DETERMINING HEARABILITY IN A HETEROGENOUS COMMUNICATION NETWORK

摘要

A method for determining whether a radio unit in a shared cell configuration is hearable by a user equipment is provided. Transmission of a probe message to the user equipment by the radio unit is caused. The probe message invokes a probe response from the user equipment if the radio unit is hearable by the user equipment on a downlink channel. The radio unit is hearable by the user equipment if the downlink channel performance between the radio unit and the user equipment meets a predetermined signal criteria. An uplink channel associated with the user equipment is monitored for the probe response from the user equipment after transmission of the probe message. Hearability data associated with the user equipment is determined based on the monitored uplink channel. The hearability data indicates whether the radio unit is hearable by the user equipment the downlink channel.