WO2012152303A1

WO2012152303A1 - Localised service areas

Info

Publication number: WO2012152303A1
Application number: PCT/EP2011/057284
Authority: WO
Inventors: Vinh Van Phan; Kari Veikko Horneman; Christian Markwart
Original assignee: Nokia Siemens Networks Oy
Priority date: 2011-05-06
Filing date: 2011-05-06
Publication date: 2012-11-15

Abstract

A system including a plurality of mobile communication networks, each mobile communication network comprising an array of overlapping macro service areas dotted with a plurality of localised service areas; wherein at least some of the localised services areas are configured to also operate as part of a collection of said localised service areas belonging to two or more of said plurality of mobile telecommunication networks.

Description

LOCALISED SERVICE AREAS

A mobile telecommunication network providing mobile telecommunication services to subscribers of the network can comprise an array of overlapping macro service areas dotted with local^¬ ised service areas.

Examples of mobile telecommunication services include communi^¬ cation of voice, electronic mail (email) , text messages, data, multimedia and so on.

A mobile telecommunication network typically operates in accordance with a wireless standard. Examples include GSM (Global System for Mobile) EDGE (Enhanced Data for GSM Evolu^¬ tion) Radio Access Networks (GERAN) , Universal Terrestrial Ra^¬ dio Access Networks (UTRAN) , and evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Networks (EUTRAN) .

Localised service areas are used in a mobile telecommunication network to supplement macro service areas. The localised ser^¬ vice areas are typically operated in a residential home or a small business, and can provide improvements in access to mo^¬ bile telecommunication services via the mobile telecommunica^¬ tion network in the vicinity of the residential home or small business .

The inventors for the present application have identified an increase in the deployment of localised service areas as a fu^¬ ture trend for mobile telecommunication networks; and have identified the challenge of better exploiting localised ser^¬ vice areas.

It is an aim of the present invention to meet this challenge. There is hereby provided a method, comprising: operating a first localised service area of a first mobile telecommunica^¬ tion network as part of a collection of localised service ar^¬ eas belonging to a plurality of mobile telecommunication net^¬ works, wherein each localised service area of said collection of localised service areas forms part of a mobile telecommuni^¬ cation network comprising an array of overlapping macro service areas dotted with a plurality of localised service areas.

According to one embodiment, said localised service areas are femto cells.

According to one embodiment, said localised service areas are Home NodeBs or Home eNodeBs .

According to one embodiment, the method further comprises transmitting to a localised service area detected as a poten^¬ tial addition to said collection of localised service areas an invitation to join said collection of localised service areas.

According to one embodiment, the method further comprises transmitting information by which a user can identify said first localised service area as part of said collection of lo^¬ calised service areas via which said user can receive mobile telecommunication services.

According to one embodiment, the method further comprises transmitting information about radio resources via which a user can receive mobile communication services via said first localised service area as part of said collection of localised service areas. According to one embodiment, the method further comprises transmitting information about the mobile telecommunication services accessible via said collection of localised service areas .

According to one embodiment, the method further comprises op^¬ erating said first localised service area as part of said col^¬ lection of localised service areas using radio resources other than radio resources exclusively associated with any of said plurality of mobile telecommunication networks.

According to one embodiment, the method further comprises pro^¬ viding mobile telecommunication services via said first local^¬ ised service area as a part of said first mobile communication network and via radio frequency resources exclusively associ^¬ ated with said first mobile communication network.

There is also hereby provided a method, comprising: receiving mobile telecommunication services at a user equipment via a collection of localised service areas belonging to a plurality of mobile telecommunication networks, wherein each localised service area of said collection of localised service areas also forms part of a mobile telecommunication network compris^¬ ing an array of overlapping macro service areas dotted with a plurality of localised service areas.

According to one embodiment, said localised service areas are femto cells.

According to one embodiment, said localised service areas are areas served by Home eNodeBs .

According to one embodiment, the method further comprises re^¬ ceiving at said user equipment via a wireless interface infor- mation by which said user equipment can identify said collec^¬ tion of localised service areas as a network via which said user equipment can receive mobile communication services.

