Method for prioritizing handover targets for scanning by a mobile terminal in a wireless network

摘要

A method for prioritizing handover targets for scanning by a mobile terminal, MS (6), in a wireless network (1) having a plurality of network elements (2 to 5), comprises a network element (2) receiving a signal from an MS (6) for which it is the serving network element and the network element detecting the direction from which it receives the signal from the MS. For the detected direction, the network element obtains, from a data store (2B) associated with the network element (2), probabilities of successful handover to respective different neighboring network elements. The network element (2) uses the probabilities in prioritizing scanning order of neighboring network elements and sends information about the prioritized scanning order to the MS (6). The network may be a WiMAX network in which the network elements are base stations.

主权项

1. A method for prioritizing handover targets for scanning by a mobile terminal in a wireless network having a plurality of network elements, the method comprising:
a network element receiving a signal from a mobile terminal for which it is a serving network element; the network element obtaining a direction from which it receives the signal from the mobile terminal via a direction finder; for said direction, the network element obtaining, from a data store associated with the network element, probabilities of successful handover to respective different neighboring network elements; the network element using the probabilities in prioritizing scanning order of neighboring network elements; and the network element sending information about the prioritized scanning order to the mobile terminal, wherein data stored in the data store includes an n-tuple (mobile terminal identification (ID), α, φ, .t SCN_RQ), where the mobile terminal ID identifies the mobile terminal, angle α is azimuth, φ is elevation and .t SCN RQ is a time the scanning request is sent by the mobile terminal.