HANDOVER TECHNIQUES BETWEEN LEGACY AND UPDATED WIRELESS NETWORKS

• US 20100008328A1
• Filed: 07/08/2009
• Published: 01/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks US LLC (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Zheng, Haihong, Maheshwari, Shashikant
• Granted Patent: US 8,432,870 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/331
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0055 Transmission or use of information for re-establishing the radio link
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0064 of control information between different access points
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/245 from a network towards a terminal

Abstract

According to an example embodiment, an apparatus may include a processor. The apparatus may be configured to transmit a handover request message from a legacy serving base station to a target updated base station, the request message including an indication that a mobile station is compliant with an updated specification; and receive a handover response message at the legacy serving base station from the target updated base station, the handover response message including one or more updated system parameters assigned to the mobile station for an updated time zone of the target base station.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

transmitting a handover request message from a legacy serving base station to a target updated base station, the request message including an indication that a mobile station is compliant with an updated specification; and

receiving a handover response message at the legacy serving base station from the target updated base station, the handover response message including one or more updated system parameters assigned to the mobile station for an updated time zone of the target base station.

2. The method of claim 1 and further comprising:

transmitting, from the legacy serving base station to the mobile station, a handover request message including one or more of the updated system parameters assigned to the mobile station for the updated time zone of the target base station.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting a handover request message from the legacy serving base station to the target base station, the request message including a MAC version value for the mobile station.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting a handover request message from a legacy serving base station to a target base station, the request message including mobile station capability information for the mobile station that includes a MAC version value for the mobile station and a mobile station device capability for the mobile station that identifies one or more device capabilities of the mobile station, the mobile station device capability indicating the mobile station'"'"'s capability regarding one or more of HARQ (Hybrid ARQ), multi-carrier operation, and/or identification of one or more carrier frequency(ies) that the mobile station supports.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the legacy serving base station comprises a base station that is compliant with a legacy IEEE 802.16 specification, wherein the target updated base station comprises a target base station that is compliant with an updated IEEE 802.16 specification and the mobile station being compliant with an updated specification comprises the mobile station being compliant with the updated IEEE 802.16 specification.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the updated IEEE 802.16 specification comprises an IEEE 802.16m specification.

7. The method of claim 1 and further comprising sending, from the serving legacy base station to the mobile station, system information for updated time zones for one or more neighbor base stations.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving comprises receiving a handover response message at the legacy serving base station from the target updated base station, the handover response message including one or more updated system parameters assigned to the mobile station for an updated time zone of the target base station, and one or more legacy system parameters, wherein one or more of the legacy system parameters may be mapped to a corresponding updated parameter by the mobile station or the target updated base station.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving comprises receiving a handover response message at the legacy serving base station from the target updated base station, the handover response message including a container that provides one or more updated system parameters assigned to the mobile station for an updated time zone of the target base station, the updated system parameters including one or more of:

an updated station ID, an updated ranging code, a ranging slot or ranging resources within the updated time zone, an updated action time, and/or an updated authentication parameter.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving comprises receiving a handover response message at the legacy serving base station from the target updated base station, the handover response message including a container that provides one or more 802.16m system parameters assigned to the mobile station for an 802.16m time zone of the target base station, the 802.16m system parameters including one or more of:

an 802.16m station ID, an 802.16m ranging code, a dedicated ranging slot or ranging resources within an 802.16m time zone, an 802.16m action time, and/or an 802.16m authentication parameter.

11. An apparatus comprising a processor, the apparatus configured to:

transmit a handover request message from a legacy serving base station to a target updated base station, the request message including an indication that a mobile station is compliant with an updated specification; and

receive a handover response message at the legacy serving base station from the target updated base station, the handover response message including one or more updated system parameters assigned to the mobile station for an updated time zone of the target base station.

12. A method comprising:

receiving, at an updated mobile station from a serving legacy base station, a handover request message including one or more updated system parameters assigned to the mobile station for an updated time zone of a target updated base station;

transmitting a handover indication from the updated mobile station to the legacy serving base station; and

performing network entry, by the mobile station, in the updated time zone of the target updated base station using the one or more updated system parameters assigned to the mobile station.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the updated system parameters comprise an updated ranging code and a ranging slot or ranging resources within the updated time zone of the target updated base station.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein, the mobile station is an 802.16m mobile station that is compliant with 802.16m specification, and the target updated base station is an 802.16m target base station that is compliant with 802.16m specification, wherein the updated system parameters comprise an 802.16m ranging code and a ranging slot or ranging resources within an 802.16m time zone of the 802.16m target base station.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the updated system parameters comprise one or more of an updated station ID, an updated ranging code, a ranging slot or ranging resources within the updated time zone, an updated action time, and/or an updated authentication parameter.

16. An apparatus comprising a processor, the apparatus configured to:

receive, at an updated mobile station from a serving legacy base station, a handover request message including one or more updated system parameters assigned to the mobile station for an updated time zone of a target updated base station;

transmit a handover indication from the updated mobile station to the legacy serving base station; and

perform network entry, by the mobile station, in the updated time zone of the target updated base station using the one or more updated system parameters assigned to the mobile station.

17. A method comprising:

receiving, at a target updated base station from a serving legacy base station, a handover request message including an indication that a mobile station for handover is compliant with an updated specification;

allocating one or more updated system parameters to the mobile station for an updated time zone of the target base station; and

transmitting a handover response message from the target updated base station to the serving legacy base station from the target updated base station, the handover response message including one or more updated system parameters assigned to the mobile station for an updated time zone of the target base station.

18. A method comprising:

transmitting an association request message from a legacy serving base station to a target updated base station, the request message including an indication that a mobile station is compliant with an updated specification; and

receiving an association response message at the legacy serving base station from the target updated base station, the association response message including one or more updated system parameters assigned to the mobile station for an updated time zone of the target base station.

19. The method of claim 18 and further comprising:

transmitting, from the legacy serving base station to the mobile station, a scanning response message including one or more of the updated system parameters assigned to the mobile station for the updated time zone of the target base station.