Patent Publication Number: US-2013237227-A1

Title: Method and system for resource allocation based on femtocell location classification

Description:
CLAIM OF PRIORITY UNDER 35 U.S.C. §119 
     The present application for patent claims priority to Provisional Applications No. 61/609,172 entitled “Method and System for Resource Allocation Based on Femtocell Location Classification” and filed on Mar. 9, 2012, and assigned to the assignee hereof and hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Field 
     This disclosure relates generally to the field of wireless communications, and more specifically to the system and methods for classifying an indoors location of a femtocell and allocating femtocell RF resources based on the indoors location. 
     2. Background 
     Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as, for example, voice, data, and so on. Typical wireless communication systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, etc.). Examples of such multiple-access systems may include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, and the like. Additionally, the systems can conform to specifications such as third generation partnership project (3GPP), 3GPP long term evolution (LTE), ultra mobile broadband (UMB), evolution data optimized (EV-DO), etc. 
     Generally, wireless multiple-access communication systems may simultaneously support communication for multiple mobile devices. Each mobile device may communicate with one or more base stations (e.g., which can be commonly referred as macro nodes). To supplement conventional base stations, additional low power base stations (e.g., which can be commonly referred as femto nodes cells or pico nodes) can be deployed to provide more robust wireless coverage to mobile devices. For example, low power base stations can be deployed for incremental capacity growth, richer user experience, in-building or other specific geographic coverage, and/or the like. 
     Femto nodes are often installed by users in their homes, offices, buildings and other indoors environments without consideration of a current network infrastructure. The location of the femto node may be deep indoors within a building or close to a window or external wall. During operation, a femto node may select the same network resources (e.g., transmit power, frequency/time blocks, etc.) as other neighboring macro nodes or femto nodes, which may cause interference issues between neighboring macrocells and femtocells in high density macro node and femto node deployments. A femtocell is a coverage area of a femto node. Likewise, a macrocell is a coverage area of a macro node. Thus, improvements in the operation of femto nodes are desired. 
     SUMMARY 
     The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects of systems, methods and computer program products for classifying an indoors location of a femtocell and allocating/adjusting resources and parameters of the femtocell based on the indoors location classification in order to optimize coverage by the femtocell and reduce interference with neighboring macro and femtocells. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects thereof. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later 
     In one aspect, a method includes performing, by a femto node, radio frequency (RF) measurements of one or more neighboring femtocells and macrocells. The method further includes collecting performance measurement reports from one or more mobile devices. The method further includes classifying an indoors location of the femto node based on the performed RF measurements and the collected performance measurement reports. The method further includes adjusting one or more RF resources and parameters of the femto node based on the indoors location classification of the femto node. 
     In another aspect, a femto node apparatus includes a information collection component configured to perform RF measurements of one or more neighboring femtocells and macrocells, and to collect performance measurement reports from one or more mobile devices. The apparatus further includes a location classification component configured to classify an indoors location of the femto node based on the performed RF measurements and the collected performance measurement reports. Additionally, the apparatus includes an adjustment component configured to adjust one or more RF resources and parameters of the femto node based on the indoors location classification of the femto node. 
     In another aspect, a femto node apparatus includes means for performing RF measurements of one or more neighboring femtocells and macrocells. The apparatus further includes means for collecting performance measurement reports from one or more mobile devices. The apparatus further includes means for classifying an indoors location of the femto node based on the performed RF measurements and the collected performance measurement reports. The apparatus further includes means for adjusting one or more RF resources and parameters of the femto node based on the indoors location classification of the femto node. 
     In yet another aspect, a computer program product includes a computer readable medium comprising code for causing at least one computer in a femto node to perform RF measurements of one or more neighboring femtocells and macrocells. The computer program product further includes code for causing the at least one computer to collect performance measurement reports from one or more mobile devices. The computer program product further includes code for causing the at least one computer to classify an indoors location of the femto node based on the performed RF measurements and the collected performance measurement reports. The computer program product further includes code for causing the at least one computer to adjust one or more RF resources and parameters of the femto node based on the indoors location classification of the femto node. 
     To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspects may be employed, and this description is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The disclosed aspects will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings, provided to illustrate and not to limit the disclosed aspects, wherein like designations denote like elements. 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an example wireless communication system in a building environment. 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of an example system for classifying a location of a femto node according to one aspect. 
         FIG. 3  is a flow chart of an example methodology for classifying a location of a femto node according to one aspect. 
         FIG. 4  is a flow chart of an example methodology for classifying a location of a femto node according to another aspect. 
         FIG. 5  is a block diagram of an example system for classifying a location of a femto node according to one aspect. 
