HIGH SPEED HANDOVERS IN A WIRELESS NETWORK

• US 20130095839A1
• Filed: 07/23/2012
• Published: 04/18/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Powerwave Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Venkatraman, Shankarakrishnan, Sheikh, Khurram Parviz, Vokkarne, Rajeev
• Granted Patent: US 9,883,431 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/444
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/04 Reselecting a cell layer in multi-layered cells
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/32 by location or mobility data, e.g. speed data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/324 by mobility data, e.g. speed data

Abstract

In one aspect, a wireless network management component can manage values for the generation of time to trigger parameters to handover requests between small cells and macro cells in a wireless network. In another aspect, a wireless management component can process various information to manage when handovers between small cells and macro cells should be disabled. In still another aspect, a wireless management component can process user equipment speed information and other network information to determine whether user equipment in communication with small cells should initiate a handover to macro cells.

Claims

1. A method of managing wireless network components, the wireless network components include a set of cells including one or more small cells and one or more macro cells, the method comprising:

transmitting information for managing a handover trigger parameter, wherein the handover trigger parameter is utilized by user equipment to transmit handover requests to one or more cells in the set of cells;

obtaining handover requests transmitted by user equipment, the handover requests transmitted based, at least in part, on the transmitted information for generating the handover request;

if the handover requests corresponds to a handover request to a small cell, processing the handover requests based, at least in part, on a probability of at least one of alternative macro cell coverage and previous handover rate failure rate; and

managing handovers between a small cell and a macro cell based, at least in part, on user equipment speed information.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, the handover trigger parameter corresponds to a time to trigger handover parameter.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the transmitted information utilized to manage the handover trigger parameter is utilized for adaptive tuning of the handover trigger parameter.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the adaptive tuning of the handover trigger parameter is based on a distribution of a number of handover attempts.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the transmitted information use to manage the handover trigger parameter is utilized for determining a maximum value for the handover trigger parameter.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the maximum value for the handover trigger parameter is based on a determination of whether a number of failed handover requests over a period of time is above a threshold.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein processing the handover requests based, at least in part, on a probability of at least one of alternative macro cell coverage and previous handover rate failure rate includes:

obtaining power information for at least one adjacent cell, the power information corresponding to anticipated macro cell power levels;

determining whether the power information is above a threshold; and

enabling handover request blocking if the power information exceeds a threshold.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein processing the handover requests based, at least in part, on a probability of at least one of alternative macro cell coverage and previous handover rate failure rate includes:

obtaining network based information for at least one adjacent cell, the network based information corresponding to handover failure rates;

determining whether the network based information is above a threshold; and

enabling handover request blocking if the power information exceeds a threshold.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein managing handovers between a small cell and a macro cell based, at least in part, on user equipment speed information includes:

obtaining user equipment speed information;

if user equipment speed information is above a speed threshold, determining power information; and

if power information is above a power threshold, causing the generation of a handover request from the small cell to the macro cell.

10. A method of managing wireless network components, the wireless network components include a set of cells including one or more small cells and one or more macro cells, the method comprising:

transmitting information for managing a handover trigger parameter, wherein the handover trigger parameter is utilized by user equipment to transmit handover requests to one or more cells in the set of cells; and

obtaining handover requests transmitted by user equipment, the handover requests transmitted based, at least in part, on the transmitted information for generating the handover request;

wherein the handover trigger parameter is different for the one or more small cells than for the one or more macro cells.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, the handover trigger parameter corresponds to a time to trigger handover parameter.

12. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the transmitted information utilized to manage the handover trigger parameter is utilized for adaptive tuning of the handover trigger parameter.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the adaptive tuning of the handover trigger parameter is based on a distribution of a number of handover attempts.

14. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the transmitted information use to manage the handover trigger parameter is utilized for determining a maximum value for the handover trigger parameter.

15. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein the maximum value for the handover trigger parameter is based on a determination of whether a number of failed handover requests over a period of time is above a threshold.

