A location presence service for a mobile station within a cluster of small cells

摘要

“Spoof” paging messages including the TMSI of a user equipment (129) known to be a vicinity are transmitted with a relatively high periodicity in an indoor cluster of presence nodes (113-121) and the node which receives the paging response from the user equipment is recorded, thus giving an indication of presence (and location) with a fine granularity. An additional presence node (125) having a different LAC from the macrolayer (123) is located at the entrance to the indoor cluster so that the TMSI and IMSI of the user equipment can be obtained. The invention can advantageously be employed in a retail store where a fine granularity in tracking subscriber movements around the store is desired. To conserve the user equipment's battery life, spoof paging messages are not sent to those user equipments which enter the vicinity on a regular basis, such as employees of the retail store.