Network Slice Handover Urgency Management for Service Continuity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Network slice remapping during user equipment (UE) mobility can lead to service interruptions and delays due to overload conditions in target network nodes, as existing solutions like multi-carrier radio resource sharing and conditional handover schemes face challenges in ensuring seamless service continuity.
Innovation Solution
The proposed solution involves a source network node informing a target network node of handover urgency, allowing it to decide between delaying handover for service continuity or performing it immediately, and improving the conditional handover scheme to support slicing and mobility robustness by using multi-carrier radio resource sharing and dual connectivity with secondary nodes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multi-carrier radio resource sharing is used to ensure service continuity during handover, then service reliability is improved, but handover delay increases
Solution Approach 1:
The source network node performs preliminary actions by identifying suitable target serving cells and preparing handover configurations before the handover is actually executed. The source node sends Handover Request messages to potential target nodes in advance, allowing them to prepare resource allocations and service continuity arrangements before the UE needs to handover, thus reducing the actual handover delay while maintaining service reliability.
2Reliability
If handover is delayed to allow target node preparation, then service continuity is improved, but handover speed deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary handover preparations by having the source network node identify multiple candidate target serving cells and send Handover Request messages to potential target nodes before the actual handover execution. This allows target nodes to prepare resource allocations and service continuity arrangements in advance, so that when handover is triggered, the UE can switch rapidly without waiting for target node preparation, thus resolving the contradiction between service continuity and handover speed.
Solution Approach 2:
The handover mechanism is made dynamic by allowing the source network node to continuously monitor UE measurements and network conditions, and to select from multiple pre-identified candidate target cells. The system can dynamically adjust which target cell to use based on current conditions, enabling fast handover when conditions are favorable while maintaining service continuity through pre-prepared alternatives when conditions require more careful selection.
3Reliability
If conditional handover scheme is implemented, then mobility robustness is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The conditional handover scheme is segmented into distinct functional parts: the source network node performs cell identification and sends Handover Request messages to multiple candidate target nodes; the target nodes independently prepare resource allocations and service continuity arrangements; and the UE executes handover based on pre-configured conditions. This segmentation distributes complexity across different network elements rather than concentrating it in one device, making the overall system more manageable while maintaining mobility robustness.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, devices, apparatuses, and computer readable medium for enhancements on service continuity. The method includes receiving, at a source network node and from a user equipment, UE, being served by the source network node for a service associated with a network slice, a message indicative of a target network node for a handover of the UE from the source network node to the target network node; transmitting a handover request to the target network node, the handover request indicating urgency of the handover for the UE, and the target network node being overloaded for the network slice; and receiving a handover request acknowledgement message from the target network node, the handover request acknowledgement message indicating if multi-carrier radio resource sharing is applicable for supporting the service.