Cell handover with minimum mobility interruption

1. A method for a user equipment (UE) for performing a handover procedure with minimum mobility interruption, the method comprising:

receiving, at the UE, a reconfiguration message having an indicator for performing a dual-connectivity based (DC-based) handover procedure;

performing the DC-based handover procedure without reestablishing a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entity of the UE during the DC-based handover procedure, wherein the PDCP entity maintains a plurality of security keys to decipher PDCP packets received from at least one of a source base station and a target base station while the UE is transitioning from the source base station to the target base station, wherein performing the DC-based handover procedure comprises:

applying first and second security keys to the PDCP packets received, respectively, from the source and target base stations using additional network (NW) assistance information, and

wherein the additional NW assistance information comprises an end-marker PDCP control packet data unit (PDU), the end-marker indicating that the last PDCP packet that uses the first security key to be deciphered has been delivered.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein deciphering the PDCP packets comprises applying a first security key of the plurality of security keys maintained by the PDCP entity to a first subset of the PDCP packets that is received from the source base station and applying a second security key of the plurality of security keys to a second subset of the PDCP packets that is received from the target base station.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising reporting a handover procedure failure to the source base station when the DC-based handover procedure is not performed successfully.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the DC-based handover procedure further comprises:

adding the target base station as a secondary node (SN) for the source base station that is acting as a master node (MN), and

reconfiguring the SN to become a new MN.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising transitioning to a dual connectivity mode after receiving the reconfiguration message to receive the PDCP packets from at least one of the MN and the SN.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein, before receiving the reconfiguration message, the UE is in a dual connectivity mode with the source base station acting as a master node (MN) and the target base station acting as a secondary node (SN), the method further comprising, after receiving the reconfiguration message, reconfiguring the SN to become a new MN.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the DC-based handover procedure comprises relocating the PDCP entity from the source base station to the target base station instead of reestablishing the PDCP entity during the handover procedure.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reconfiguration message includes configuration data for configuring the UE to establish signaling radio bearer type 1 (SRB1) and SRB2 with the target base station.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the DC-based handover procedure comprises performing the DC-based handover procedure based on a change of bearer type for each radio bearer.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, before receiving the reconfiguration message having the indicator, sending out a message that indicates the UE's capability of performing the DC-based handover procedure.

11. A user equipment (UE), comprising:

one or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions for performing a handover procedure with minimum mobility interruption embodied thereon; and

at least one processor coupled to the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, and configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

receive, at the UE, a reconfiguration message having an indicator for performing a dual-connectivity based (DC-based) handover procedure; and

perform the DC-based handover procedure without reestablishing a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entity of the UE during the DC-based handover procedure, wherein the PDCP entity maintains a plurality of security keys to decipher PDCP packets received from at least one of a source base station and a target base station while the UE is transitioning from the source base station to the target base station, wherein performing the DC-based handover procedure further comprises applying the first and second security keys to the PDCP packets received, respectively, from the source and target base stations using additional network (NW) assistance information, wherein the additional NW assistance information comprises an end-marker PDCP control packet data unit (PDU), the end-marker indicating that the last PDCP packet that uses the first security key to be deciphered has been delivered.

12. The UE of claim 11 , wherein deciphering the PDCP packets comprises applying the first security key of the plurality of security keys maintained by the PDCP entity to a first subset of the PDCP packets that is received from the source base station and applying the second security key of the plurality of security keys to a second subset of the PDCP packets that is received from the target base station.

13. The UE of claim 11 , wherein the at least one processer is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to report a handover procedure failure to the source base station when the DC-based handover procedure is not performed successfully.

14. The UE of claim 11 , wherein performing the DC-based handover procedure further comprises:

adding the target base station as a secondary node (SN) for the source base station that is acting as a master node (MN), and

reconfigure the SN to become a new MN.

15. The UE of claim 14 , wherein the at least one processer is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to transition to a dual connectivity mode after receiving the reconfiguration message to receive the PDCP packets from at least one of the MN and the SN.

16. The UE of claim 11 , wherein, before the reconfiguration message is received, the UE is in a dual connectivity mode with the source base station acting as a master node (MN) and the target base station acting as a secondary node (SN), wherein the at least one processer is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to, after the reconfiguration message is received, reconfigure the SN to become a new MN.

17. The UE of claim 11 , wherein the at least one processer is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to, before receiving the reconfiguration message having the indicator, send out a message that indicates the UE's capability of performing the DC-based handover procedure.