward the configuration data to the SON server  160 . 
         [0060]    In one embodiment, the query processor  620  may generate configuration data in response to the queries received. In other embodiment, the query processor  620  may retrieve configuration data stored in the memory  630  for each BSID included in the query. In one embodiment, the configuration data may include physical (PHY) layer and medium access control (MAC) layer data. In one embodiment, the configuration data may include port numbers, socket identifiers, interface identifiers, and such other similar values. In one embodiment, the query processor  620  may provide the configuration data to the interface  910 . 
         [0061]    An embodiment of an operation of the OAM&amp;P server  180 , which may support the serving FAP  120 -A to perform self-configuration is illustrated in flow-chart of  FIG. 10 . In block  1010 , the interface  910  may check whether a query is received and control passes to block  1030  if the query is received and to block  1010  otherwise. 
         [0062]    In block  1030 , the query processor  620  may process the query. In one embodiment, the query processor  620  may retrieve the BSIDs included in the query for which the configuration is to be provided. 
         [0063]    In block  1040 , the query processor  620  may generate a response comprising configuration data for the requested base-station identifiers. In one embodiment, the query processor  620  may retrieve the configuration data stored in the memory  630  and prepare a response based on the configuration data. In one embodiment, the query processor  620  may send the response to the SON server  160 . 
         [0064]    Certain features of the invention have been described with reference to example embodiments. However, the description is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications of the example embodiments, as well as other embodiments of the invention, which are apparent to persons skilled in the art to which the invention pertains are deemed to lie within the spirit and scope of the invention.