Implementing global neighbor lists to support low-cost internet base stations (lcibs)

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for implementing global neighbor lists to support low-cost Internet base stations (LCIBs). In a macro wireless-communication network, each sector has a neighbor list that contains the pseudorandom number (PN) offsets of surrounding sectors. To account for LCIBs, a global neighbor list, configurable across sectors, access networks, markets, and/or vendors, is introduced. The global list may be maintained on an access network or on a separate server that interfaces with access networks. The global list may be incorporated at the beginning, in the middle (i.e. at specific priority levels), or at the end of each respective sector's neighbor list. If a given sector's neighbor list is full, it could be left unmodified, or some global-list entries could displace some existing entries. Other than incorporating entries from the global list, each macro sector's neighbor list remains, for the most part, independently modifiable.