Handover Notification API for Inter-RAT Service Continuity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wireless communication networks fail to provide seamless and uninterrupted service continuity during handovers between access networks due to lack of awareness at higher layers, leading to degraded service quality for user equipment devices.
Innovation Solution
Implementing an extended handover notification mechanism that utilizes application programming interfaces (APIs) within the core network to detect handovers and issue service update messages, incorporating information indicators such as time, location, and type of handover, to facilitate continuous connectivity and optimize higher layer services.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If services are optimized for a given radio access technology (RAT), then service quality within that RAT is improved, but service continuity during inter-RAT handovers deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a handover notification mechanism as an intermediary between the radio access network and higher layer services. This mechanism includes a handover notification message that carries handover event information (source RAT, target RAT, handover time) from the access network to application functions, enabling services to adapt to handovers without being RAT-specific. The intermediary layer translates RAT-specific handover events into generic service continuity actions.
2Reliability
If handover notification services are implemented in the core network, then service continuity during handovers is improved, but network complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the handover notification functionality into distinct modular components: a handover notification message structure, an application function for processing notifications, and specific service implementations. This segmentation allows the complex handover management to be divided into manageable, independent modules that can be implemented and maintained separately, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining service continuity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by establishing handover notification subscriptions and preparing service adaptation logic before handovers occur. Application functions subscribe to handover notification events in advance, and the notification mechanism is pre-configured to detect and report handover events, enabling proactive service continuity management rather than reactive responses.
3Reliability
If higher layer services are made aware of handovers, then service quality during handovers is improved, but information processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential handover information needed for service continuity from the complete handover event data. The handover notification message contains specifically selected parameters (source RAT, target RAT, handover time) that are sufficient for higher layer services to maintain continuity, excluding unnecessary detailed information. This extraction reduces information processing requirements while maintaining service quality.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system for detecting, at a network function of a core network (CN), a handover of a connection between a user equipment (UE) device and the CN from a first access network (AN) to a second AN; issuing, to an application programming interface (API) of the CN, a handover notification associated with the detected handover; determining, at the API, one or more service update messages to another one or more network functions of the CN, each of the one or more service update messages relating to a respective one or more application features at the UE device and/or the CN; and issuing, at the API, the determined one or more service update messages to the other one or more network functions to facilitate the respective one or more application features at the UE device and/or the CN in correspondence with the detected handover.