NON-3GPP ACCESS TO 3GPP ACCESS INTER-RAT HANDOVER WITH RESOURCE PREPARATION

摘要

A pre-registration phase (800) and a resource preparation phase (900) reduce latency when a user equipment (UE) (210) hands over from a non-3GPP radio access (220) such as WiMAX to an 3GPP radio access network (230) such as E-UTRAN. During a pre-registration phase (800), a Forward Attachment Function (260) receives a pre-attach request message (833) and creates (860) a 3GPP mobility management context for the UE (210) that is valid for E-UTRAN access. During a resource preparation phase (900), the mobility management context is transferred to a mobility management entity (MME) (240) and radio and transport resources are reserved for the UE (210) at the target E-UTRAN cell (230). When a handover is initiated (910) by either the UE or the non-3GPP network, the time-consuming authentication and authorization procedures that are performed during the process of pre- registration can be skipped. Additionally, radio and transport resources have already been assigned to the UE and thus do not have to be set-up when the handover executes.