Requesting MAC context information from neighbor base stations

• US 8,379,596 B2
• Filed: 07/11/2007
• Issued: 02/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Lee, Hyunjeong Hannah
• Primary Examiner(s): Ajibade Akonai, Olumide T
• Application Number:
  US11/776,146
• Publication Number:
  US 20090016297A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,050 Days
• Field of Search: 455436-444, 370/328, 370331-333
• US Class Current: 370/331
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/02 Buffering or recovering information during reselection ; Modification of the traffic flow during hand-off

Abstract

A technique to reduce the service disruption time of a mobile station (MS) when the MS performs a hard handover (HHO) is provided. An MS receives MAC context information that is necessary to connect to the target base station (BS) through the serving BS during the HHO preparation time instead of HHO execution time. The HHO preparation phase refers to the stage where a handover is initiated but the MS is still connected with the current serving BS. On the other hand, once the HHO execution begins, the MS must disconnect from the serving BS in order to establish the communication with the target BS.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

requesting a current base station to provide a mobile station with control context information for a neighbor base station prior to the mobile station disconnecting from a current base station and prior to handover of the mobile station to the neighbor base station, said context information including at least one of supported duplex mode, protocol data unit construction method, transmission power capability, modulator/demodulator configuration, and authorization policy.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising providing the medium access control context information of the neighbor base station to the mobile station with a request for a handover.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising providing the medium access control context information of the neighbor base station to the mobile station with a response to a request for a handover.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising requesting additional medium access control context information for an alternate neighbor base station for the mobile station prior to the mobile station disconnecting from the current base station.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, further comprising providing the medium access control context information for the neighbor base station and the additional medium access control context information for the alternate neighbor base station to the mobile station with a request for a handover.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising upon selection and connection to the neighbor base station or the alternate neighbor base station by the mobile station, receiving a handover completion notification.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprising upon receiving the handover completion notification, sending notification to release the resources of a non-selected neighbor base station.

8. The method as recited in claim 4, further comprising providing the medium access control context information for the neighbor base station and the additional medium access control context information for the alternate neighbor base station to the mobile station with a response to a request for a handover.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the mobile station and the current base station communicate wirelessly.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the medium access control context information includes connection identifiers for a connection between the mobile station and the neighbor base station.

11. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having machine executable instructions for performing a method, the method comprising:

requesting a current base station to provide a mobile station with control context information for a neighbor base station prior to the mobile station disconnecting from a current base station and prior to handover of the mobile station to the neighbor base station, said context information including at least one of supported duplex mode, protocol data unit construction method, transmission power capability, modulator/demodulator configuration, and authorization policy.

12. The machine-readable medium as recited in claim 11, the method further comprising providing the medium access control context information of the neighbor base station to the mobile station with a request for a handover.

13. The machine-readable medium as recited in claim 11, the method further comprising providing the medium access control context information of the neighbor base station to the mobile station with a response to a request for a handover.

14. The machine-readable medium as recited in claim 11, the method further comprising requesting additional medium access control context information for an alternate neighbor base station for the mobile station prior to the mobile station disconnecting from the current base station.

15. The machine-readable medium as recited in claim 14, the method further comprising providing the medium access control context information for the neighbor base station and the additional medium access control context information for the alternate neighbor base station to the mobile station with a request for a handover.

16. The machine-readable medium as recited in claim 15, the method further comprising upon selection and connection to the neighbor base station or the alternate neighbor base station by the mobile station, receiving a handover completion notification.

17. The machine-readable medium as recited in claim 16, the method further comprising upon receiving the handover completion notification, sending notification to release the resources of a non-selected neighbor base station.

18. The machine-readable medium as recited in claim 14, the method further comprising providing the medium access control context information for the neighbor base station and the additional medium access control context information for the alternate neighbor base station to the mobile station with a response to a request for a handover.

19. The machine-readable medium as recited in claim 11, wherein the medium access control context information includes connection identifiers for a connection between the mobile station and the neighbor base station.