A communication method, telecommunications system, source node and target node for establishing an X2 connection between the source node and the target node

摘要

There is provided a communication method for establishing a direct connection between a source node and a target node in a telecommunications network, the source node comprising a small cell node or a macro cell node and the target node comprising the other of the small cell node or the macro cell node. The method comprises transmitting a handover request message from the source node to the target node, the handover request message comprising direct connection status information of the source node; determining at the target node if a direct connection with the source node is permitted based on the provided direct connection status information and the current status of the target node; and transmitting a handover response message including handover information and direct connection configuration information from the target node to the source node, if a direct connection between the source node and the target node is permitted.