         FIG. 6  is a block diagram of an example wireless communication system in accordance with various aspects set forth herein. 
         FIG. 7  is an illustration of an example wireless network environment that can be employed in conjunction with the various systems and methods described herein. 
         FIG. 8  illustrates an example wireless communication system, configured to support a number of devices, in which the aspects herein can be implemented. 
         FIG. 9  is an illustration of an exemplary communication system to enable deployment of femto nodes within a network environment. 
         FIG. 10  illustrates an example of a coverage map having several defined tracking areas. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In various aspects, systems and methods to classify an indoors location of a femtocell, such as being deep indoors or being next to a window or an external wall, and intelligently allocate/adjust RF resources and parameters of the femtocell based on the indoors location classification in order to optimize coverage of the femtocell and reduce interference with neighboring femtocells and macrocells. Various aspects will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of one or more aspects. It may be evident, however, that such aspect(s) may be practiced without these specific details. Furthermore, various aspects or features will be presented in terms of systems that may include a number of devices, components, modules, and the like. It is to be understood and appreciated that the various systems may include additional devices, components, modules, etc. and/or may not include all of the devices, components, modules etc. discussed in connection with the figures. A combination of these approaches may also be used. 
     The techniques described herein may be used for various wireless communication systems such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, WiFi carrier sense multiple access (CSMA), and other systems. The terms “system” and “network” are often used interchangeably. A CDMA system may implement a radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), cdma2000, etc. UTRA includes Wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA) and other variants of CDMA. Further, cdma2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. A TDMA system may implement a radio technology such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). An OFDMA system may implement a radio technology such as Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDM®, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a release of UMTS that uses E-UTRA, which employs OFDMA on the downlink and SC-FDMA on the uplink. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE and GSM are described in documents from an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project” (3GPP). Additionally, cdma2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2” (3GPP2). Further, such wireless communication systems may additionally include peer-to-peer (e.g., mobile-to-mobile) ad hoc network systems often using unpaired unlicensed spectrums, 802.xx wireless LAN, BLUETOOTH and any other short- or long-range, wireless communication techniques. 
     The wireless communication system(s) may include a plurality of base stations (BS) utilized for communicating with mobile devices(s). These base stations may include a high-power macro node and a low-power femto node. The femto node may also be referred to as a femtocell, an access point, a femto BS, a pico node, a micro node, a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), a home Node B (HNB) or home evolved Node B (HeNB), collectively referred to as H(e)NB, or some other terminology. These femto nodes are generally considered to be low-power base stations. For example, a low-power base station transmits at a relatively low power as compared to a macro base station associated with a wireless wide area network (WWAN). As such, the coverage area of the low power femto node (e.g., femtocell) can be substantially smaller than the coverage area of a macro node (e.g., macrocell). 
     As generally known in the art, a mobile device can also be called a system, device, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station, mobile, remote station, mobile terminal, remote terminal, access terminal, user terminal, terminal, communication device, user agent, user device, or user equipment (UE). A mobile device may be a cellular telephone, a satellite phone, a cordless telephone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld device having wireless connection capability, a tablet, a computing device, or other processing devices connected via a wireless modem to one or more BS that provide cellular or wireless network access to the mobile device. 
