Multi-homed mobile relay

摘要

A mobile relay node having communication sessions with a plurality of wireless mobile device (UEs) and a communication link to a source base station via a first communication link is located within a moving vehicle. As the vehicle moves from the coverage area of the source base station to the coverage area of a target base station, the relay node performs a hand off process that initiates a second communication link with the target while maintaining and continuing to relay communications between the UEs and the source. Once the second communication link is active, the relay node switches UE traffic from the source base station to the target base station over the second communication link, and then releases the first communication link.

主权项

1. A multi-homed mobile relay node handoff method, comprising:
establishing a first communication link between a mobile relay node and a first base station, the mobile relay node fixed to a moving vehicle, and comprising,
attaching the mobile relay node to the first base station, andconfiguring the mobile relay node to include a first cell recognizable to UEs as a first cell of the mobile relay node and a second cell recognizable to UEs as a second cell of the mobile relay node, wherein the first cell of the mobile relay node has a first coverage area at the vehicle and the second cell of the mobile relay node has a second coverage area at the vehicle; establishing a plurality of communication sessions via the first cell between the mobile relay node and a first group of UEs and a plurality of communication sessions via the second cell between the mobile relay node and a second group of UEs, the first and second group of UEs proximate the moving vehicle and moving at a substantially same velocity as the moving vehicle; establishing a second communication link between the mobile relay node and a second base station, comprising, attaching the mobile relay node to the second base station; and performing a hand off of the mobile relay node from the first base station to the second base station when the vehicle moves from a first area to a second area, comprising,
performing a hand off of at least one UE with an established communication session with the first cell from the first cell to the second cell of the mobile relay node.