Patent ID: 8611822

Claim:
A method of avoiding interference signals sent by a femto node in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: establishing a communication link between a first transceiver and a base station that is configured to provide wireless communication coverage within a first area; detecting by the first transceiver a femto signal generated by the femto node that is configured to provide wireless communication coverage within a second area to at least a second transceiver that is different from the first transceiver, wherein the second area is smaller than the first area; identifying information indicative of a signal strength of the femto signal; transmitting a first message in response to detecting the femto signal, the first message comprising information uniquely identifying the femto node and the information indicative of the signal strength of the femto signal to the base station over a first frequency carrier; receiving a second message from the base station in response to the first message, the second message comprising a schedule indicating when to transmit additional messages to the base station, the additional messages comprising information indicative of signal strengths of additional femto signals generated by the femto node at different times; receiving a third message from the base station, the third message comprising information indicative of an instruction to switch from communicating with the base station over the first frequency carrier to communicating with the base station over a second frequency carrier; and communicating with the base station over the second frequency carrier in response to the third message.