Method and apparatus for providing cell re-selection

1. A method comprising:

generating, by a user equipment, a notification message indicating initiation of a coverage area re-selection procedure to operate in a new coverage area from a current coverage area;

determining to transmit the notification message to a current base station serving the current coverage area; and

performing, by the user equipment, the re-selection procedure in response to the transmission of the notification message,

wherein the notification message is triggered based on detection of movement of the user equipment into the new coverage area,

the notification message being sent to the current base station that serves the current coverage area.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving an acknowledgement message to perform the re-selection procedure.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the current base station is configured to release dedicated resources of a transport channel within the current coverage area in response to the notification message, and the coverage area re-selection procedure is temporarily disabled at the user equipment until the release of the dedicated resources.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the notification message is transmitted in a Medium Access Control (MAC)-e header.

5. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code for one or more programs,

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following,

generate a notification message indicating initiation of a coverage area re-selection procedure for a user equipment to operate in a new coverage area from a current coverage area,

determine to transmit the notification message to a current base station serving the current coverage area, and

perform the re-selection procedure in response to the transmission of the notification message,

wherein the apparatus is included in the user equipment, and

wherein the notification message is triggered based on detection of movement of the user equipment into the new coverage area,

the notification message being sent to the current base station that serves the current coverage area.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

receive an acknowledgement message to perform the re-selection procedure.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the current base station is configured to release dedicated resources of a transport channel within the current coverage area in response to the notification message, and the coverage area re-selection procedure is temporarily disabled at the user equipment until the release of the dedicated resources.

8. A method comprising:

receiving, at a current base station serving a current coverage area,

a notification message from a user equipment, the notification message indicating initiation of a coverage area re-selection procedure to operate in a new coverage area from the current coverage area; and

generating, at the current base station, an acknowledgement message to permit executing the re-selection procedure in response to the reception of the notification message,

wherein the notification message is triggered based on detection of movement of the user equipment into the new coverage area.

9. The method according to claim 8 , further comprising:

releasing from the user equipment dedicated resources of a transport channel within the current coverage area in response to the notification message.

10. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:

temporarily disabling the coverage area re-selection procedure because of the existence of the dedicated resources.

11. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the coverage areas are associated with a cellular network, and the transport channel is a high speed random access channel (HS-RACH) or an enhanced dedicated channel (E-DCH).

12. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code for one or more programs,

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following,

receive, at a current base station serving a current coverage area, a notification message from a user equipment, the notification message indicating initiation of a coverage area re-selection procedure for the user equipment to operate in a new coverage area from the current coverage area, and

generate an acknowledgement message to permit executing the re-selection procedure in response to the reception of the notification message, and

wherein the notification message is triggered based on detection of movement of the user equipment into the new coverage area.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the current base station is configured to release from the user equipment dedicated resources of a transport channel within the current coverage area in response to the notification message, and the coverage area re-selection procedure is temporarily disabled because of the existence of the dedicated resources.

14. The method comprising:

determining, by a user equipment, whether a coverage area re-selection state exists;

initiating, by the user equipment, execution of a coverage area re-selection procedure based on the determination that the coverage area re-selection state exists and when a transmission resource is not currently allocated to the user equipment; and

generating, by the user equipment, a notification message indicating the initiation of the coverage area re-selection procedure to operate in a new coverage area from a current coverage area,

wherein the notification message is triggered based on detection of movement of the user equipment into the new coverage area,

the notification message being sent to the current base station that serves the current coverage area.

15. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising:

releasing, by the user equipment, the transmission resource.

16. The method according to claim 15 , further comprising:

executing, by the user equipment, the coverage area re-selection procedure after the release of the transmission resource.

17. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising:

receiving, by the user equipment, an acknowledgement message to perform the re-selection procedure.

18. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the transmission resource is associated with either a high speed random access channel (HS-RACH) or an enhanced dedicated channel (E-DCH).

19. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the coverage area re-selection procedure is temporarily disabled because of the allocation of the transmission resource.

20. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code for one or more programs,

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following,

determine whether a coverage area re-selection state exists for a user equipment,

initiate execution of a coverage area re-selection procedure at the user equipment based on the determination that the coverage area re-selection state exists and when a transmission resource is not currently allocated to the user equipment, and

generate a notification message indicating the initiation of the coverage area re-selection procedure for the user equipment to operate in a new coverage area from a current coverage area,

wherein the notification message is triggered based on detection of movement of the user equipment into the new coverage area,

the notification message being sent to the current base station that serves the current coverage area, and

wherein the apparatus is included in the user equipment.

21. The apparatus according to claim 20 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

release the transmission resource.

22. The apparatus according to claim 21 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

execute the coverage area re-selection procedure after the release of the transmission resource.

23. The apparatus according to claim 20 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to: initiate transmission of the notification message from the user equipment to a current base station serving the current coverage area, and receive an acknowledgement message at the user equipment to perform the re-selection procedure.

24. The apparatus according to claim 20 , wherein the transmission resource is associated with either a high speed random access channel (HS-RACH) or an enhanced dedicated channel (E-DCH).

25. The apparatus according to claim 20 , wherein the coverage area re-selection procedure is temporarily disabled because of the allocation of the transmission resource.