       FIG. 1  shows an example wireless communication system  100  deployed in a multi-room building  101 . System  100  includes an outside macro base station  102  that can provide one or more mobile devices  114  with access to a wireless network, as well as a plurality of femto nodes  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110 , and  112  located inside the building, which can also provide wireless network access over a backhaul link with a mobile network over a broadband internet connection. In one example, femto nodes  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110 , and/or  112  can be other types of low power base stations, a relay node, a device (e.g., communicating in peer-to-peer or ad-hoc mode with other devices), etc. Each femto node forms a femtocell (not shown in  FIG. 1 , but described in greater detail below with reference in  FIG. 9 ). Moreover, system  100  comprises a plurality of mobile devices, such as device  114 , which can be located inside one of the rooms of the building  101 . The mobile device  114  may communicate wirelessly with one or more of the femto nodes  104 ,  106  and/or  108  as well as with the macro base station  102 , which provided telecommunication services (e.g., voice, data, etc.) to the mobile device. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , some femto nodes, such as femto nodes  108  and  110 , are located deep inside the building, while other femto nodes, such as femto nodes  104 ,  106  and  112  are located close to a window or an external wall. In open access femto deployment, femto node  106  may select a same RF channel as other femto nodes and macro nodes to achieve better frequency reuse, but this may lead to interference issues in high density femtocell and macrocell deployments. For example, if a transmit power of a femto node is calibrated improperly, the signal transmitted by the femto node may leak outside the desired coverage area and create interference to users served at other femtocells and macrocells. Also, the interference may occur for a short duration to passer-by users (e.g., a pedestrian or a user in an automobile) as the user moves closer to and then away from the femtocell. Therefore, it may be desirable for some femto nodes (e.g., femto nodes  104 ,  106  and  112  located near exterior walls of the building) to be assigned more resources (e.g., power, frequency or time) than those located deep within the building (e.g., femto nodes  108  and  110 ). This allows efficient indoor and outdoor coverage while mitigating interference caused to other femtocells and macrocells. To that end, the present systems and methods may classify an indoor location of femtocells  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110  and  112  into two or more classes, such as but not limited to a classification of deep indoors or close to an external wall. Based on this classification, according to an aspect of the present systems and methods, some femto nodes may shrink their coverage to avoid serving outdoor users and thus limiting interference, while other femto nodes may expand their coverage, e.g., to serve more indoor users. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates an example system  200  that can be used to facilitate classification of femto node location and take appropriate actions based on the location classification. The system  200  includes a femto node  202  (e.g., one of femto nodes  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110  or  112  of  FIG. 1 ) and a mobile device  204  (e.g., mobile device  114  in  FIG. 1 ). In one aspect, the femto node  202  includes an information collection component  206 , a location classification component  208 , and a resource/parameters adjustment component  208 . In various aspects, the components  206 ,  208  and  210  may be implemented not in a femto node  202 , but in a central femto controller (not shown), which can be configured to collect network information from one or more femto nodes and mobile devices, classify a location of each femto node in the area, and perform adjustment of resources/parameters for the plurality of femto nodes based on the location of each femto node. 
     In one aspect, the information collection component  206  may collect signal strength measurements from neighboring macrocells and femtocells. For example, component  206  may use a network listen (NL) function to scan frequency spectrum for downlink transmissions from neighboring macrocells and femtocells, and measure signal strengths of the detected RF signals from other cells. In another aspect, the component  206  can also request one or more mobile devices (e.g., mobile device  204 ) to provide performance measurement reports to the femto node  202 . In one aspect, the performance measurement report may include various key performance indicators (KPIs) and other data, such as a received signal strength indication (RSSI), a number of cell reselections, a number and type of handovers (e.g., intra-frequency, inter-frequency, inter-RAT, handovers to/from macrocell, handovers to/from femtocells), a number of call drops, average uplink and downlink interference measurements, and other performance and mobility parameters. In one aspect, the performance measurement reports may be sent over the air to the femto node  202  via air-interface messages, application-level messages or other communication mechanism. 
     In one aspect, the location classification component  208  is configured to classify a location of the femto node  202 , such as, for example, a classification of deep indoors or a classification of close to an exterior wall within a building or user premises, based on the information collected by the component  206 . Based on the RF measurements from neighboring cells and performance measurement reports from one or more mobile devices, component  208  can identify if the femto node  202  is located deep inside the building or closer to an external wall. For example, if the average macro signal strength reported by one or more mobile devices  204  (e.g., cumulative distribution function (CDF) of received signal code power (RSCP)) is greater than a signal strength (e.g., RSCP) measured by the NL function of femto node  202 , then the femto node  202  may be considered to be located deep indoors. On the other hand, if an average macro signal strength reported by one or more mobile devices  204  is less than the signal strength (e.g., RSCP) measured by femto node  202 , then the femto node  202  may be considered to be located closer to the exterior wall of the building. 
     In another aspect, the location classification component  208  can be configured to monitor reselections/handovers from one or more mobile devices located outdoors, where such mobile devices may be moving at a high speed (e.g., 40 mph or higher). For example, if reselections or handovers occur at low path loss values, then component  206  may conclude that the femto node  202  is located closer to the exterior wall. 
     In yet another aspect, the location classification component  208  can obtain user- or network-specified location information. For example, femto node location within a premises can be specified by the user or technician through a user interface (e.g., a graphical user interface (GUI)) provided by configuration software of the femto node. Alternatively, the information about a location of a femto node may be specified remotely through a operation administration and management (OAM) protocol associated with the femto node. 
     In other aspects, different methods known to those of ordinary skill in the art of wireless communications can be used for determining a location of the femto node. 
