Neighbor Cell Group Activation for Wireless Handover Latency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing handover procedures in wireless communications, particularly those based on RRC signaling, suffer from high latency, often taking hundreds of milliseconds, which can impact network efficiency and user experience.
Innovation Solution
The proposed solution involves encoding and transmitting messages to user equipment (UE) that include neighbor cell configuration information and indications for activating or deactivating neighbor cell groups, using L1/L2 commands to reduce handover latency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If RRC signaling based handover procedure is used, then measurement configuration can be fully configured, but handover latency increases to hundreds of milliseconds
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the neighbor cell configuration into multiple groups (first neighbor cell group and second neighbor cell group) with different activation states. This allows the UE to maintain essential measurement configurations while reducing the immediate processing burden during handover, thereby decreasing latency without compromising complete configuration availability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-configuring neighbor cell groups with different activation states before handover occurs. The network element configures multiple neighbor cell groups in advance, allowing the UE to quickly activate only the necessary groups during handover, thus reducing handover latency while maintaining configuration completeness.
2Loss of time
If L1/L2 commands are used for handover, then handover latency is reduced to milliseconds, but measurement configuration update complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential handover information from complex RRC signaling and encapsulates it in compact L1/L2 commands. By separating critical handover parameters from full measurement configurations, the system achieves low-latency handover through simplified commands while maintaining the ability to update measurements efficiently.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces dynamic activation/deactivation mechanisms for neighbor cell groups based on UE capability and network conditions. The network element can dynamically adjust which neighbor cell groups are active during handover, allowing flexible adaptation to different scenarios and reducing configuration update complexity by activating only necessary groups.
3Measurement precision
If multiple neighbor cell groups are configured, then measurement coverage is improved, but UE processing burden increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by differentiating neighbor cell groups based on their activation states and associated characteristics. Different neighbor cell groups can have different measurement requirements and activation conditions, allowing the UE to process only the relevant groups for each specific handover scenario, thereby reducing overall processing burden while maintaining comprehensive measurement coverage when needed.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for a network element is provided. The method comprises: encoding a message for transmission to a user equipment (UE) including neighbor cell configuration information that includes a list of a plurality of neighbor cell groups, wherein each of the plurality of neighbor cell groups is associated with a specific cell; and transmitting the message to the UE.