Method, apparatus and system for handover between multi-carrier cells

• US 8,908,640 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2011
• Issued: 12/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Xiao, Dengkun, He, Yuan, Li, Anjian, Han, Jing, Li, Qing, Wang, Wenjie
• Primary Examiner(s): Abad, Jackie Zuniga
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jangbahadur, Lakeram
• Application Number:
  US13/195,231
• Publication Number:
  US 20110286433A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,226 Days
• Field of Search: 370/331
• US Class Current: 370/331
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/04 Error control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0033 with transfer of context information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/08 Reselecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/12 Wireless traffic scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/20 between access points

Abstract

The present invention relates to the radio communication field and discloses a method, an apparatus, and a system for handover between multi-carrier cells, so that a user equipment (UE) can be handed over to carriers of different cells on multiple target evolved NodeBs (eNBs). The handover method includes: after performing handover request acknowledge, receiving serial numbers (SNs) of data to be transferred and identifier information of target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over sent by a source eNB; and transferring scheduling information to the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over.

Claims

1. A method for handover between multi-carrier cells, comprising:

receiving a measurement report triggered by an event submitted by a user equipment (UE);

determining, according to the measurement report, to hand over the UE to corresponding carriers of different target evolved NodeBs (eNBs); and

sending serial numbers (SNs) of data to be transferred and identifier information of target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over to the different target eNBs or a master target eNB of the different target eNBs;

wherein the sending SNs of data to be transferred and identifier information of the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over to the different target eNBs or a master target eNB of the different target eNBs comprises;

sending the SNs of data to be transferred to the different target eNBs directly or separately, and sending the identifier information of the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over to each different target eNB simultaneously, when a parallel relationship exists between each target eNB, and when the corresponding carriers of the different target eNBs carry the same service;

sending different SNs of data to be transferred and the identifier information of the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over to the different target eNBs according to quality of service (QoS) requirements of different services, when a parallel relationship exists between each target eNB, and when the corresponding carriers of the different target eNBs carry different services; and

sending SNs of data to be transferred and identifier information of slave target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over to a master target eNB, when a master-slave relationship exists between the different target eNBs.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining to hand over the UE to corresponding carriers of different target eNBs according to the measurement report comprises:

obtaining related information about candidate cells of the UE according to the measurement report; and

when the candidate cells are different cells of different eNBs, determining to hand over the UE to corresponding carriers of different target eNBs.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein when the parallel relationship exists between each target eNB, different SNs of data to be transferred are sent to each target eNB.

4. A method of handover between multi-carrier cells, comprising:

receiving serial numbers (SNs) of data to be transferred and identifier information of different target evolved NodeBs (eNBs) of other carriers to which a user equipment (UE) is handed over sent by a source eNB; and

transferring scheduling information to the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over according to the identifier information, or receiving scheduling information sent by the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over, and

wherein the SNs of the data to be transferred that are received by the target eNBs of each carrier to which the UE is handed over are different, and

wherein the transferring scheduling information to the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over according to the identifier information comprises;

sending first uplink allocation and timing advance information to the UE; and

sending scheduling information to the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over, the scheduling information is used for enabling the target eNBs of other carriers to send the second uplink allocation and timing advance information to the UE according to the scheduling information.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein after receiving the SNs of data to be transferred and the identifier information, the method further comprises:

sending the SNs of data to be transferred to the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over according to the identifier information.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the receiving scheduling information sent by the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over comprises:

receiving scheduling information sent by target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over; and

sending uplink allocation and timing advance information to the UE according to the scheduling information.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the scheduling information comprises scheduling rules or scheduling results.