According to one embodiment, the method further comprises re^¬ ceiving at said user equipment via a wireless interface infor^¬ mation about radio resources via which said user equipment can receive mobile communication services via said collection of localised service areas.

According to one embodiment, the method further comprises re^¬ ceiving at said user equipment via a wireless interface infor^¬ mation about the mobile communication services accessible via said collection of localised service areas.

According to one embodiment, the method further comprises re^¬ ceiving said mobile telecommunication services at said user equipment via said collection of localised service areas using radio resources other than radio resources exclusively associ^¬ ated with any of said plurality of mobile telecommunication networks .

There is also hereby provided an apparatus comprising: a proc^¬ essor and memory including computer program code, wherein the memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to: operate a first localised service area of a first mobile telecommunication network as part of a collection of localised service areas belonging to a plurality of mobile telecommunication networks, wherein each localised service area of said collection of localised service areas forms part of a mobile telecommunication network comprising an array of overlapping macro service areas dotted with a plurality of localised service areas. According to one embodiment, said localised service areas are femto cells.

According to one embodiment, said memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the appara^¬ tus to: transmit to a localised service area detected as a po^¬ tential addition to said collection of localised service areas an invitation to join said collection of localised service areas .

According to one embodiment, said memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the appara^¬ tus to: transmit information by which a user can identify said first localised service area as part of said collection of lo^¬ calised service areas via which said user can receive mobile telecommunication services.

According to one embodiment, said memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the appara^¬ tus to: transmit information about radio resources via which a user can receive mobile communication services via said first localised service area as part of said collection of localised service areas.

According to one embodiment, said memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the appara^¬ tus to: transmit information about the mobile telecommunica^¬ tion services accessible via said collection of localised ser^¬ vice areas. According to one embodiment, said memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the appara^¬ tus to: operate said first localised service area as part of said collection of localised service areas using radio re^¬ sources other than radio resources exclusively associated with any of said plurality of mobile telecommunication networks.

According to one embodiment, said memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the appara^¬ tus to: provide mobile telecommunication services via said first localised service area as a part of said first mobile communication network and via radio frequency resources exclu^¬ sively associated with said first mobile communication network

There is also hereby provided an apparatus comprising: a proc^¬ essor and memory including computer program code, wherein the memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to: receive mobile telecommuni^¬ cation services at a user equipment via a collection of local^¬ ised service areas belonging to a plurality of mobile telecom^¬ munication networks, wherein each localised service area of said collection of localised service areas also forms part of a mobile telecommunication network comprising an array of overlapping macro service areas dotted with a plurality of lo^¬ calised service areas.

According to one embodiment, said localised service areas are femto cells.

According to one embodiment, said memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the appara- tus to: receive at said user equipment via a wireless inter^¬ face information by which said user equipment can identify said collection of localised service areas as a network via which said user equipment can receive mobile communication services .

According to one embodiment, said memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the appara^¬ tus to: receive at said user equipment via a wireless inter^¬ face information about radio resources via which said user equipment can receive mobile communication services via said collection of localised service areas.

According to one embodiment, said memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the appara^¬ tus to: receive at said user equipment via a wireless inter^¬ face information about the mobile communication services ac^¬ cessible via said collection of localised service areas.

According to one embodiment, said memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the appara^¬ tus to: receive said mobile telecommunication services at said user equipment via said collection of localised service areas using radio resources other than radio resources exclu^¬ sively associated with any of said plurality of mobile tele^¬ communication networks.

There is also hereby provided an apparatus configured to carry out the above methods .

There is also hereby provided user equipment or a base station comprising the above apparatus. According to one embodiment, the base station is a Node B or eNodeB. There is also hereby provided a computer program product com^¬ prising program code means which when loaded into a computer controls the computer to: operate a first localised service area of a first mobile telecommunication network as part of a collection of localised service areas belonging to a plurality of mobile telecommunication networks, wherein each localised service area of said collection of localised service areas forms part of a mobile telecommunication network comprising an array of overlapping macro service areas dotted with a plural^¬ ity of localised service areas.

