Activating deactivated small coverage nodes in heterogeneous cellular networks

摘要

A wireless communication network including a first transceiver station for transmitting first signals over a first area coverage and over a first transmission bandwidth, and a second transceiver station selectively activatable/de-activatable. The second transceiver station is operable to broadcast, when de-activated, a beacon signal identifying the second transceiver station, the beacon signal having a beacon frequency at edges of the first transmission bandwidth. The beacon signal is detectable by a user equipment for inferring presence of the second transceiver station. The first transceiver station is configured to receive a response signal from a user equipment based on the detected beacon signal, and to schedule activation of the second transceiver station based on the received response signal.