8. A handover apparatus, comprising:

a receiver, configured to receive a measurement report triggered by an event submitted by a user equipment (UE);

a processor, configured to determine, according to the measurement report received by the receiver, to hand over the UE to corresponding carriers of different target evolved NodeBs (eNBs); and

a transmitter, configured to send serial numbers (SNs) of data to be transferred and identifier information of target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over to the different target eNBs or a master target eNB of the different target eNBs;

wherein, the transmitter is specifically configured to;

sending the SNs of data to be transferred to the different target eNBs directly or separately, and sending the identifier information of the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over to each different target eNB simultaneously, when a parallel relationship exists between each target eNB, and when the corresponding carriers of the different target eNBs carry the same service;

sending different SNs of data to be transferred and the identifier information of the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over to the different target eNBs according to quality of service (QoS) requirements of different services, when the parallel relationship exists between each target eNB, and when the corresponding carriers of the different target eNBs carry different services; and

sending SNs of data to be transferred and identifier information of slave target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over to a master target eNB, when a master-slave relationship exists between the different target eNBs.

9. The handover apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor comprises:

an obtaining module, configured to obtain related information about candidate cells of the UE according to the measurement report received by the receiver; and

a judging module, configured to instruct the transmitter to send the SNs of data to be transferred to the different target eNBs when determining that the candidate cells are different cells of the different target eNBs.

10. A handover apparatus, comprising:

a receiver, configured to receive serial numbers (SNs) of data to be transferred and identifier information of target evolved NodeBs (eNBs) of other carriers to which a user equipment (UE) is handed over sent by a source eNB;

a transmitter, configured to transfer scheduling information to the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over according to the identifier information, or to receive scheduling information sent by the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over, and

a first sending unit, configured to send the SNs of data to be transferred to the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over according to the identifier information after the receiving unit receives the SNs of data to be transferred and the identifier information.

11. The handover apparatus of claim 10, wherein:

the handover apparatus further comprises a second sending unit, configured to send uplink allocation and timing advance information to the UE; and

the transferring unit comprises;

a first transferring module, configured to send scheduling information to the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over after the second sending unit sends first uplink allocation and timing advance information to the UE, so that the target eNBs of other carriers can send second uplink allocation and timing advance information to the UE according to the scheduling information;

or

a second transferring module, configured to receive the scheduling information sent by the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over, and after the receiving, instruct the second sending unit to send uplink allocation and timing advance information to the UE according to the scheduling information.

12. A method for handover between multi-carrier cells, comprising:

receiving serial numbers (SNs) of data to be transferred and identifier information of different target evolved NodeBs (eNBs) of other carriers to which a user equipment (UE) is handed over sent by a source eNB; and

transferring scheduling information to the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over according to the identifier information, or receiving scheduling information sent by the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over wherein the scheduling information comprises scheduling rules or scheduling results, and

wherein the transferring scheduling information to the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over according to the identifier information comprises;

sending first uplink allocation and timing advance information to the UE; and

sending scheduling information to the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over, the scheduling information is used for enabling the target eNBs of other carriers to send the second uplink allocation and timing advance information to the UE according to the scheduling information.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein after receiving the SNs of data to be transferred and the identifier information, the method further comprises:

sending the SNs of data to be transferred to the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over according to the identifier information.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the receiving scheduling information sent by the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over comprises:

receiving scheduling information sent by target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over; and

sending uplink allocation and timing advance information to the UE according to the scheduling information.

15. A handover apparatus, comprising:

a receiver, configured to receive serial numbers (SNs) of data to be transferred and identifier information of different target evolved NodeBs (eNBs) of other carriers to which a user equipment (UE) is handed over sent by a source eNB; and

a transmitter, configured to transfer scheduling information to the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over according to the identifier information, or to receive scheduling information sent by the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over;

wherein;

the handover apparatus further comprises a second sending unit, configured to send uplink allocation and timing advance information to the UE; and

the transferring unit comprises;

a first transferring module, configured to send scheduling information to the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over after the second sending unit sends first uplink allocation and timing advance information to the UE, so that the target eNBs of other carriers can send second uplink allocation and timing advance information to the UE according to the scheduling information;

or

a second transferring module, configured to receive the scheduling information sent by the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over, and after the receiving, instruct the second sending unit to send uplink allocation and timing advance information to the UE according to the scheduling information, and

wherein the transferring scheduling information to the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over according to the identifier information comprises;

sending first uplink allocation and timing advance information to the UE; and

sending scheduling information to the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over, the scheduling information is used for enabling the target eNBs of other carriers to send the second uplink allocation and timing advance information to the UE according to the scheduling information.