Handover of wireless connections

Abstract

A connection between a communications terminal (1) and a communications network is arranged such that on detection of imminent (341,352) degradation or loss of such connection, the utilisation of the connection is maximised in advance of such degradation. The network temporarily reallocates the maximum bandwidth that the terminal is capable of using to that terminal (1), which may result in a small temporary degradation of the bandwidth available to other terminals (33), and the terminal (1) downloads the data most likely to be required next to a cache (352) (in the case of specific web pages, identified by recent accession, bookmarks, or hyperlinks from the page currently being viewed), or a buffer (if the data is being streamed) using this extra bandwidth made available. Streamed data may be accelerated by omitting error correction data, colour difference data or other elements in order to maximise the duration of the data that can be placed in the buffer in the time available. Warning of the impending impairment (30) may be given by degrading the perceived quality of the output in advance of the actual impairment, thereby giving the user the opportunity to take any action possible to reverse or delay the actual impairment.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to the field of wireless connection switching, in particular to the field of data connection using multiple heterogeneous links. The IEEE 802.21 standard describes a protocol that supports handover between multiple heterogeneous access technologies, including wireless networks and fixed networks such as Ethernet, based on the use of various triggers to help decide when to implement the handover. Predictive triggers provide advance warning about signal loss, including information about the likelihood that the signal is being lost. The connection manager uses this information to establish a connection to another suitable network before breaking (make-before-breakconnection). Background technique [0002] A typical handover system is described in International Patent Specification WO 0176162 (Ericsson), where a user equipment makes a handover decision based on a trigger of the signal quality of the network on which the user equipmen...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Such a loss of quality may inconvenience the user, making it difficult or even impossible for him to continue the task he was working on

There are also cases where it is not switchable and the connection is completely lost

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