Patent ID: 8498267

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving, by a system comprising a processor, macro-to-femto transfer data from a mobile device, wherein the macro-to-femto transfer data identifies a virtual femto node that represents a set of femto access point devices; selecting, based on location estimate data associated with the mobile device, a first femto access point device from the set of femto access point devices that is closer to the mobile device than a second femto access point device of the set of femto access point devices; instructing, by the system, the mobile device to facilitate a transfer from a macro cell to a femto cell associated with the first femto access point device in response to the selecting; and instructing, by the system, the mobile device to scan a channel quality associated with a subset of the set of femto access point devices that is determined as a function of a configuration of a set of access privileges assigned to the set of femto access point devices based on a set of service area codes associated with the set of femto access point devices, wherein the set of service area codes are determined based on a scan of a set of pilot signals by the mobile device.