     In one aspect, the resources/parameters adjustment component  210  may be configured to automatically select/adjust a transmit power, an RF channel and/or a band allocation, and/or other femtocell resources and parameters to optimize coverage of the femto node and reduce interference with other cells based on the location classification of the femto node. For example, a femto node located near an exterior wall of a premises can use more network resources (e.g., transmitter power, RF channels/bands and transmission time slots) than a femto node located deep within the premises, because the femto node located closer to the exterior of the premises may serve more mobile devices than the femto node located deeper inside the premises. Furthermore, according to the present aspects, additional parameters such as a rise-over-thermal (ROT), and mobility and random access channel (RACH) parameters, may be adjusted according to the location classification of the femto node. For example, if the femto node is deep within the premises, then the ROT may be set higher and mobility parameters, including cell reselection and handover parameters, may be set such that a mobile device is not sticky (e.g., does not handover to that femto node easily). On the other hand, if the femto node is closer to an exterior wall, then the mobility parameters can be made sticky to handle coverage edge users, and the RACH parameters can be set high to allow successful decoding of the initial attempts by fast moving mobile devices. This configuration allows efficient indoor and outdoor coverage while mitigating interference caused to other cells. In an aspect, for example, typical cell reselection parameters may include, but are not limited to, one or more of Qhyst, Qqualmin, Qoffset, Qreselection, HCS, and the like. Further, in an aspect, typical handover parameters may include, but are not limited to, one or more of ABS (Almost Blank Subframes) configuration, Hysteresis, Time-to-trigger (TTT), cell individual offset, event offset (Ea3-offset), filter coefficient, frequency offset, and the like. 
     In an aspect, one advantage of the femto node location classification as described herein in the indoor environment may be mitigating pilot pollution. Particularly, after classification, indoor femto nodes could transmit at lower power to provide coverage to indoor apartment users while outdoor femto nodes may provide coverage to a larger geographic area. This configuration may reduce regions of pilot pollution (compared to the case when all femto nodes transmit at the same high power). 
     In another aspect, an advantage of the femto node location classification may be reduced number of handovers. Particularly, if the transmit power of a femto node is calibrated improperly, then the signals transmitted by the femto node may leak outside the desired coverage area and create interference to users served by neighboring cells. Also, the interference may occur for a short duration to passer-by users (e.g., a pedestrian user or a user in an automobile) as the user moves closer to and then away from the indoor femto nodes. The location classification mechanism described herein allows femto nodes located closer to the outside walls of the building to shrink their coverage area to avoid serving outdoor mobile users, thus reducing the number of handovers to outdoor users. 
       FIGS. 3 and 4  show example methodologies for classifying location of a femto node or femtocell inside a building and adjusting resources and parameters of the femto node based on a location classification. The example methodologies  300  and  400  may be defined in instructions stored on a femto node, such as femto node  202  of  FIG. 2 , or one or more components thereof, and executed by a processor to perform the described acts. While, for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the methodologies are shown and described as a series of acts, it is to be understood and appreciated that these methodologies is not limited by the order of acts, as some acts may, in accordance with one or more embodiments, occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other acts from that shown and described herein. For example, it is to be appreciated that a methodology could alternatively be represented as a series of interrelated states or events, such as in a state diagram. Moreover, not all illustrated acts may be required to implement a methodology in accordance with one or more embodiments. 
     Turning to  FIG. 3 , at step  302 , the method  300  includes performing RF measurements of one or more neighboring femtocells and macrocells. For example, in an aspect, the femto node  202  may include information collection component  206  that performs the aforementioned RF measurements. At step  304 , the method  300  includes collecting performance measurement reports from one or more mobile devices  204 . For example, in an aspect, the information collection component  206  may collect this information from mobile devices. At step  306 , the method  300  includes classifying an indoors location of the femto node, as deep indoor or closer to exterior walls of the premises, by, for example, comparing RF measurements of neighboring cells with the performance measurement reports. For example, in an aspect, the femto node  202  may include location classification component  208  that may perform the aforementioned classification process. At step  308 , the method  300  includes adjusting one or more RF resources and parameters of the femto node based on the indoors location classification of the femto node. For example, in an aspect, the femto node  202  may include resources/parameters adjustment component  210  that adjusts/optimizes femtocell transmit power, an RF channel and/or band and other femto node resources and parameters to optimize a femtocell coverage and reduce interference. 
