Method of selecting target network for hand-over and method thereof

• US 8,730,908 B2
• Filed: 05/07/2009
• Issued: 05/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Jee, Junghoon, Jung, Heeyoung, Lee, Hyeong-Ho, Kim, Eunah, Jeon, Hong-Seok
• Primary Examiner(s): BLANTON, JOHN D
• Application Number:
  US12/437,182
• Publication Number:
  US 20090219894A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,839 Days
• Field of Search: 370/332, 370/331, 370/401, 370/329, 455/436, 455/437, 455/432
• US Class Current: 370/331
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0061 of neighbour cell information
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/22 for handling the traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/26 by agreed or negotiated communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/362 Conditional handover
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/365 by manual user interaction
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/38 by fixed network equipment

Abstract

A conventional handover method is performed in units of base stations, so that there is a problem in that a large amount of power for handover is consumed and implementation cost is high.

Through dedicated protocol message exchanges between a user equipment and a network or between networks, resource availability of candidate networks is checked in advance, a handover target network is selected from among the candidate networks according to a result of checking, and the selected target network is designated as a network to which the user equipment is handed over.

Claims

1. A method of supporting a handover of a terminal in a serving point of service (PoS), the method comprising:

receiving a first query on resources of candidate networks from the terminal;

transmitting second queries on the resources of the candidate networks to PoSs of the candidate networks;

receiving responses to the second queries from the PoSs of the candidate networks;

transmitting a response to the first query to the terminal;

receiving a request for a handover commitment toward a target network from the terminal, the target network being selected from among the candidate networks; and

notifying a handover of the terminal to a PoS of the target network,

wherein information on neighboring networks including the candidate networks is obtained, at the terminal, by requesting the information to a network information server and receiving a response to the request for the information from the network information server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the target network is selected by the terminal based on the resources of the candidate networks.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a response to said handover notification from the PoS of the target network; and

transmitting a response to the request for the handover commitment to the terminal.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising exchanging information on handover completion with the PoS of the target network after the handover is completed.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein exchanging the information on the handover completion is performed after the terminal notifies the handover completion to the PoS of the target network.

6. A method of performing a handover in a terminal, the method comprising:

requesting information on neighboring networks including candidate networks to a network information server;

receiving a response to the request for the information from the network information server;

transmitting a query on resources of the candidate networks to a serving point of service (PoS);

receiving a response to the query from the serving PoS;

transmitting a request for a handover commitment toward a target network to the serving PoS, the target network being selected from among the candidate networks;

receiving a response to the request from the serving PoS;

notifying a handover completion to a PoS of the target network; and

receiving a response to said handover notification from the PoS of the target network.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising selecting the target network based on the resources of the candidate networks.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein receiving the response to the query is performed after the serving PoS transmits a query on the resources of the candidate networks to PoSs of the candidate networks in accordance with the query from the terminal and then receives responses from the PoSs of the candidate networks.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the serving PoS notifies a handover of the terminal to the PoS of the target network in accordance with the request for the handover commitment, and then receives a response to said handover notification from the PoS of the target network.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the serving PoS exchanges information on the handover completion with the target network in accordance with said handover completion notification.

11. A method of supporting a handover of a terminal in a serving point of service (PoS), the method comprising:

transmitting a handover intention query to the terminal;

receiving a response to the handover intention query from the terminal;

transmitting network information queries on resources of candidate networks to PoSs of the candidate networks, in accordance with the response to the handover intention query;

receiving responses to the network information queries from the PoSs of the candidate networks;

requesting a handover commitment toward a target network to the terminal, the target network being selected from among the candidate networks; and

receiving a response to said request for the handover commitment from the terminal.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising selecting the target network based on the resources of the candidate networks.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

notifying a handover of the terminal to the PoS of the target network after receiving the responses to the network information queries; and

receiving a response to said handover notification from the PoS of the target network.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising

exchanging information on the handover completion with the PoS of the target network after the handover is completed.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

requesting information on neighboring networks including the candidate networks to a network information server; and

receiving a response to said request for the information from the network information server.

16. A method of performing a handover in a terminal, the method comprising:

receiving a query on a handover intent from a serving point of service (PoS);

transmitting a response to the query to the serving PoS;

receiving a request for a handover commitment toward target network from the serving PoS; and

transmitting a response to the request to the serving PoS,

wherein the target network is selected from among candidate networks after the serving PoS transmits queries on resources of the candidate networks to PoSs of the candidate networks and then receives responses to the queries.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the target network is selected by the serving PoS based on the resources of the candidate networks.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the serving PoS notifies a handover of the terminal to the PoS of the target network after receiving the response to the queries, and then receives a response to said handover notification from the PoS of the target network.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the serving PoS exchanges information on a handover completion with the PoS of the target network after the handover is completed.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the serving PoS requests information on neighboring networks including the candidate networks to a network information server, and then receives a response to said request for the information from the network information server.