Base Station Inter-RAT Handover via UE Capability Extraction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Base stations face challenges in successfully handing over user equipment (UE) connections due to a lack of knowledge about the UE's inter-radio access technology capabilities, leading to failed handovers when attempting to transfer the UE to unsupported radio access technologies.
Innovation Solution
A method where a base station requests and receives a New Radio capability information element from the UE, which indicates supported core networks, allowing the base station to generate a measurement configuration and initiate a handover to a suitable network based on the UE's capabilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If the base station performs handover without knowing UE inter-RAT capabilities, then handover speed is improved, but handover reliability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The base station performs preliminary actions by requesting and obtaining UE capability information (including inter-RAT capabilities) before initiating the handover process. This allows the base station to determine appropriate measurement configurations and handover parameters in advance, ensuring both speed and reliability of the handover execution.
2Reliability
If the base station requests and processes UE capability information, then handover reliability is improved, but signaling overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The UE capability information request and response mechanism is designed to serve multiple functions simultaneously: it provides inter-RAT capabilities for handover reliability, supplies measurement configuration parameters, and enables network optimization. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate signaling messages, thereby limiting the increase in signaling overhead while maintaining improved handover reliability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the base station obtains detailed UE capabilities, then network optimization is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the necessary inter-RAT capability information from the complete UE capability set that is already available in the UE. By selectively obtaining specific capability parameters needed for handover decisions rather than processing all UE capabilities, the network achieves improved optimization while minimizing the complexity burden on the UE device.
Data Source
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AI summary
Techniques and apparatuses are described for managing inter-radio access technology capabilities of a user equipment. A base station (121) receives a New Radio capability information element (500) that indicates one or more core networks supported by the user equipment (110). Based on the New Radio capability information element, the base station generates a measurement configuration and sends measurement configuration to the user equipment (1010). Afterwards, the base station receives one or more measurement results based on the measurement configuration (1030). The base station then determines a handover type for the user equipment (1105, 1205, 1305), and initiates the handover based on the determined handover type (1110, 1210, 1310).