Patent ID: 7054638

Claim:
For use in a radio access network having a first control node which controls a first set of base stations and a second control node which controls a second set of base stations, each base station serving a cell, a method comprising: transmitting cell information from the second control node to the first control node only when the cell information is not already known by the first control node, the cell information including a set of cell information parameters characterizing a specified cell served by a base station controlled by the second control node; sending a request message from the first control node to the second control node, the request message including a cell identifier for the specified cell; sending a response message from the second control node to the first control node; including in the response message both (1) the cell information deemed current by the second control node for the specified cell; and (2) an index which is representative of the cell information deemed current by the second control node for the specified cell; and wherein the index is of a shorter length than the cell information.