Cell handover method and device

• US 9,749,913 B2
• Filed: 10/15/2015
• Issued: 08/29/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2013
• 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: Li, Mingchao, Xiong, Xin, Cao, Zhenzhen
• Primary Examiner(s): PATEL, MAHENDRA R
• Application Number:
  US14/884,360
• Publication Number:
  US 20160037398A1
• Time in Patent Office: 684 Days
• Field of Search: 455436, 375375, 375328
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0058 Transmission of hand-off measurement information, e.g. measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0069 in case of dual connectivity, e.g. decoupled uplink/downlink
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0072 of resource information of target access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/04 Reselecting a cell layer in multi-layered cells
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/27 Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a cell handover method and a device. so that the target eNB uses a current serving small node as a user plane serving node after UE is handed over and uses the target eNB as a control plane serving node after the UE is handed over; receiving a handover request acknowledgment sent by the target eNB; and sending offloading configuration information of the current serving small node to the current serving small node, and sending RRC reconfiguration information of the UE to the UE, so that offloading configuration is performed separately by the current serving small node and the UE. This avoids a problem that in a cell handover process, a transmission resource required for transmission increases and a delay is relatively great because the current serving small node forwards a large amount of data to the target eNB.

Claims

1. A cell handover method, comprising:

sending, by a source eNB, a handover request to a target eNB, wherein the handover request comprises a context of a current serving small node and a context of user equipment (UE);

receiving, by the source eNB, a handover request acknowledgment sent by the target eNB, wherein the handover request acknowledgment comprises radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration information of the UE and offloading configuration information of the current serving small node;

sending, by the source eNB, the offloading configuration information of the current serving small node to the current serving small node to maintain transmission of user plane data in the current serving small node; and

sending, by the source eNB, the RRC reconfiguration information of the UE to the UE.

2. The method according to claim 1, before the sending a handover request to a target eNB, comprising:

determining, according to a measurement report of the UE and radio resource management (RRM) information, one eNB from a pre-obtained small node sharing list as the target eNB to which the UE is to be handed over, wherein the small node sharing list comprises identities IDs of multiple eNBs that share the current serving small node;

or

determining, according to the measurement report of the UE and the RRM information, one eNB as the target eNB to which the UE is to be handed over.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the context of the current serving small node comprises:

an identity of the current serving small node.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the context of the current serving small node further comprises:

a use frequency and system information that are of the current serving small node, and a security algorithm supported by the current serving small node.

5. A cell handover method, comprising:

receiving, by a target eNB, a handover request sent by a source eNB, wherein the handover request comprises a context of a current serving small node and a context of user equipment (UE);

generating, by the target eNB, radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration information of the UE and offloading configuration information of the current serving small node to maintain transmission of user plane data in the current serving small node; and

sending, by the target eNB, to the source eNB, a handover request acknowledgment that carries the RRC reconfiguration information of the UE and the offloading configuration information of the current serving small node.

6. The method according to claim 5, after the sending, to the source eNB, a handover request acknowledgment that carries the RRC reconfiguration information of the UE and the offloading configuration information of the current serving small node, further comprising:

receiving an uplink synchronization message that is sent by the UE after the UE completes offloading configuration according to the RRC reconfiguration information of the UE, and delivering a timing advance TA and an uplink grant to the UE; and

receiving an offloading configuration success message sent by the UE based on the TA and the uplink grant.

7. The method according to claim 6, after the receiving an offloading configuration success message sent by the UE based on the TA and the uplink grant, further comprising:

sending the UE offloading configuration success indication to the current serving small node, so that the current serving small node confirms that the UE completes the offloading configuration.

8. An eNB, comprising:

a transmitter, configured to send a handover request to a target eNB, wherein the handover request comprises a context of a current serving small node and a context of user equipment (UE); and

a receiver, configured to receive a handover request acknowledgment sent by the target eNB, wherein the handover request acknowledgment comprises radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration information of the UE and offloading configuration information of the current serving small node;

wherein

the transmitter is further configured to;

send the offloading configuration information of the current serving small node to the current serving small node to maintain transmission of user plane data in the current serving small node, and send the RRC reconfiguration information of the UE to the UE.

9. The eNB according to claim 8, further comprising:

a processor, configured to;

determine, according to a measurement report of the UE and radio resource management (RRM) information, one eNB from a pre-obtained small node sharing list as the target eNB to which the UE is to be handed over, wherein the small node sharing list comprises identities IDs of multiple eNBs that share the current serving small node;

or configured to determine, according to the measurement report of the UE and the RRM information, one eNB as the target eNB to which the UE is to be handed over.

10. The eNB according to claim 8, wherein the context of the current serving small node comprises:

an identity of the current serving small node.

11. An eNB, comprising:

a receiver, configured to receive a handover request sent by a source eNB, wherein the handover request comprises a context of a current serving small node and a context of user equipment (UE);

a processor, configured to;

generate radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration information of the UE and offloading configuration information of the current serving small node to maintain transmission of user plane data in the current serving small node; and

a transmitter, configured to send, to the source eNB, a handover request acknowledgment that carries the RRC reconfiguration information of the UE and the offloading configuration information of the current serving small node.

12. The eNB according to claim 11, wherein the receiver is further configured to receive an uplink synchronization message that is sent by the UE after the UE completes offloading configuration according to the RRC reconfiguration information of the UE;

and the transmitter is further configured to deliver a timing advance TA and an uplink grant to the UE; and

the receiver is further configured to receive an offloading configuration success message sent by the UE based on the TA and the uplink grant.