There is also hereby provided a computer program product com^¬ prising program code means which when loaded into a computer controls the computer to: receive mobile telecommunication services at a user equipment via a collection of localised service areas belonging to a plurality of mobile telecommuni^¬ cation networks, wherein each localised service area of said collection of localised service areas also forms part of a mo^¬ bile telecommunication network comprising an array of overlapping macro service areas dotted with a plurality of localised service areas.

There is also hereby provided a system including a plurality of mobile communication networks, each mobile communication network comprising an array of overlapping macro service areas dotted with a plurality of localised service areas; wherein at least some of the localised services areas are configured to also operate as part of a collection of said localised service areas belonging to two or more of said plurality of mobile telecommunication networks.

An embodiment of the invention is described in detail here^¬ under, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 illustrates the operation in a common environment of two mobile telecommunication networks each comprising macro- cells and femtocells.

Figure 2 illustrates an example of user equipment operable in the environment of Figure 1 ;

Figure 3 illustrates an example of an apparatus suitable for use at the macro cell eNBs and femtocell eNBs of Figure 1 ;

Figure 4 illustrates an example of the operation of a collec^¬ tion of femtocells in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

Figure 5 illustrates an example of the use of radio spectrum in an embodiment of the present invention.

An embodiment of the invention is described below, by way of example only, in the context of mobile telecommunication net^¬ works operating in accordance with a 3GPP LTE standard and providing evolved 3G (EPS) services via E-UTRAN cellular base stations, including eNodeBs (eNBs) and Home eNodeBs (HeNBs) . However, the same kind of techniques are also of use in other kinds of mobile telecommunication networks comprising macro services areas dotted with localised service areas.

Figure 1 illustrates the co-existence of two mobile telecommu^¬ nication networks A and B in a common environment. Each mo^¬ bile telecommunication network is managed by a respective mo^¬ bile network operator (MNO) , and provides services to its mo^¬ bile phone subscribers using a respective part of the radio spectrum for which the MNO has acquired a license. Each mobile telecommunication network A and B comprises respective sets of equipments, including eNBs 2 and HeNBs 4, and a core network The eNBs 2 define an overlapping array of macrocells 16, 18, 20. Only three macrocells are shown in Figure 1, but a mobile telecommunication network will typically comprise tens of thousands of macrocells. By way of simplicity, the macro- cells of mobile telecommunication networks A and B are shown to exactly coincide with one another, but in reality the eNBs of the two networks will have different locations and/or areas of coverage.

Each eNB 2 is connected to the core network (CN) 10 of the re^¬ spective mobile telecommunication network (MTN) . Each core network is comprised of a set of logical entities, including: a mobile management entity (MME) 22, and two types of logical gateway: serving GWs (S-GW) 24 and PDN GWs (P-GW) 26. The functions of the MME 22 include non-access stratum (NAS) sig^¬ nalling; P-GW and S-GW selection; MME selection for handovers with MME change. The S-GWs are gateways which terminate the interface towards the E-UTRAN comprising the eNBs and HeNBs . At any given point of time, there is only a single S-GW for any UE 6 associated with the CN 10. One function of the S- GWs 24 is to act as local Mobility Anchor points for handovers between eNBs . The P-GWs are gateways that terminate inter^¬ face between the CN and respective public data networks (PDNs) If a UE 6 is accessing multiple PDNs, there may be more than one PDN GW 26 for that UE 6. A S-GW and a MME may be imple^¬ mented in one physical node or separated physical nodes. A P- GW and a S-GW may be implemented in one physical node or sepa^¬ rated physical nodes. The connections between the eNBs and an MME and an S-GW are SI interfaces; the connection between an MME and a S-GW is a Sll interface; and the connection between a S-GW and a P-GW is a S8 interface. Each macrocell 16, 18, 20 of the mobile telecommunication net^¬ works A and B is dotted with respective HeNBs 4. These HeNBs provide femtocell access points within, for example, a resi^¬ dential home or small business location. The HeNBs connect a 3GPP user equipment (UE) over an EUTRAN wireless air interface to the core network 10 of the respective MTN using a broadband IP (Internet Protocol) backhaul via the internet 14. A con^¬ nection between a HeNB 4 and an S-GW 24 of the CN 10 may be via a HeNB gateway 12. The interface between a HeNB 4 and a HeNB gateway 12 is a SI interface, as is the connection be^¬ tween a HeNB 4 and a S-GW 24 or MME 22.