     Turning to  FIG. 4 , at step  402 , the method  400  includes identifying cell reselection and handover information from the collected performance measurement reports from the one or more mobile devices. For example, in an aspect, the femto node  202  may include information collection component  206  that identifies the information about reselections and/or handovers of mobile devices from their performance measurement reports. At step  404 , the method  400  includes classifying indoors location of the femto node, as deep indoor or closer to an exterior wall, based on the analysis of the information about reselections and/or handovers of one or more mobile devices. For example, in an aspect, the femto node  202  may include location classification component  208  that may perform the aforementioned classification process. At step  406 , the method  400  includes adjusting a transmit power, an RF channel and/or band and other resources and parameters of the femto node to optimize cell coverage and reduce interference based on the indoors location classification of the femto node. For example, in an aspect, the femto node  202  may include resources/parameters adjustment component  210  that performs the aforementioned adjustment/optimization processes based on the indoors location classification of the femto node. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates a system for classifying an indoors location of a femto node or femtocell. For example, the system  500  can reside at least partially within a femto node, such as femto node  202  of  FIG. 2 . It is to be appreciated that system  500  is represented as including functional blocks, which can be functional blocks that represent functions implemented by a processor, software, or combination thereof (e.g., firmware). System  500  includes a logical grouping  502  of electrical components that can act in conjunction. For instance, in one aspect, logical grouping  502  can include an electrical component  504  for collecting RF measurements form neighboring femtocells and macrocells and performance measurement reports from mobile devices. In addition, logical grouping  502  can include an electrical component  506  for classifying location of the femto node as deep indoor or closer to exterior walls of the premises, based on the information collected by component  504 . Furthermore, logical grouping  502  can include an electrical component  508  for adjusting resources and parameters, such as a transmit power, an RF channel and/or band, based on the location classification of the femto node, in order to optimize coverage and reduce interference. 
     Additionally, system  500  can include a memory  510  that retains instructions for executing functions associated with the electrical components  504 ,  506  and  508 . While shown as being external to memory  510 , it is to be understood that one or more of the electrical components  504 ,  506  and  508  can exist within memory  510 . In one example, electrical components  504 ,  506  and  508  can comprise at least one processor, or each electrical component  504 ,  506  and  508  can be a corresponding module of at least one processor. Moreover, in an additional or alternative example, electrical components  504 ,  506  and  508  can be a computer program product comprising a computer readable medium, where each electrical component  504 ,  506  and  508  can be corresponding code. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 6 , a wireless communication system  600  in which systems and methods for classifying an indoors location of a femtocell or femto node. System  600  comprises a base station  602 , which may be a femto node, such as femto node  202  of  FIG. 2  or system  500  of  FIG. 5 , and may include the components and implement the functions described above with respect to  FIGS. 1-5 . In one aspect, base station  602  can include multiple antenna groups. For example, one antenna group can include antennas  604  and  606 , another group can comprise antennas  608  and  610 , and an additional group can include antennas  612  and  614 . Two antennas are illustrated for each antenna group; however, more or fewer antennas can be utilized for each group. Base station  602  can additionally include a transmitter chain and a receiver chain, each of which can in turn comprise a plurality of components associated with signal transmission and reception (e.g., processors, modulators, multiplexers, demodulators, demultiplexers, antennas, etc.), as is appreciated. 
     Base station  602  can communicate with one or more mobile devices such as mobile device  616  and mobile device  622 , which can include mobile device  204  of  FIG. 2 ; however, it is to be appreciated that base station  602  can communicate with substantially any number of mobile devices similar to mobile devices  616  and  622 . Mobile devices  616  and  622  can be, for example, cellular phones, smart phones, laptops, handheld communication devices, handheld computing devices, satellite radios, global positioning systems, PDAs, and/or any other suitable device for communicating over wireless communication system  600 . As depicted, mobile device  616  is in communication with antennas  612  and  614 , where antennas  612  and  614  transmit information to mobile device  616  over a forward link  618  and receive information from mobile device  616  over a reverse link  620 . Moreover, mobile device  622  is in communication with antennas  604  and  606 , where antennas  604  and  606  transmit information to mobile device  622  over a forward link  624  and receive information from mobile device  622  over a reverse link  626 . In a frequency division duplex (FDD) system, forward link  618  can utilize a different frequency band than that used by reverse link  620 , and forward link  624  can employ a different frequency band than that employed by reverse link  626 , for example. Further, in a time division duplex (TDD) system, forward link  618  and reverse link  620  can utilize a common frequency band and forward link  624  and reverse link  626  can utilize a common frequency band. 
     Each group of antennas and/or the area in which they are designated to communicate can be referred to as a sector of base station  602 . For example, antenna groups can be designed to communicate to mobile devices in a sector of the areas covered by base station  602 . In communication over forward links  618  and  624 , the transmitting antennas of base station  602  can utilize beamforming to improve signal-to-noise ratio of forward links  618  and  624  for mobile devices  616  and  622 . Also, while base station  602  utilizes beamforming to transmit to mobile devices  616  and  622  scattered randomly through an associated coverage, mobile devices in neighboring cells can be subject to less interference as compared to a base station transmitting through a single antenna to all its mobile devices. Moreover, mobile devices  616  and  622  can communicate directly with one another using a peer-to-peer or ad hoc technology as depicted. According to an example, system  600  can be a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system. 
