| 摘要 |
A method 100 for classifying a base station comprises obtaining an identifier 102, such as a Primary Scrambling Code (PSC) or a Physical Layer Cell Identity (PCI), used by the base station and a frequency 106 on which the base station is operating, and identifying the base station as belonging to a class of base stations 118 if the identifier is in a reserved pool of identifiers 110 and the frequency is in a pool of frequencies 114 used by the class of base stations. An alternative method for classifying a base station comprises receiving a broadcast from the base station including an attribute of the base station and identifying the base station as belonging to the class of base stations if the received cell attribute falls within an attribute value range corresponding to the class of base stations. A further method for identifying a base station comprises receiving a message from the base station, analysing the message content and identifying the base station as belonging to a class of base stations based on the message content. The invention has particular relevance to the deployment and self-configuration of small cell base stations, e.g. Home Node B (HNB), and seeks to prevent misclassifying neighbour base stations, particularly in the case of neighbour base stations that are part of a different PLMN to the small cell base station. |