Signalling traffic between an eNB 2 or HeNB 4 and a S-GW passes via an MME, whereas user traffic between a eNB 2 or HeNB 4 and S-GW does not.

When operating as part of the MTN (A or B) to which it primarily belongs, a HeNBs 4 can, for example, operate in a closed access mode, or an open access mode. In closed access mode, a HeNB provides services only to a closed subscriber group (CSG) In open access mode, a HeNB provides services to any sub^¬ scriber of the MTN (A or B) to which it primarily belongs.

The respective MTN supports idle-mode mobility between a HeNB cell and any eNB cell of the same MTN, and also between HeNB cells of the same MTN. The respective MTN also supports ser^¬ vice continuity, including handover, between a HeNB cell and any eNB cell of the same MTN, and also between HeNB cells of the same MTN. Subject to availability of network resources, there is no dif^¬ ference in the user experience when using the services of a MTN via a HeNB 4 of said MTN or via an eNB 2 of said MTN.

Figure 2 shows a schematic partially sectioned view of an ex^¬ ample of user equipment 6 that may be used for communicating with the eNBs 2 and HeNBs 4 of Figure 1 via a wireless inter^¬ face. The user equipment (UE) 6 may be used for various tasks such as making and receiving phone calls, for receiving and sending data from and to a data network and for experiencing, for example, multimedia or other content.

The UE 6 may be any device capable of at least sending or re^¬ ceiving radio signals to or from the eNBs 2 and HeNBs 4. Non- limiting examples include a mobile station (MS) , a portable computer provided with a wireless interface card or other wireless interface facility, personal data assistant (PDA) provided with wireless communication capabilities, or any com^¬ binations of these or the like. The UE 6 may communicate via an appropriate radio interface arrangement of the UE 6. The interface arrangement may be provided for example by means of a radio part and associated antenna arrangement. The antenna arrangement may be arranged internally or externally to the UE 6.

The UE 6 may be provided with at least one data processing en^¬ tity 203 and at least one memory or data storage entity 217 for use in tasks it is designed to perform. The data processor 213 and memory 217 may be provided on an appropriate circuit board 219 and/or in chipsets.

The user may control the operation of the UE 6 by means of a suitable user interface such as key pad 201, voice commands, touch sensitive screen or pad, combinations thereof or the like. A display 215, a speaker and a microphone may also be provided. Furthermore, the UE 6 may comprise appropriate con^¬ nectors (either wired or wireless) to other devices and/or for connecting external accessories, for example hands-free equip^¬ ment, thereto.

Figure 3 shows an example of apparatus for use at the HeNBs 4 and eNBs 2. The apparatus comprises a radio frequency antenna 301 configured to receive and transmit radio frequency sig^¬ nals; radio frequency interface circuitry 303 configured to interface the radio frequency signals received and transmitted by the antenna 301 and the data processor 306. The radio fre^¬ quency interface circuitry 303 may also be known as a trans^¬ ceiver. The data processor 306 is configured to process sig^¬ nals from the radio frequency interface circuitry 303, control the radio frequency interface circuitry 303 to generate suit^¬ able RF signals to communicate information to the UE 6 via the wireless communications link. The memory 307 is used for stor^¬ ing data, parameters and instructions for use by the data processor 306.

It would be appreciated that both the UE 6 and the apparatus shown in figures 2 and 3 respectively and described above may comprise further elements which are not directly involved with the embodiments of the invention described hereafter.

Figure 4 illustrates a secondary operation of HeNBs primarily belonging to three MTNs A, B and C according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In addition to operating as part of the MTN (A, B or C) to which it primarily belongs (and in accordance with subscrip- tion profile characteristics in the case of a closed access mode HeNB) , at least some of the HeNBs 4 are also configured to operate as part of a secondary mobile telecommunication network comprising a collection of HeNBs including one or more HeNBs belonging to MTN A, one or more HeNBs belonging to MTN B and one or more HeNBs belonging to MTN C.

