METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING VERTICAL HANDOVER IN SDR TERMINAL

• US 20100136973A1
• Filed: 10/16/2009
• Published: 06/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Kim, Yeong-jin, Park, Nam-hoon, Lee, Seung-que
• Granted Patent: US 8,559,390 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/436
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/005 involving radio access media independent information, e.g. MIH [Media independent Hand-off]

Abstract

Disclosed are a method and apparatus for allowing a Software Defined Radio (SDR) terminal to perform a vertical handover between different services. The vertical handover method includes: receiving a handover request from an application service which is currently being executed; selecting a new application service which is a handover target from among a plurality of application services, in response to the handover request; installing the new application service in the SDR terminal so that the new application service is executable by the SDR terminal; and performing a handover to the new application service. Accordingly, since handover is performed seamlessly between different services, continuity of service may be ensured.

Claims

1. A vertical handover method which is performed by a Software Defined Radio (SDR) terminal capable of selectively executing at least one of a plurality of application services, the method comprising:

receiving a handover request from an application service which is being currently executed;

selecting a new application service which is a handover target from among the plurality of application services, in response to the handover request;

installing the new application service in the SDR terminal so that the new application service is executable by the SDR terminal; and

performing a handover to the new application service.

2. The vertical handover method of claim 1, wherein the selecting of the new application service comprises preferentially selecting an application service which has not recently been installed in the SDR terminal, based on installation history information about application services executable in the SDR terminal.

3. The vertical handover method of claim 2, wherein the selecting of the new application service comprises selecting the new application service based on a Software Component Descriptor (SCD) and a Software Assembly Descriptor (SAD) of a domain profile of the SDR terminal.

4. The vertical handover method of claim 1, wherein the performing of the handover comprises performing the handover when an installation completion message is received from the new application service.

5. The vertical handover method of claim 1, before the performing of the handover, further comprising performing channel-scanning on the new application service,

wherein the performing of the handover comprises performing the handover when it is determined according to the result of the channel-scanning that the handover is allowed.

6. The vertical handover method of claim 5, after the performing of the channel-scanning, further comprising:

if the channel-scanning fails, transmitting a service stop command to the new application service; and

stopping installation of the new application service according to the service stop command.

7. The vertical handover method of claim 6, further comprising if the channel-scanning fails, selecting another new application service other than the new application service on which the channel-scanning has failed.

8. The vertical handover method of claim 1, wherein the installing of the new application service comprises:

generating and installing a controller and resources required to execute the new application service; and

if it is determined that the installation of the new application service has been completed, executing the new application service.

9. The vertical handover method of claim 1, after the performing of the handover, further comprising:

transmitting a service stop request to the application service which is currently being executed; and

stopping installation of the application service according to the service stop request.

10. An apparatus for vertical handover which is included in a Software Defined Radio (SDR) terminal capable of selectively executing at least one of a plurality of application services, comprising:

at least one service execution unit which is software-reconfigurable and capable of executing various application services; and

a handover execution unit to perform a handover between the application services that are executable by the SDR terminal; and

a Software Communication Architecture (SCA) core framework, when receiving a handover request from the service execution unit which executes an application service, to generate a service execution unit for executing an application service that is a handover target, and to control execution of a handover of the SDR terminal in connection with the service execution unit and the handover execution unit.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the SCA core framework comprises preferentially selecting an application service which has not recently been installed in the SDR terminal, based on installation history information about application services executable in the SDR terminal.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the SCA core framework comprises selecting the new application service based on a Software Component Descriptor (SCD) and a Software Assembly Descriptor (SAD) of a domain profile.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the SCA core framework controls the entire operation of the SDR terminal.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the handover execution unit comprises:

a Layer3 (L3) resource to control a handover operation;

a Media Independent Handler (MIH) resource to perform handover primitive processing between the application services that are executable by the service execution unit; and

a handover assembly controller to process control commands between the L2 resource, the MIH resource, and the SCA core framework.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the handover assembly controller, when receiving a handover request from the service execution unit which executes the application service, requests the SCA core framework to generate the service execution unit for executing the application service which is the handover target and requests the MIH resource to perform channel-scanning on the application service after the generation of the service execution unit.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the L3 resource determines the result of the channel-scanning on the application service, and

if the L3 resource determines that the channel-scanning on the application service fails, the handover assembly controller requests the SCA core framework to generate a service execution unit for executing another application service.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the handover assembly controller, when receiving a signal indicating radio signal disconnection from the service execution unit which executes the application service, transmits a service stop request for stopping execution of the application service to the SCA core framework and transmits the service stop request to the MIH resource when receiving a response to the service stop request.

18. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the service execution unit comprises:

a Medium Access Control (MAC) resource which controls a MAC layer;

a Physical Layer (PHY) resource which controls a physical layer; and

a service assembly controller to process control commands between the MAC resource, the PHY resource and the SCA core framework.