Patent ID: 8923874

Claim:
A method for transiting a femtocell base station between at least two operation modes in a system including one or more mobile stations being capable of connecting to the femtocell base station, wherein the one or more mobile stations is capable of switching between i) a connected state with the mobile station connecting to the femtocell base station, and ii) an idle state with the mobile station not establishing a connection with the femtocell base station, said two operation modes of the femtocell base station including a normal operation mode and a low-duty operation mode with reduced radio interface activity, the method comprising: when operating said femtocell base station in the normal operation mode, detecting if there are no mobile stations in the connected state, and based on detecting if there are no mobile stations in the connected state, transiting said femtocell base station from said normal operation mode to said low-duty operation mode with reduced radio interface activity in order to reduce interference to neighbor cells.