Such a collection of HeNBs 4 is referred to in Figure 4 as a femtocloud 50, and is a virtual multi-operator cellular access network. The femtocloud 50 is configured to support service continuity, including handover, between HeNB cells forming part of the femtocloud 50.

The femtocloud 50 is assigned a unique network identifier or indication different to each of the network identifiers for the MTNs A, B and C to which the HeNBs 4 constituting the femtocloud 50 primarily belong. This unique network identifier for the femtocloud 50 is advertised to UEs 6 by individual femtocells 4 constituting the femtocloud 50 and/or by a third party via suitable common signalling (broadcast system information) , dedicated signalling or suitable means of the third party (e.g. overlay macros common or dedicated signalling, cognitive pilot channel, advanced network discovery and selec^¬ tion functions - ANDSF - or database over IP, etc.) . Individ^¬ ual femtocells constituting the femtocloud 50 may also be a member of one or more other femtoclouds also made up of HeNBs primarily belonging to MTNs A, B and C.

Identifying or indicating to UEs 6 the existence of a secondary network having the characteristics of the femtocloud de^¬ scribed above can be done implicitly or explicitly. One exam^¬ ple of implicit identification involves using the PLMN ad^¬ dress; the secondary network that is the femto cloud is as- signed a PLMN address starting with a certain combination of digits and/or characters by which the UEs 6 can recognise the secondary network as a femtocloud. Another example of implicit identification involves using Global Cell Identifiers (GCIDs) ; exclusive sets and ranges of GCIDs are used for the individual femto cells constituting the femtocloud, by which the UE can identify the femtocells as also forming part of a secondary network having the nature of a femtocloud.

The femtocloud 50 may be an open network (eliminating roaming restrictions amongst subscribers to the plurality of MTNs to which the HeNBs constituting the femtocloud primarily belong, and open for all capable UEs 6) . Alternatively, it may be a closed network (for exclusive use by only those users that are have access rights to one or more of the HeNBs 4 in their pri^¬ mary role as part of MTNs A, B or C) ; or it may be a hybrid of these two extreme options. The femtocloud 50 may be a public or private network.

The femto cloud 50 has a common pool of radio spectrum for FSU (flexible spectrum use) -based cognitive radio access. Individ^¬ ual femtocells forming part of the femtocloud 50 are config^¬ ured or reconfigured to also operate in this common pool of radio spectrum, in addition to their primary mode of operation as part of the MTN (A, B or C) to which they primarily belong, which primary mode of operation uses radio spectrum allocated exclusively to the operator for said MTN. Information about the common pool of spectrum used by the femtocloud 50 may be advertised or indicated to UEs in the same way as the unique identifier mentioned above.

One example of the radio resources used by the femtocloud is illustrated in Figure 5. When operating as part of the femto- cloud 50, a HeNB 4 operates at a radio frequency outside of the parts 54, 56, 58 of the radio spectrum respectively allo^¬ cated to MTNs A, B and C. The HeNB 4 operates at one or more radio frequency bands selected from one or more unallocated parts 52 of the radio spectrum. The femtocloud 50 can be con^¬ figured to operate as a cognitive radio network (CRN) in which each HeNB 4 of the femtocloud 50 dynamically adjusts its sec^¬ ondary radio operation as part of the femtocloud based on its own awareness of its operational environment. For example, a HeNB 4 configured to also operate as part of the femtocloud 50 detects which frequency bands and time slots of the common set of radio resources available to the femtocloud are unused by the femtocloud 50, and uses such unused radio resources to provide a mobile telecommunication service to a UE 6 in its role as part of the femtocloud 50.

According to another example, the common pool of spectrum for FSU within the femtocloud 50 also comes from the parts of the spectrum 54, 56, 58 respectively allocated to MTNs A, B and C. For instance, a HeNB 4 of the femtocloud 50 which primarily belongs to MTN A may be configured to operate with additional carriers in the radio spectrum allocated to MTN B and/or MTN C, in a way that does not affect operation or performance of MTN B and/or MTN C. Similarly, the radio resources allocated to MTN A are also open to use by HeNBs 4 of the femtocloud pri^¬ marily belonging to MTN B and/or MTN C in a way that does not affect the operation or performance of MTN A..

