Wireless Handover Candidate Cell Selection for Zero Interruption

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing handover procedures in wireless communications systems suffer from high handover failure rates, particularly when terminals move fast or are obstructed, leading to disrupted data communication, especially in 5G high frequency systems.

Innovation Solution

A communication method involving a first network device identifying candidate target cells and sending configuration information to terminals to facilitate seamless handovers, including valid times and priorities, and coordinating with second network devices to allocate resources and context, thereby enhancing handover success rates.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If traditional handover procedure is used, then handover decision can be made by source base station, but handover failure rate increases under fast movement or obstruction conditions

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvehandover success rateVSAvoidhandover procedure complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by having the terminal perform measurements and determine candidate target cells in advance before actual handover execution. The terminal pre-evaluates multiple neighboring cells based on measurement configuration information, preparing a list of potential target cells with their characteristics. This advance preparation enables the terminal to quickly select an appropriate target cell when handover is needed, reducing handover failure rate especially under fast movement or obstruction conditions without significantly increasing overall procedure complexity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Reliability

If terminal performs measurement and determines target cell independently, then handover reliability improves, but measurement and decision time increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvehandover success rateVSAvoidhandover decision time
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The terminal performs measurements and evaluates candidate target cells in advance during normal operation, storing measurement configuration information and candidate cell lists. When handover becomes necessary, the terminal can quickly reference pre-collected data to make rapid decisions, reducing real-time decision time while maintaining high reliability through thorough pre-evaluation of multiple cells.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The source base station receives measurement reports from the terminal and uses this feedback to make informed handover decisions. The base station adjusts measurement configuration information based on terminal status and network conditions, creating a feedback loop that optimizes both reliability and decision time by focusing measurements on most relevant cells rather than all possible cells.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

3Reliability

If multiple candidate target cells are evaluated, then handover quality improves, but processing complexity at terminal increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvehandover qualityVSAvoidterminal processing complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The terminal pre-evaluates multiple neighboring cells and stores their measurement characteristics in advance. When handover is needed, the terminal retrieves pre-processed candidate cell information rather than performing comprehensive measurements from scratch. This preliminary action enables evaluation of multiple cells for high-quality handover decisions while keeping real-time processing complexity manageable by leveraging pre-computed data.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentEP4109971B1Zero millisecond interruption during handover
Publication Date: 2025.10.29 HUAWEI TECH CO LTD
  • EP4109971B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP4109971B1 patent drawingFigure 3~4
  • EP4109971B1 patent drawingFigure 5~6

AI summary

This application provides a communication method, a network device, and a terminal. The communication method includes: determining, by a first network device, at least one candidate target cell and first configuration information, where the first configuration information is used to trigger a terminal to determine one of the at least one candidate target cell as a to-be-handed-over-to cell, and the first network device is a network device to which a serving cell currently accessed by the terminal belongs; and sending, by the first network device, a first message to the terminal, where the first message includes first cell indication information and the first configuration information, and the first cell indication information is used to indicate the at least one candidate target cell. The communication method, the network device, and the terminal provided in this application can increase a handover success rate of a terminal, thereby improving communication quality of the terminal.