       FIG. 7  shows an example wireless communication system  700  in which systems and methods for classifying indoors location of a femto node or femtocell can be implemented. The wireless communication system  700  depicts one base station  710 , which can include a femto node, such as femto node  202  of  FIG. 2 , and one mobile device  750 , such as mobile device  204  of  FIG. 2 . However, it is to be appreciated that system  700  can include more than one base station and/or more than one mobile device, wherein additional base stations and/or mobile devices can be substantially similar or different from example base station  710  and mobile device  750  described below. In addition, it is to be appreciated that base station  710  and/or mobile device  750  can employ the systems ( FIGS. 1 ,  2 ,  5  and  6 ) and/or methods ( FIGS. 3 and 4 ) described herein to facilitate wireless communication there between. For example, components or functions of the systems and/or methods described herein can be part of a memory  732  and/or  772  or processors  730  and/or  770  described below, and/or can be executed by processors  730  and/or  770  to perform the disclosed functions. 
     At base station  710 , traffic data for a number of data streams is provided from a data source  712  to a transmit (TX) data processor  714 . According to an example, each data stream can be transmitted over a respective antenna. TX data processor  714  formats, codes, and interleaves the traffic data stream based on a particular coding scheme selected for that data stream to provide coded data. 
     The coded data for each data stream can be multiplexed with pilot data using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) techniques. Additionally or alternatively, the pilot symbols can be frequency division multiplexed (FDM), time division multiplexed (TDM), or code division multiplexed (CDM). The pilot data is typically a known data pattern that is processed in a known manner and can be used at mobile device  750  to estimate channel response. The multiplexed pilot and coded data for each data stream can be modulated (e.g., symbol mapped) based on a particular modulation scheme (e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM), etc.) selected for that data stream to provide modulation symbols. The data rate, coding, and modulation for each data stream can be determined by instructions performed or provided by processor  730 . 
     The modulation symbols for the data streams can be provided to a TX MIMO processor  720 , which can further process the modulation symbols (e.g., for OFDM). TX MIMO processor  720  then provides N T  modulation symbol streams to N T  transmitters (TMTR)  722   a  through  722   t . In various embodiments, TX MIMO processor  720  applies beamforming weights to the symbols of the data streams and to the antenna from which the symbol is being transmitted. 
     Each transmitter  722  receives and processes a respective symbol stream to provide one or more analog signals, and further conditions (e.g., amplifies, filters, and upconverts) the analog signals to provide a modulated signal suitable for transmission over the MIMO channel. Further, N T  modulated signals from transmitters  722   a  through  722   t  are transmitted from N T  antennas  724   a  through  724   t , respectively. 
     At mobile device  750 , the transmitted modulated signals are received by N R  antennas  752   a  through  752   r  and the received signal from each antenna  752  is provided to a respective receiver (RCVR)  754   a  through  754   r . Each receiver  754  conditions (e.g., filters, amplifies, and downconverts) a respective signal, digitizes the conditioned signal to provide samples, and further processes the samples to provide a corresponding “received” symbol stream. 
     An RX data processor  760  can receive and process the N R  received symbol streams from N R  receivers  754  based on a particular receiver processing technique to provide N T  “detected” symbol streams. RX data processor  760  can demodulate, deinterleave, and decode each detected symbol stream to recover the traffic data for the data stream. The processing by RX data processor  760  is complementary to that performed by TX MIMO processor  720  and TX data processor  714  at base station  710 . 
     The reverse link message can comprise various types of information regarding the communication link and/or the received data stream. The reverse link message can be processed by a TX data processor  738 , which also receives traffic data for a number of data streams from a data source  736 , modulated by a modulator  780 , conditioned by transmitters  754   a  through  754   r , and transmitted back to base station  710 . 
     At base station  710 , the modulated signals from mobile device  750  are received by antennas  724 , conditioned by receivers  722 , demodulated by a demodulator  740 , and processed by a RX data processor  742  to extract the reverse link message transmitted by mobile device  750 . Further, processor  730  can process the extracted message to determine which precoding matrix to use for determining the beamforming weights. 
     Processors  730  and  770  can direct (e.g., control, coordinate, manage, etc.) operation at base station  710  and mobile device  750 , respectively. Respective processors  730  and  770  can be associated with memory  732  and  772  that store program codes and data. Processors  730  and  770  can also perform functionalities described herein to support selecting a paging area identifier for one or more femto nodes. 