In both of the above-mentioned examples, the operation of the femtocloud 50 should not affect the performance of the MTNs to which the femtocells primarily belong. According to one example, individual femto nodes of the cloud are virtually interconnected via an IP wireline transportation network or over-the-air communications to form cooperative subnet (s) capable of smart data forwarding, flow controlling and backhaul-capacity sharing for the femtocloud (multi- operator FSU cellular access CRN) . This includes cooperative local traffic routing optimization, signalling and content distribution. Virtual central network controller functionality for the femtocloud can be distributed among the involved multi-operator cellular networks to which the femtocells of the femtocloud primarily belong, or can be provided by a third-party server 46. This kind of local capabilities and services may also be collectively configured and/or advertised among femtocells in the femtocloud 50 and users thereof.

The formation of the femtocloud 50 as a secondary network can happen in different ways.

One example is the femtocloud 50 forming as a distributed self-organised network (SON) . Individual femtocells are con^¬ figured (by network setting or by end-user setting) to consult with the respective MTN (i.e. A, B or C) to which it primarily belongs to: create a femtocloud and issue an invitation-to- j oin-the-cloud to femto cells detected nearby (or users thereof); and/or send a request-to-j oin-the-cloud to femto^¬ cells that it has detected nearby as belonging to a femto cloud. The release of a femtocell from the femtocloud 50 can be initiated by the said femtocell itself femtocells or by a femtocell that initiated the formation of the femtocloud (the host of the femtocloud) . Collective FSU configuration updates and individual femtocell reconfigurations follow the joining, releasing or modification of individual members to the femtocloud.

Another example of how a femtocloud 50 can form involves the MTNs to which the femtocells primarily belong and/or a third- party service provider initiating the formation of a femtocloud and then issuing an invitation-to-j oin-the-cloud to lo^¬ cal femtocells under their control. The hosting and control of the femtocloud is at a level above the femtocells.

A third example of how a femtocloud 50 can form and develop involves a hybrid of the two mechanisms described above. The initial setup of a femtocloud is initiated at level above the femtocells (as in the second example) , and then individual lo^¬ cal femtocells are allowed to join or leave the femtocloud 50 in distributed SON fashion (as in the first example) .

For the primary user of a femtocell (i.e. the users who have access to the femtocell under its primary mode of operation as part of the MTN to which the femtocells belongs) , the forma^¬ tion of a femtocloud has the advantages of potentially extend^¬ ing mobile coverage or capacity for those primary users and improving access to free local contents and services. From the point of view of the mobile network operator for the MTN to which a femtocell primarily belongs, the formation of a femto^¬ cloud has the advantage of potentially enhancing network ca^¬ pacity and performance and/or creating added values.

As mentioned above, the inventors for the present application have identified the increasing deployment of high-density fem^¬ tocells or other localised service areas as a future tend for mobile telecommunication networks. Examples of locations where increased deployment of localised service areas are an- ticipated include populated urban areas such as large building complexes, and hot-spot public places such as exhibition cen^¬ tres, museums, railway stations or airports.

The above-described operations may require data processing in the various entities. The data processing may be provided by means of one or more data processors. Similarly various enti^¬ ties described in the above embodiments may be implemented within a single or a plurality of data processing entities and/or data processors. Appropriately adapted computer program code product may be used for implementing the embodiments, when loaded to a computer. The program code product for pro^¬ viding the operation may be stored on and provided by means of a carrier medium such as a carrier disc, card or tape. A possibility is to download the program code product via a data network. Implementation may be provided with appropriate soft^¬ ware in a server.

For example the embodiments of the invention may be imple^¬ mented as a chipset, in other words a series of integrated circuits communicating among each other. The chipset may comprise microprocessors arranged to run code, application spe^¬ cific integrated circuits (ASICs) , or programmable digital signal processors for performing the operations described above .

