摘要 |
Systems, methods, devices, and computer program products are described for supporting macrocell-to-femtocell hand-ins of active macro communications for mobile access terminals. An out-of-band (OOB) link is used to detect that an access terminal is in proximity of a femtocell (e.g., using an OOB radio integrated with the femtocell or in a common subnet with the femtocell). Having detected the access terminal in proximity to the femtocell, an OOB presence indication is communicated to a femto convergence system disposed in a core network in communication with the macro network to effectively pre-register the access terminal with the femto-convergence system. When the femto convergence system receives a handoff request from the macro network implicating the pre-registered access terminal, it is able to reliably determine the appropriate target femtocell to use for the hand-in according to the pre-registration, even where identification of the appropriate target femtocell would otherwise be unreliable. |