Serving Gateway Packet Storage for UE Handoff Delay Reduction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In mobile communication systems, handover procedures often result in communication delays due to the transfer of data blocks from a source base station to a target base station, leading to 'late packets' and inefficient use of radio resources.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a method where the serving gateway is informed of upcoming handover preparations early, allowing it to stop forwarding packets to the source relay node, thereby reducing the number of late packets and radio resource consumption, and optimizing data delivery by storing packets at the serving gateway for later delivery to the target base station.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If data blocks are transferred from source base station to target base station during handover, then the UE receives seamless service, but communication delay increases
Solution Approach 1:
The serving gateway is informed of the upcoming handover before it occurs, allowing the gateway to proactively stop forwarding packets to the source relay node and store them instead. This preliminary action prevents the generation of late packets and eliminates the need for post-handover data transfer, thereby reducing communication delay while maintaining seamless service.
2Productivity
If packets are forwarded to source relay node during handover, then data delivery is maintained, but radio resource consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the packet forwarding function from the radio access network path during handover. By having the serving gateway directly store packets and exclude them from being forwarded to the source relay node, the solution removes unnecessary radio resource consumption associated with transmitting packets that would ultimately be late and require retransmission or forwarding after handover.
Solution Approach 2:
The serving gateway acts as an intermediary that intercepts packets destined for the UE during handover. Instead of allowing packets to flow through the source relay node (which would consume radio resources), the gateway stores them and prepares for direct delivery to the target base station, thereby mediating to eliminate wasteful radio resource usage.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A method to facilitate user equipment (UE) handoff within a packet data communication system includes determining, at a source relay node, that the UE is to undergo a handoff from the source relay node to a target entity and sending, by the source relay node, a first request to a network node serving the UE. The sending is performed responsive to the determination that the UE is to undergo the handoff, such that the first request is configured to cause the network gateway node to store packet data addressed to the UE. Further operations include sending, by the target entity, a second request to the network, such that the second request is configured to cause the network to forward the stored packet data to the target entity, and receiving, at the target entity from the network, the stored packet data for wirelessly transmitting to the UE.