Embodiments of the invention may be practiced in various com^¬ ponents such as integrated circuit modules. The design of in^¬ tegrated circuits is by and large a highly automated process. Complex and powerful software tools are available for convert^¬ ing a logic level design into a semiconductor circuit design ready to be etched and formed on a semiconductor substrate. Programs, such as those provided by Synopsys, Inc. of Mountain View, California and Cadence Design, of San Jose, California automatically route conductors and locate components on a semiconductor chip using well established rules of design as well as libraries of pre-stored design modules. Once the de^¬ sign for a semiconductor circuit has been completed, the re^¬ sultant design, in a standardized electronic format (e.g., Opus, GDSII, or the like) may be transmitted to a semiconduc^¬ tor fabrication facility or "fab" for fabrication.

In addition to the modifications explicitly mentioned above, it will be evident to a person skilled in the art that various other modifications of the described embodiment may be made within the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A method, comprising: operating a first localised service area of a first mobile telecommunication network as part of a collection of localised service areas belonging to a plurality of mobile telecommunication networks, wherein each localised service area of said collection of localised service areas forms part of a mobile telecommunication network comprising an array of overlapping macro service areas dotted with a plural^¬ ity of localised service areas.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said localised service areas are femto cells.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein said localised service areas are Home NodeBs or Home eNodeBs .

4. A method according to any of claims 1 to 3, comprising transmitting to a localised service area detected as a poten^¬ tial addition to said collection of localised service areas an invitation to join said collection of localised service areas.

5. A method according to any of claims 1 to 4, comprising transmitting information by which a user can identify said first localised service area as part of said collection of lo^¬ calised service areas via which said user can receive mobile telecommunication services.

6. A method according to any of claims 1 to 5, comprising transmitting information about radio resources via which a user can receive mobile communication services via said first localised service area as part of said collection of localised service areas.

7. A method according to any of claims 1 to 6, comprising transmitting information about the mobile telecommunication services accessible via said collection of localised service areas .

8. A method according to any of claims 1 to 7, comprising operating said first localised service area as part of said collection of localised service areas using radio resources other than radio resources exclusively associated with any of said plurality of mobile telecommunication networks.

9. A method according to any of claims 1 to 8, further comprising providing mobile telecommunication services via said first localised service area as a part of said first mobile communication network and via radio frequency resources exclu^¬ sively associated with said first mobile communication network

10. A method, comprising: receiving mobile telecommunication services at a user equipment via a collection of localised service areas belonging to a plurality of mobile telecommuni^¬ cation networks, wherein each localised service area of said collection of localised service areas also forms part of a mo^¬ bile telecommunication network comprising an array of overlapping macro service areas dotted with a plurality of localised service areas.

11. A method according to claim 10, wherein said localised service areas are femto cells.

12. A method according to claim 10, wherein said localised service areas are areas served by Home eNodeBs.

13. A method according to any of claims 10 to 12, comprising receiving at said user equipment via a wireless interface in^¬ formation by which said user equipment can identify said col^¬ lection of localised service areas as a network via which said user equipment can receive mobile communication services.

14. A method according to any of claims 10 to 13, comprising receiving at said user equipment via a wireless interface in^¬ formation about radio resources via which said user equipment can receive mobile communication services via said collection of localised service areas.

15. A method according to any of claims 10 to 14, comprising receiving at said user equipment via a wireless interface in^¬ formation about the mobile communication services accessible via said collection of localised service areas.

16. A method according to any of claims 10 to 15, comprising receiving said mobile telecommunication services at said user equipment via said collection of localised service areas using radio resources other than radio resources exclusively associ^¬ ated with any of said plurality of mobile telecommunication networks .

17. An apparatus comprising: a processor and memory including computer program code, wherein the memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the appara^¬ tus to: operate a first localised service area of a first mo^¬ bile telecommunication network as part of a collection of localised service areas belonging to a plurality of mobile tele^¬ communication networks, wherein each localised service area of said collection of localised service areas forms part of a mo^¬ bile telecommunication network comprising an array of overlap- ping macro service areas dotted with a plurality of localised service areas.

18. An apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said localised service areas are femto cells.

19. An apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said localised service areas are Home NodeBs or Home eNodeBs .

