Method and apparatus for handover

• US 9,521,605 B2
• Filed: 06/11/2015
• Issued: 12/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2014
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Oh, Sung-Min, Kang, Sook-Yang, Park, Hyun-Seo, Park, Ae-Soon
• Primary Examiner(s): Ajayi, Joel
• Application Number:
  US14/737,245
• Publication Number:
  US 20160007261A1
• Time in Patent Office: 551 Days
• Field of Search: 455436-448
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/022 Site diversity; Macro-diversity using two or more spaced independent antennas H04B7/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0408 using two or more beams, i.e. beam diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0617 for beam forming
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0695 using beam selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/088 using beam selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0058 Transmission of hand-off measurement information, e.g. measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/06 Reselecting a communication resource in the serving access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 using measured or perceived quality

Abstract

A method and apparatus for handover is provided. In a network environment in which a plurality of beams are provided within a base station, a terminal measures signal strength of a serving beam and signal strength of a target beam and transmits a measurement report message when a first condition or a second condition is satisfied. The base station determines inter-beam coordinated scheduling when the signal strength of the serving beam and target beam satisfy the first condition, and determines handover between beams when the signal strength of the serving beam and target beam satisfy the second condition. The base station transmits a message for commanding handover to the terminal when the handover between beams is determined. The terminal then stops communicating with the serving beam and performs handover to the target beam.

Claims

1. A method for handover to perform handover between beams by a terminal in a network environment in which a plurality of beams are provided within a base station, the method comprising:

measuring, by a terminal, signal strength of a serving beam and signal strength of a target beam;

transmitting, by a terminal, a first measurement report message to a the base station when the signal strength of the serving beam and the signal strength of the target beam satisfy a first condition;

performing inter-beam coordinated scheduling (IBCS) to transmit and receive data through the serving beam and the target beam when the first condition is satisfied;

transmitting, by a terminal, a second measurement report message to the base station when the signal strength of the serving beam and the signal strength of the target beam satisfy a second condition in a state in which the IBCS is performed;

performing, by a terminal, switching from the serving beam to the target beam when receiving a message commanding handover from the base station; and

informing the base station of handover completion after performing the handover, wherein

the first condition represents that the signal strength of the serving beam is greater than the signal strength of the target beam by a first offset; and

the second condition represents that the signal strength of the target beam is maintained greater than the signal strength of the serving beam by a second offset during a predetermined time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the message commanding handover includes an identifier of the target beam and uplink resource allocation information on the target beam.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the informing of handover completion includes transmitting a handover completion message to the base station through an uplink resource corresponding to the uplink resource allocation information included in the message of commanding handover.

4. A method for handover in a network environment in which a plurality of beams are provided within a base station, the method comprising:

receiving, by a base station, a first measurement report message including information on a target beam that satisfy a first condition from a terminal;

allowing, by the base station, inter-beam coordinated scheduling (IBCS) in which transmitting/receiving data through a serving beam and a target beam for the IBCS is performed, including

designating target beams in which a difference between a reference signal received power (RSRP) the serving beam and a RSRP of each of the target beans is less than a first offset as candidate beams for the IBCS;

determining whether to accept an amount of resources required by the terminal based on a remaining amount of resources minus average resource usage from a total amount of resources for each of the candidate beams; and

approving a candidate beam as the target beam for the IBCS when it is possible to accept the candidate beam;

receiving, by a base station, a second measurement report message representing that the target beam for the IBCS satisfies a second condition from a terminal; and

transmitting, by the base station, a message for commanding handover to the target beam for the IBCS to the terminal when the second condition is satisfied, wherein

the first condition represents that the signal strength of the serving beam is greater than the signal strength of the target beam by a first offset, and

the second condition represents that the signal strength of the target beam is maintained greater than the signal strength of the serving beam by a second offset during a predetermined time.

5. The method of claim 4, comprising

allocating resources for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) of the serving beam and the target beam in the same position.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the message for commanding handover includes an identifier of the target beam and uplink resource allocation information on the target beam,

wherein the method further comprises

receiving a message for representing handover completion of the terminal through an uplink resource corresponding to the uplink resource allocation information.

7. An apparatus for handover to perform handover between beams by a terminal in a network environment in which a plurality of beams are provided within a base station, the apparatus comprising:

a signal strength measuring processer for measuring signal strength of a serving beam and signal strength of a target beam;

a measurement report message transmission determining processer for generating a first measurement report message and transmitting it to the base station when the signal strength of the serving beam and the signal strength of the target beam satisfy a first condition or a second condition;

a handover command receiver for receiving a message commanding handover from the base station; and

a handover performing processer for performing handover from the serving beam to a target beam corresponding to an identifier of a target beam included in the message commanding handover, wherein

the first condition represents that the signal strength of the serving beam is greater than the signal strength of the target beam by a first offset,

the second condition represents that the signal strength of the target beam is maintained greater than the signal strength of the serving beam by a second offset during a predetermined time,

the measurement report message transmission processer generates and transmits a second measurement report message when the second condition is satisfied in a state in which inter-beam coordinated scheduling (IBCS) of transmitting/receiving data through a serving beam and a target beam is performed after transmitting a first measurement report message when the first condition is satisfied.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising

a handover informing processer for transmitting a handover completion message to the base station through an uplink resource corresponding to the uplink resource allocation information included in the message commanding handover.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the handover informing processer transmits the handover completion message when the identifier of the target beam is provided from the handover performing processer.