Patent · US Expired

Method and network element for controlling handover

US7197318B2 · kind B2 · utility

29Cited by
8References
23Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 26, 2001
Grant dateMar 27, 2007
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 14, 2021

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04W36/22
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling a connection transfer in a cellular network having at least two systems, such as a GSM system and a WCDMA system. Based on a load determination, a service-based inter-system or inter-frequency handover of the connection to another system or to another carrier of the same system is initiated if the determined is below a threshold and service priorities are indicating it. If it exceeds the threshold, an additional load-based inter-system or inter-frequency handover can be initiated. If the load of the target cell is not known, a load estimation based on a learning process can be used to derive a probability of success of an interfrequency or inter-system handover, which may be used for deciding on the initiation of the inter-system handover. The learning process may be performed by evaluating preceding interfrequency or inter-system handovers to the target cell or preceding interfrequency or inter-system handovers from the target cell. Thereby, users can be shared between different radio access technologies or systems or between different carriers of one system to thereby improve network capacity and quality of s…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.