20. An apparatus according to any of claims 17 to 19, wherein said memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to: transmit to a localised service area detected as a potential addition to said collec^¬ tion of localised service areas an invitation to join said collection of localised service areas.

21. An apparatus according to any of claims 17 to 20, wherein said memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to: transmit information by which a user can identify said first localised service area as part of said collection of localised service areas via which said user can receive mobile telecommunication services.

22. An apparatus according to any of claims 17 to 21, wherein said memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to: transmit information about radio resources via which a user can receive mobile com^¬ munication services via said first localised service area as part of said collection of localised service areas.

23. An apparatus according to any of claims 17 to 22, wherein said memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to: transmit information about the mobile telecommunication services accessible via said collection of localised service areas.

24. An apparatus according to any of claims 17 to 23, wherein said memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to: operate said first lo^¬ calised service area as part of said collection of localised service areas using radio resources other than radio resources exclusively associated with any of said plurality of mobile telecommunication networks.

25. An apparatus according to any of claims 17 to 24, wherein said memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to: provide mobile telecom^¬ munication services via said first localised service area as a part of said first mobile communication network and via radio frequency resources exclusively associated with said first mo^¬ bile communication network.

26. An apparatus comprising: a processor and memory including computer program code, wherein the memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the appara^¬ tus to: receive mobile telecommunication services at a user equipment via a collection of localised service areas belong^¬ ing to a plurality of mobile telecommunication networks, wherein each localised service area of said collection of lo^¬ calised service areas also forms part of a mobile telecommuni^¬ cation network comprising an array of overlapping macro service areas dotted with a plurality of localised service areas.

27. An apparatus according to claim 26, wherein said localised service areas are femto cells.

28. An apparatus according to claim 26, wherein said local^¬ ised service areas are areas served by Home eNodeBs.

29. An apparatus according to any of claims 26 to 28, wherein said memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to: receive at said user equipment via a wireless interface information by which said user equipment can identify said collection of localised ser^¬ vice areas as a network via which said user equipment can re^¬ ceive mobile communication services.

30. An apparatus according to any of claims 26 to 29, wherein said memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to: receive at said user equipment via a wireless interface information about radio re^¬ sources via which said user equipment can receive mobile com^¬ munication services via said collection of localised service areas .

31. An apparatus according to any of claims 26 to 30, wherein said memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to: receive at said user equipment via a wireless interface information about the mo^¬ bile communication services accessible via said collection of localised service areas.

32. An apparatus according to any of claims 26 to 31, wherein said memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to: receive said mobile telecommunication services at said user equipment via said collection of localised service areas using radio resources other than radio resources exclusively associated with any of said plurality of mobile telecommunication networks.

33. An apparatus configured to carry out the method according to any of claims 1 to 9.

34. An apparatus configured to carry out the method according to any of claims 10 to 16.

35. User equipment comprising apparatus according to any of claims 26 to 32 and 34.

36. A base station comprising apparatus according to any of claims 17 to 25 and 33.

37. A base station according to claim 36, wherein the base station is a Node B or eNodeB.

38. A computer program product comprising program code means which when loaded into a computer controls the computer to: operate a first localised service area of a first mobile tele^¬ communication network as part of a collection of localised service areas belonging to a plurality of mobile telecommuni^¬ cation networks, wherein each localised service area of said collection of localised service areas forms part of a mobile telecommunication network comprising an array of overlapping macro service areas dotted with a plurality of localised ser^¬ vice areas.

39. A computer program product comprising program code means which when loaded into a computer controls the computer to: receive mobile telecommunication services at a user equipment via a collection of localised service areas belonging to a plurality of mobile telecommunication networks, wherein each localised service area of said collection of localised service areas also forms part of a mobile telecommunication network comprising an array of overlapping macro service areas dotte with a plurality of localised service areas.

40. A system including a plurality of mobile communication networks, each mobile communication network comprising an array of overlapping macro service areas dotted with a plurality of localised service areas; wherein at least some of the lo^¬ calised services areas are configured to also operate as part of a collection of said localised service areas belonging to two or more of said plurality of mobile telecommunication net^¬ works .