Patent ID: 8427976

Claim:
A method comprising: a) transmitting, by a first base station, a first message to initiate an association between said first base station and a second base station, said first message comprising a first initiation tag; b) receiving, by said first base station, a second message from said second base station, said second message comprising: i) a second verification tag, said second verification tag equal to said first initiation tag; ii) a second initiation tag; iii) a first state parameter comprising: (1) at least one parameter related to operational information of said association; and (2) a message authentication code generated as a function of a private key; c) transmitting, by said first base station, at least one third message to said second base station; said at least one third message comprising: i) a first verification tag, said first verification tag equal to said second initiation tag; and ii) a parameter comprising said first state parameter; d) receiving, by said first base station, at least one fourth message from said second base station, said at least one fourth message comprising: i) an acknowledgement for the receipt of said parameter; and ii) a second application protocol message, comprising: (1) a identifier of said second base station, said second base station comprising a plurality of carriers comprising: (a) at least one backward compatible carrier; and (b) at least one non-backward compatible carrier, a first common reference signal overhead of each of said at least one non-backward compatible carrier being substantially lower than a second common reference signal overhead of each of said at least one backward compatible carrier; (2) at least one mobility management entity group identifier; (3) a cell identifier for each of said at least one backward compatible carrier; and (4) information identifying a carrier type for each of said plurality of carriers, said carrier type being one of at least a backward compatible type and a non-backward compatible type; and e) operating, by said first base station, a wireless device handover employing said association and based, at least in part, on information in said at least one fourth message.