Method for determining handover criterion in a cellular wireless communication system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9288725-B2
Application number	US-201213644909-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 4, 2012
Priority date	Dec 23, 2010
Publication date	Mar 15, 2016
Grant date	Mar 15, 2016

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for determining handover criterion in a cellular wireless communication system, said cellular wireless communication system employing handover procedures according to which mobile stations may be handed over from a cell to another cell; said method comprising the steps of: receiving at least one handover control criterion parameter, and determining at least one handover criterion based on said at least one handover control criterion parameter. Furthermore, the invention also relates to a method in a network control entity, a method in a network entity, a computer program, a computer program product, a network control entity device, a network entity device and a cellular communication system comprising such devices.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for determining handover criterion in a cellular wireless communication system, comprising:
receiving, by a network entity in the cellular wireless communication system, at least one handover control criterion parameter, and
determining, by the network entity, at least one handover criterion based on said at least one handover control criterion parameter;
wherein said at least one handover criterion is a handover trigger value;
wherein said at least one handover control criterion parameter defines an allowed interval for said handover trigger value;
wherein said at least one handover control criterion parameter comprises at least one threshold value used to define said allowed interval; and
wherein said at least one handover control criterion parameter further comprises setting at least one threshold value used to define a maximum change rate of the handover trigger value, wherein the maximum change rate of the handover trigger value defines a maximum allowed frequency at which the handover trigger value is changed, and the handover trigger value is a cell specific offset that corresponds to a threshold at which a cell initializes a handover preparation procedure.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
providing, by at least one network control entity, said at least one handover control criterion parameter.

3. The method according to claim 2 , further comprising:
defining, by said least one network control entity, said at least one handover control criterion parameter.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein said least one network control entity comprises at least one of the following: Operations and Maintenance (OAM) entity, Network Management System (NMS) entity, and Element Management System (EMS) entity.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one handover criterion is used by the network entity for handover execution decision.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the network entity is integrated in one of the following: a base station, a base station controller, and a radio network controller (RNC), said base station or said base station controller or said radio network controller (RNC) being configured to initiate the handover preparation procedure in the cell associated with said at least one base station or said base station controller or said radio network controller (RNC).

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one handover control criterion parameter comprises at least one timing parameter.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein said at least one timing parameter is a timing threshold value defining an allowed interval for said handover criterion.

9. The method according to claim 7 , wherein said at least one timing parameter indicates a number of allowed steps or an index value defining an allowed interval based on a predefined interval for said handover criterion.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein said predefined interval is an interval defined for a measurement control parameter.

11. The method according to claim 7 , wherein said at least one timing parameter relates to any in the group comprising: maximum allowed relative change of handover timing, maximum difference between handover timing used for different neighbour cells, and maximum change rate for handover timing.

12. A method in a network control entity for a cellular wireless communication system, comprising:
defining, by a network control entity in the cellular wireless communication system, at least one handover control criterion parameter corresponding to at least one handover criterion; and
providing, by the network control entity, said at least one handover control criterion parameter to a network entity in said cellular wireless communication system;
wherein said at least one handover criterion is a handover trigger value;
wherein said at least one handover control criterion parameter defines an allowed interval for said handover trigger value; and
wherein said at least one handover control criterion parameter comprises at least one threshold value used to define said allowed interval;
wherein said at least one handover control criterion parameter further comprises setting at least one threshold value used to define a maximum change rate of the handover trigger value, wherein the maximum change rate of the handover trigger value defines a maximum allowed frequency at which the handover trigger value is changed, and the handover trigger value is a cell specific offset that corresponds to a threshold at which a cell initializes a handover preparation procedure.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the providing said at least one handover control criterion parameter to the network entity in said cellular wireless communication system comprises:
transmitting said at least one handover control criterion parameter to said network entity, wherein said network entity is configured to process mobility parameters in said cellular wireless communication system.

14. The method according to claim 12 , wherein said network control entity comprises at least one of the following: Operations and Maintenance (OAM) entity, Network Management System (NMS) entity and Element Management System (EMS) entity.

15. The method according to claim 12 , wherein said at least one handover criterion is used by said at least one network entity for handover execution decision.

16. The method according to claim 12 , wherein said at least one handover control criterion parameter comprises at least one timing parameter.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein said at least one timing parameter is a timing threshold value defining an allowed interval for said handover criterion.

18. The method according to claim 16 , wherein said at least one timing parameter indicates a number of allowed steps or an index value defining an allowed interval based on a predefined interval for said handover criterion.

19. The method according to claim 18 , wherein said predefined interval is an interval defined for a measurement control parameter, such as a Time to Trigger (TTT) parameter.

20. A network control entity device for a cellular wireless communication system, said network control entity device being configured to
define at least one handover control criterion parameter corresponding to at least one handover criterion; and
provide said at least one handover control criterion parameter to a network entity in said cellular wireless communication system;
wherein said at least one handover criterion is a handover trigger value;
wherein said at least one handover control criterion parameter defines an allowed interval for said handover trigger value; and
wherein said at least one handover control criterion parameter comprises at least one threshold value used to define said allowed interval;
wherein said at least one handover control criterion parameter further comprises setting at least one threshold value used to define a maximum change rate of the handover trigger value, wherein the maximum change rate of the handover trigger value defines a maximum allowed frequency at which the handover trigger value is changed, and the handover trigger value is a cell specific offset that corresponds to a threshold at which a cell initializes a handover preparation procedure.

21. The network control entity device according to claim 20 , wherein said network control entity comprises at least one of the: Operations and Mai

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Olofsson Henrik
• Legg Peter

Classifications

• H04W36/0016 Primary

  Hand-off preparation specially adapted for end-to-end data sessions · CPC title

• H04W36/16

  Performing reselection for specific purposes · CPC title

• H04W84/042

  Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems · CPC title

• H04W36/24

  Reselection being triggered by specific parameters · CPC title

• H04W36/0083 Primary

  Determination of parameters used for hand-off, e.g. generation or modification of neighbour cell lists · CPC title