METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE HANDOVER

• US 20100260144A1
• Filed: 11/07/2008
• Published: 10/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Jee, Junghoon, Park, Chang-Min
• Granted Patent: US 8,620,321 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/331
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0066 of control information between different types of networks in order to establish a new radio link in the target network

Abstract

Consistent handover can be provided between a plurality of objects by providing handover mode control information defining an object for initiating handover from among at least one object in a system environment including the at least one object, wherein the at least one object is able to initiate handover between heterogeneous networks.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising handover mode control information defining an object for initiating handover from among at least one object in a system environment comprising the at least one object, wherein the at least one object is able to initiate handover between heterogeneous networks.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one object comprises a terminal and a network point of service (PoS) that is currently connected to the terminal.

3. A method of selecting a handover target network in a terminal, the method comprising:

requesting an information server for information regarding a network that is subject to handover, and receiving the information regarding the network that is subject to handover in response to the request;

transmitting a query to the candidate network regarding whether a resource of a candidate network is available to support the user terminal'"'"'s handover, and receiving a response to the query from the candidate network; and

requesting a target network finally performing handover, which is determined according to the response of the candidate network, for handover, and receiving a response to the request.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising, when the terminal receives information regarding a state where handover is completed in a network PoS that is currently connected to the terminal from the target network, responding to the information regarding the state.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising receiving handover mode control information defining an object for initiating handover from among at least one object in a system environment comprising the at least one object, wherein the at least one object is able to initiate handover between heterogeneous networks.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising, when the terminal receives a query regarding whether a resource of the candidate network is available from a network PoS that is currently connected to the terminal, transmitting a query regarding whether a resource for initiating handover of the terminal is available in the candidate network.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising, when the candidate network receives the query regarding whether the resource for initiating handover of the terminal is available, transmitting a response to the query to the network PoS that is currently connected to the terminal.

8. The method of claim 3, further comprising, when the terminal receives the request for handover from a network PoS that is currently connected to the terminal, requesting the target network to perform resource assignment for handover of the terminal.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising reporting that the request for handover is accepted in response to the request to perform the resource assignment, wherein the reporting is performed by the target network.

10. The method of claim 3, wherein the terminal comprises at least one interface for performing handover between heterogeneous networks.

11. A method of selecting a handover target network, the method comprising:

requesting an information server for information regarding a network that is subject to handover, and receiving the information regarding the network that is subject to handover in response to the request, wherein the requesting and receiving are performed by a network PoS that is currently connected to a terminal;

transmitting a query regarding whether the terminal intends to perform handover initiated by the network PoS, which is currently connected to the terminal, to the terminal, and receiving a response to the query from the terminal;

transmitting a query regarding whether a resource of the candidate network is available to the candidate network that is selected according to the response to the query regarding whether the terminal intends to perform handover and the information regarding the network that is subject to handover to the candidate network that is able to initiate handover, and receiving a response to the query regarding whether the resource of the candidate is available, wherein the transmitting and the receiving are performed by the terminal; and

requesting a target network determined according to the response of the candidate network for handover, and receiving a response to the request.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising transmitting information regarding a state where handover is completed in a network PoS that is currently connected to the terminal from the target network to the terminal, and receiving a response to the information regarding the state.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving from the information server handover mode control information defining an object for initiating handover from among at least one object in a system environment comprising the at least one object, wherein the at least one object is able to initiate handover between heterogeneous networks.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the terminal comprises at least one interface for performing handover between heterogeneous networks.