Indicating action times and fast ranging capabilities of target base stations
According to one example embodiment, a method may include determining whether each of a plurality of target base stations is capable of providing a fast ranging opportunity to a mobile station served by the serving base station, and, for each of the plurality of target base stations which is capable of providing the fast ranging opportunity to the mobile station, determining an action time after which the target base station can send an uplink map to the mobile station, the uplink map indicating when the mobile station should send a fast ranging request. The method may also include sending a handover message to the mobile station, the handover message indicating whether each of the plurality of target base stations is capable of providing the fast ranging opportunity to the mobile station and, for each of the plurality of target base stations which is capable of providing the fast ranging opportunity to the mobile station, indicating the action time after which the target base station can send the uplink map to the mobile station.
1. A method comprising:
performing, by a serving base station with at least one mobile station served by the serving base station in a wireless network, capability negotiation to determine whether the at least one mobile station is capable of processing multiple action times;
sending a backhaul network handover request message to each of a plurality of target base stations;
receiving a backhaul network handover response message from each of the plurality of target base stations, each of the backhaul network handover response messages including an action time associated with the target base station from which the backhaul network handover response message is received; and
sending a handover message to the at least one mobile station, the handover message including the action times associated with the plurality of target base stations,
wherein at least one of the backhaul network handover response messages includes at least two action times associated with the target base station from which the backhaul network handover response message is received.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
each of the backhaul network handover response messages includes at least two action times;
the method further includes selecting one or more action times per target base station from the at least two action times included in each of the backhaul network handover response messages received from each of the plurality of target base stations; and
the handover message includes the plurality of selected action times associated with the plurality of target base stations.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the selecting one or more action times per target base station includes selecting one action time per target base station from the action time(s) included in each of the backhaul network handover response messages received from each of the plurality of target base stations.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
selecting, by the serving base station, a single action time from all of the action times received from the plurality of target base stations,
wherein the sending the handover message to the at least one mobile station includes sending the handover message to the at least one mobile station, the handover message including the action times associated with the plurality of target base stations and the single action time.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sending the backhaul network handover request message includes sending the backhaul network handover request message, the backhaul network handover request message indicating that the at least one mobile station supports multiple action times.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving the backhaul network handover response message includes receiving the backhaul network handover response message from each of the plurality of target base stations, each of the backhaul network handover response messages including the action time associated with the target base station from which the backhaul network handover response message was received and indicating whether the target base station supports multiple action times.
7. The method of claim 4 , further comprising sending, by the serving base station, a handover acknowledgment message to each of the target base stations, the handover acknowledgment message indicating the single action time.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending, by the serving base station, a handover acknowledgment message to each of the target base stations, the handover acknowledgment messages each indicating a T55 parameter.
9. The method of claim 2 , further comprising sending, by the serving base station, a handover acknowledgment message to each of the target base stations, each of the handover acknowledgment messages including, for the respective target base station, the action time(s) selected by the serving base station.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving a handover indication message from the at least one mobile station, the handover indication message indicating one of the action times included in the handover message.
11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising sending a handover confirmation to at least one target base station, the handover confirmation including the action time indicated by the handover indication message received from the at least one mobile station.
12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a handover indication message from the at least one mobile station, the handover indication message indicating one of the target base stations to which the at least one mobile station will handover; and
sending, by the serving base station, a handover confirmation message to the target base station indicated by the handover indication message.
13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a handover indication message from the at least one mobile station, the handover indication message indicating an action time and one of the target base stations to which the at least one mobile station will handover; and
sending a handover confirmation message to the target base station indicated by the handover indication message, the handover confirmation message including the action time indicated by the handover indication message.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the handover message sent to the at least one mobile station includes a handover request message.
15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a handover request message from the at least one mobile station,
wherein the sending the handover message includes sending a handover response message to the at least one mobile station in response to receiving the handover request message from the at least one mobile station.
16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing capability negotiation with the at least one mobile station to determine whether the at least one mobile station is capable of processing multiple action times, the capability negotiation including the serving base station sending a handover support field to the at least one mobile station indicating the capability of the serving base station to support multiple action times.
17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing capability negotiation with the at least one mobile station to determine whether the at least one mobile station is capable of processing multiple action times, the capability negotiation including the serving base station receiving a handover support field from the at least one mobile station indicating the capability of the at least one mobile station to support multiple action times.
18. An apparatus comprising:
a processor, the processor being configured to:
perform capability negotiation with a mobile station to determine whether the mobile station is capable of processing multiple action times;
generate a backhaul network handover request message to send to each of a plurality of target base stations;
process a backhaul network handover response message received from each of the plurality of target base stations, each of the backhaul network handover response messages including an action time associated with the target base station from which the backhaul network handover response message is received; and
generate a handover message for the apparatus to send to the mobile station, the handover message including the action times associated with the plurality of target base stations,
wherein at least one of the backhaul network handover response messages includes at least two action times associated with the target base station from which the backhaul network handover response message is received.
19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the capability negotiation includes generating a handover support field to send to the mobile station indicating the capability of the processor to support multiple action times.
20. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the capability negotiation includes processing a handover support field received from the mobile station indicating the capability of the mobile station to support multiple action times.
21. A computer program product for a serving base station in a wireless network, the computer program product being tangibly embodied on a computer storage medium and including executable code that, when executed, is configured to cause the serving base station to:
perform capability negotiation with a mobile station to determine whether the mobile station is capable of processing multiple action times;
send a backhaul network handover request message to each of a plurality of target base stations;
receive a backhaul network handover response message from each of the plurality of target base stations, each of the backhaul network handover response messages including an action time associated with the target base station from which the backhaul network handover response message is received; and
send a handover message to the mobile station, the handover message including the action times associated with the plurality of target base stations,
wherein at least one of the backhaul network handover response messages includes at least two action times associated with the target base station from which the backhaul network handover response message is received.