       FIG. 8  illustrates a wireless communication system  800 , configured to support a number of users, in which systems and methods for classifying indoors location of a femto node or femtocell can be implemented. The system  800  provides communication for multiple cells  802 , such as, for example, macro cells  802 A- 802 G, with each cell being serviced by a corresponding access node  804  (e.g., access nodes  804 A- 804 G). As shown in  FIG. 8 , mobile devices  806  (e.g., mobile devices  806 A- 806 L) can be dispersed at various locations throughout the system over time. Each mobile device  806  can communicate with one or more access nodes  804  on a forward link (FL) and/or a reverse link (RL) at a given moment, depending upon whether the mobile device  806  is active and whether it is in soft handoff, for example. The wireless communication system  800  can provide service over a large geographic region. In some aspects, some of the mobile devices  806 , such as devices  806 A,  806 H, and  806 J, may be femto nodes, such as nodes  102  or  202  or system  500 , and may include the components and implement the functions described above with respect to  FIGS. 1-5 . 
       FIG. 9  illustrates an exemplary communication system  900  where one or more femto nodes, such as femto node  202  of  FIG. 2 , are deployed within a network environment. Specifically, the system  900  includes multiple femto nodes  910 A and  910 B (e.g., femtocell nodes or H(e)NB) installed in a relatively small scale network environment (e.g., in one or more user residences  930 ), which, in one aspect, may correspond to femto nodes  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110 , and  112  of  FIG. 1 . Each femto node  910  can be coupled to a wide area network  940  (e.g., the Internet) and a mobile operator core network  950  via a digital subscriber line (DSL) router, a cable modem, a wireless link, or other connectivity means (not shown). As will be discussed below, each femto node  910  can be configured to serve associated mobile devices  920  (e.g., mobile device  920 A) and, optionally, alien mobile devices  920  (e.g., mobile device  920 B). In other words, access to femto nodes  910  can be restricted such that a given mobile device  920  can be served by a set of designated (e.g., home) femto node(s)  910  but may not be served by any non-designated femto nodes  910  (e.g., a neighbor&#39;s femto node). 
       FIG. 10  illustrates an example of a coverage map  1000  where several tracking areas  1002  (or routing areas or location areas) are defined, each of which includes several macro coverage areas  1004 . Here, areas of coverage associated with tracking areas  1002 A,  1002 B, and  1002 C are delineated by the wide lines and the macro coverage areas  1004  are represented by the hexagons. The tracking areas  1002  also include femto coverage areas  1006  corresponding to respective femto nodes, such as a femto node  202  of  FIG. 2 , and which may include the components and implement the functions described above with respect to  FIGS. 1-5 . In this example, each of the femto coverage areas  1006  (e.g., femto coverage area  1006 C) is depicted within a macro coverage area  1004  (e.g., macro coverage area  1004 B). It should be appreciated, however, that a femto coverage area  1006  may not lie entirely within a macro coverage area  1004 . In practice, a large number of femto coverage areas  1006  can be defined with a given tracking area  1002  or macro coverage area  1004 . Also, one or more pico coverage areas (not shown) can be defined within a given tracking area  1002  or macro coverage area  1004 . 
     Referring again to  FIG. 9 , the owner of a femto node  910  can subscribe to mobile service, such as, for example, 3G mobile service, offered through the mobile operator core network  950 . In another example, the femto node  910  can be operated by the mobile operator core network  950  to expand coverage of the wireless network. In addition, a mobile device  920  can be capable of operating both in macro environments and in smaller scale (e.g., residential) network environments. Thus, for example, depending on the current location of the mobile device  920 , the mobile device  920  can be served by a macro cell access node  960  or by any one of a set of femto nodes  910  (e.g., the femto nodes  910 A and  910 B that reside within a corresponding user residence  930 ). For example, when a subscriber is outside his home, he is served by a standard macro cell access node (e.g., node  960 ) and when the subscriber is at home, he is served by a femto node (e.g., node  910 A). Here, it should be appreciated that a femto node  910  can be backward compatible with existing mobile devices  920 . 
     A femto node  910  can be deployed on a single frequency or, in the alternative, on multiple frequencies. Depending on the particular configuration, the single frequency or one or more of the multiple frequencies can overlap with one or more frequencies used by a macro cell access node (e.g., node  960 ). In some aspects, an mobile device  920  can be configured to connect to a preferred femto node (e.g., the home femto node of the mobile device  920 ) whenever such connectivity is possible. For example, whenever the mobile device  920  is within the user&#39;s residence  930 , it can communicate with the home femto node  910 . 
