Vertical handover composite quality measures

• US 20080101318A1
• Filed: 10/31/2006
• Published: 05/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tahoe Research Limited (f/k/a Learndale Limited) (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Taaghol, Pouya, Gupta, Vivek
• Granted Patent: US 8,565,744 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/342
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/04 Reselecting a cell layer in multi-layered cells
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/30 by measured or perceived connection quality data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/302 due to low signal strength

Abstract

A composite quality measure helps determine a target for a vertical handover between different connection types. Various measurements are normalized, weighted and summed to produce composite quality measures. A composite quality measure may be compared to a target value and the corresponding connection may be added to a feasibility table if the composite quality measure is above the target.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of measurements corresponding to operation of a first radio interface;

normalizing each of the plurality of measurements to produce a plurality of normalized measurements;

weighting each of the plurality of normalized measurements to produce a plurality of weighted normalized measurements; and

summing the plurality of weighted normalized measurements to form a composite quality measure for the first radio interface.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising comparing the composite quality measure against a target quality measure for the first radio interface, and adding the composite quality measure to a feasibility table if the composite quality measure exceeds the target quality measure.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a second plurality of measurements corresponding to operation of a second radio interface;

normalizing each of the second plurality of measurements to produce a second plurality of normalized measurements;

weighting each of the second plurality of normalized measurements to produce a second plurality of weighted normalized measurements; and

summing the second plurality of weighted normalized measurements to form a composite quality measure for the second radio interface.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising comparing the composite quality measure for the second radio interface against a target quality measure for the second radio interface, and adding the composite quality measure for the second radio interface to the feasibility table if the composite quality measure for the second radio interface exceeds the target quality measure for the second radio interface.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising comparing the composite quality measures for the first and second radio interfaces to determine which radio interface to use for a vertical handover.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein the first radio interface comprises a cellular telephone interface, and the second radio interface comprises a local area network interface.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising repeating the method for each of a plurality of radio interfaces within a common apparatus to produce a plurality of composite quality measures.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising comparing the plurality of composite quality measures to determine which of the plurality of radio interfaces to utilize for a vertical handover.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the measurements include at least one measurement from the set consisting of:

signal strength, bit error rate, effective bandwidth, round trip delay, and re-transmit rate.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein different target quality measures are utilized for each of the plurality of radio interfaces.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the measurements is generated by the first radio interface, and at least one of the measurements is received from a far end device communicating with the first radio interface.

12. An article having a machine readable medium with instructions stored thereon that when accessed result in a mobile communications device:

maintaining a plurality of composite quality measures for a plurality of different connection types, wherein each of the plurality of composite quality measures represents a sum of weighted individual quality measures for a corresponding connection type; and

comparing the plurality of composite quality measures to decide which connection type to receive a handover.

13. The article of claim 12 wherein the instructions, when accessed, further result in the mobile communications device generating each of the plurality of composite quality measures by normalizing individual quality measures for the corresponding connection type by dividing the individual quality measure by a target quality measure for the individual quality measure.

14. The article of claim 12 wherein the instructions, when accessed, further result in the mobile communications device comparing each of the plurality of composite quality measures against a corresponding target quality measure to determine if a connection type represents a feasible connection.

15. The article of claim 14 wherein the instructions, when accessed, further result in the mobile communications device preparing a connection type for a vertical handover if the connection type is a feasible connection.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a first radio interface to provide first signal measurements;

a second radio interface to provide second signal measurements; and

a composite quality computation component to weight and sum the first signal measurements to form a composite quality measure of the first radio interface, and to weight and sum the second signal measurements to form a composite quality measure of the second radio interface.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 further comprising a memory device to hold a table of composite quality measures.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 further comprising a decision component to compare the composite quality measures, and decide which of the first and second radio interfaces to use for a vertical handover.

19. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the first interface comprises a cellular telephone interface and the second interface comprises a wireless local area network interface.

20. The apparatus of claim 16 further comprising a color display.