16. A method of managing wireless network components, the wireless network components include a set of cells including one or more small cells and one or more macro cells, the method comprising:

obtaining handover requests transmitted by user equipment, wherein the handover request corresponds to a handover request to a small cell; and

if the handover requests correspond to a handover request to a small cell, processing the handover requests based, at least in part, on a probability of at least one of alternative macro cell coverage and previous handover rate failure rate.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein processing the handover requests based, at least in part, on a probability of at least one of alternative macro cell coverage and previous handover rate failure rate includes:

obtaining power information for at least one adjacent cell, the power information corresponding to anticipated macro cell power levels;

determining whether the power information is above a threshold; and

enabling handover request blocking if the power information exceeds a threshold.

18. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein processing the handover requests based, at least in part, on a probability of at least one of alternative macro cell coverage and previous handover rate failure rate includes:

obtaining network based information for at least one adjacent cell, the network based information corresponding to handover failure rates;

determining whether the network based information is above a threshold; and

enabling handover request blocking if the power information exceeds a threshold.

19. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein processing the handover requests includes blocking handover requests.

20. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein processing the handover requests includes delaying a handover requests.

21. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein processing the handover requests includes filtering one or more handover requests.

22. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein processing the handover requests includes selectively processing a percentage of handover requests.

23. A method of managing wireless network components, the wireless network components include a set of cells including one or more small cells and one or more macro cells, the method comprising:

obtaining handover requests transmitted by user equipment, wherein the handover request corresponds to a handover request to a small cell; and

managing handovers between the small cell and a macro cell based, at least in part, on user equipment speed information.

24. The method as recited in claim 23, wherein managing handovers between a small cell and a macro cell based, at least in part, on user equipment speed information includes:

obtaining user equipment speed information;

if user equipment speed information is above a speed threshold, determining power information;

if power information is above a power threshold, causing the generation of a handover request from the small cell to the macro cell.

25. A system comprising:

a set of cells for communication with user equipment in accordance with wireless air interface standards, wherein at least a portion of the cells are characterized as small cells and wherein at least a portion of the cells are characterized a macro cells;

a management component for managing handovers between user equipment and the set of cells, the management component operable to at least one of;

transmit information for managing a handover trigger parameter, wherein the handover trigger parameter is utilized by user equipment to transmit handover requests to one or more cells in the set of cells;

obtain handover requests transmitted by user equipment, the handover requests transmitted based, at least in part, on the transmitted information for generating the handover request;

if the handover requests corresponds to a handover request to a small cell, process the handover requests based, at least in part, on a probability of at least one of alternative macro cell coverage and previous handover rate failure rate;

or

manage handovers between a small cell and a macro cell based, at least in part, on user equipment speed information.

26. The system as recited in claim 25, wherein the transmitted information utilized to manage the handover trigger parameter is utilized for adaptive tuning of the handover trigger parameter.

27. The system as recited in claim 25, wherein the transmitted information use to manage the handover trigger parameter is utilized for determining a maximum value for the handover trigger parameter.

28. The system as recited in claim 25, wherein management component is operable to process the handover requests based, at least in part, on a probability of at least one of alternative macro cell coverage and previous handover rate failure rate by being further operative to:

obtain power information for at least one adjacent cell, the power information corresponding to anticipated macro cell power levels;

determine whether the power information is above a threshold; and

enable handover request blocking if the power information exceeds a threshold.

29. The system as recited in claim 25, wherein the management component is operable to process the handover requests based, at least in part, on a probability of at least one of alternative macro cell coverage and previous handover rate failure rate by being further operative to:

obtain network based information for at least one adjacent cell, the network based information corresponding to handover failure rates;

determine whether the network based information is above a threshold; and

enable handover request blocking if the power information exceeds a threshold.

30. The method as recited in claim 25, wherein the management component is operative to manage handovers between a small cell and a macro cell based, at least in part, on user equipment speed information by being further operative to:

obtain user equipment speed information;

if user equipment speed information is above a speed threshold, determine power information; and

if power information is above a power threshold, cause the generation of a handover request from the small cell to the macro cell.