     In some aspects, if the mobile device  920  operates within the mobile operator core network  950  but is not residing on its most preferred network (e.g., as defined in a preferred roaming list), the mobile device  920  can continue to search for the most preferred network (e.g., femto node  910 ) using a Better System Reselection (BSR), which can involve a periodic scanning of available systems to determine whether better systems are currently available, and subsequent efforts to associate with such preferred systems. Using an acquisition table entry (e.g., in a preferred roaming list), in one example, the mobile device  920  can limit the search for specific band and channel. For example, the search for the most preferred system can be repeated periodically. Upon discovery of a preferred femto node, such as femto node  910 , the mobile device  920  selects the femto node  910  for camping within its coverage area. 
     A femto node can be restricted in some aspects. For example, a given femto node can only provide certain services to certain mobile devices. In deployments with so-called restricted (or closed) association, a given mobile device can only be served by the macro cell mobile network and a defined set of femto nodes (e.g., the femto nodes  910  that reside within the corresponding user residence  930 ). In some implementations, a femto node can be restricted to not provide, for at least one mobile device, at least one of: signaling, data access, registration, paging, or service. 
     In some aspects, a restricted femto node (which can also be referred to as a Closed Subscriber Group H(e)NB) is one that provides service to a restricted provisioned set of mobile devices. This set can be temporarily or permanently extended as necessary. In some aspects, a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) can be defined as the set of access nodes (e.g., femto nodes) that share a common access control list of mobile devices. A channel on which all femto nodes (or all restricted femto nodes) in a region operate can be referred to as a femto channel. 
     Various relationships can thus exist between a given femto node and a given mobile device. For example, from the perspective of a mobile device, an open femto node can refer to a femto node with no restricted association. A restricted femto node can refer to a femto node that is restricted in some manner (e.g., restricted for association and/or registration). A home femto node can refer to a femto node on which the mobile device is authorized to access and operate on. A guest femto node can refer to a femto node on which a mobile device is temporarily authorized to access or operate on. An alien femto node can refer to a femto node on which the mobile device is not authorized to access or operate on, except for perhaps emergency situations (e.g., 911 calls). 
     From a restricted femto node perspective, a home mobile device can refer to an mobile device that authorized to access the restricted femto node. A guest mobile device can refer to a mobile device with temporary access to the restricted femto node. An alien mobile device can refer to a mobile device that does not have permission to access the restricted femto node, except for perhaps emergency situations, for example, 911 calls (e.g., an access terminal that does not have the credentials or permission to register with the restricted femto node). 
     For convenience, the disclosure herein describes various functionalities in the context of a femto node or femtocell. It should be appreciated, however, that a pico node can provide the same or similar functionality as a femto node, but for a larger coverage area. For example, a pico node can be restricted, a home pico node can be defined for a given mobile device, and so on. 
     The various illustrative logics, logical blocks, modules, components, and circuits described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but, in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. Additionally, at least one processor may comprise one or more modules operable to perform one or more of the steps and/or actions described above. An exemplary storage medium may be coupled to the processor, such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. Further, in some aspects, the processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. Additionally, the ASIC may reside in a user terminal. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal. 
     In one or more aspects, the functions, methods, or algorithms described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored or transmitted as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium, which may be incorporated into a computer program product. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage medium may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Also, substantially any connection may be termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs usually reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media. 
     As used in this application, the terms “component,” “module,” “system” and the like are intended to include a computer-related entity, such as but not limited to hardware, firmware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a computing device and the computing device can be a component. One or more components can reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. In addition, these components can execute from various computer readable media having various data structures stored thereon. The components may communicate by way of local and/or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal having one or more data packets, such as data from one component interacting with another component in a local system, distributed system, and/or across a network such as the Internet with other systems by way of the signal. 
     Moreover, the term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or.” That is, unless specified otherwise, or clear from the context, the phrase “X employs A or B” is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, the phrase “X employs A or B” is satisfied by any of the following instances: X employs A; X employs B; or X employs both A and B. In addition, the articles “a” and “an” as used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear from the context to be directed to a singular form. 
     While the foregoing disclosure discusses illustrative aspects and/or embodiments, it should be noted that various changes and modifications could be made herein without departing from the scope of the described aspects and/or embodiments as defined by the appended claims. Furthermore, although elements of the described aspects and/or embodiments may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural is contemplated unless limitation to the singular is explicitly stated. Additionally, all or a portion of any aspect and/or embodiment may be utilized with all or a portion of any other aspect and/or embodiment, unless stated otherwise.