Patent ID: 8204506

Claim:
A method for allocating at least one service area identifier (SAI) for a femto cell that is served by a femto radio base station (RBS) upon said femto cell being created, said femto RBS being connected to a wireless communications network, the method comprising: receiving information about detected cells obtained by scanning performed by the femto RBS, and information identifying at least one of the femto cell or the femto RBS; transmitting a request for at least one SAI for the femto cell, to a femto SAI selection entity, said request being based on the received information; receiving at least one SAI and an associated user type selected by the femto SAI selection entity; allocating said at least one SAI and the associated user type, for the created femto cell; and filtering the information about detected cells based on the information identifying the femto cell, prior to transmitting the request for at least one SAI for the femto cell, said filtering comprising: filtering out information identifying other femto cells included in the information about detected cells.