Multi-stage handover

1. A method for enabling a handover decision, comprising:

configuring a UE with a first offset for a first cell and a second offset for the first cell, the second offset greater than the first offset;

instructing the UE to enter a handover decision state upon receiving a first measurement report from a UE indicating that a neighbor cell has a better received signal strength than the serving cell by the first offset;

instructing the UE to send periodic measurement reports with signal strength of the serving cell and the neighbor cell;

delaying handover decision by remaining in the handover decision state until receiving a second measurement report from the UE;

instructing the UE to hand over to the neighbor cell when the neighbor cell has a better received signal strength than the serving cell by the second offset; and

configuring the UE to accelerate handover from a macro cell to a small cell by using a small offset enabling traffic offload, and to reduce handover from a small cell to a macro cell by using a large offset thereby providing improvements in handover performance based in part on cell type.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising configuring the UE with a first hysteresis and a second hysteresis.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising configuring the UE with a per-cell first offset and a per-cell second offset.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising instructing a second UE to exit the handover decision state when the second measurement report indicates that the neighbor cell no longer has a better received signal strength than the serving cell by the first offset.

5. A method for enabling a handover decision, comprising:

configuring a UE with a first offset for a first cell and a second offset for the first cell, the second offset greater than the first offset;

instructing the UE to enter a handover decision state upon receiving a first measurement report from a UE indicating that a neighbor cell has a better received signal strength than the serving cell by the first offset;

instructing the UE to send periodic measurement reports with signal strength of the serving cell and the neighbor cell;

delaying handover decision by remaining in the handover decision state until receiving a second measurement report from the UE;

instructing the UE to exit the handover decision state when the second measurement report indicates that the neighbor cell no longer has a better received signal strength than the serving cell by the first offset; and

configuring the UE to accelerate handover from a macro cell to a small cell by using a small offset enabling traffic offload, and to reduce handover from a small cell to a macro cell by using a large offset thereby providing improvements in handover performance based in part on cell type.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising configuring the UE with a first hysteresis and a second hysteresis.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising configuring the UE with a per-cell first offset and a per-cell second offset.

8. The method of claim 5 , further comprising instructing a second UE to hand over to the neighbor cell when the neighbor cell has a better received signal strength than the serving cell than the second offset.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored therein a set of instructions which, when executed by a computer-based system, cause the computer-based system to:

configure a user equipment (UE) with a first offset for a first cell and a second offset for the first cell, the second offset greater than the first offset;

instruct the UE to enter a handover decision state upon receiving a first measurement report from a UE indicating that a neighbor cell has a better received signal strength than the serving cell by the first offset;

instruct the UE to send periodic measurement reports with signal strength of the serving cell and the neighbor cell;

delay handover decision by remaining in the handover decision state until receiving a second measurement report from the UE; instruct the UE to hand over to the neighbor cell when the neighbor cell has a better received signal strength than the serving cell than the second offset;

instruct the UE to exit the handover decision state when the second measurement report indicates that the neighbor cell no longer has a better received signal strength than the serving cell by the first offset; and

configure the UE to accelerate handover from a macro cell to a small cell by using a small offset enabling traffic offload, and to reduce handover from a small cell to a macro cell by using a large offset thereby providing improvements in handover performance based in part on cell type.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , the instructions further comprising configuring the UE with a first hysteresis and a second hysteresis.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , the instructions further comprising configuring the UE with a per-cell first offset and a per-cell second offset.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , the instructions further comprising instructing a second UE to hand over to the neighbor cell when the neighbor cell has a better received signal strength than the serving cell than the second offset, or to hand over to the neighbor cell when the neighbor cell has a better received signal strength than the serving cell than the second offset.