Identifying mobile station in a cellular wireless communication system

1. A method of facilitating identification of a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

receiving, by a first network control node (NCN), an radio link failure (RLF) indication message including a first mobile identity indicator (MII) of the UE;

determining, by the first NCN, a second MII of the UE, the second MII being associated with the first MII;

determining, by the first NCN, a second NCN associated with the second MII; and

sending, by the first NCN, the second MII to the second NCN.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the RLF indication message is sent to the first NCN from a third NCN after the third NCN receives a RLF report from the UE.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second MII is sent to the second NCN by the first NCN via a handover report message.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second MII is designated to be used by the second NCN to adjust one or more radio network parameters of the second NCN after the second NCN receives the second MII from the first NCN.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the UE is instructed to hand over from the second NCN to the first NCN before the RLF indication message is received by the first NCN.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second MII is allocated by the second NCN to identify the UE.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the second MII is sent from the second NCN to the first NCN in a process of the UE handing over from the second NCN to the first NCN before the RLF indication message is received by the first NCN.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first NCN is a base station associated with a serving cell of the UE.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first MII is allocated by the first NCN to identify the UE.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first MII is a cell radio network temporary identifier (CRNTI).

11. A Network Control Node (NCN) comprising at least one processor being configured to:

receive an radio link failure (RLF) indication message including a first mobile identity indicator (MII) of a user equipment (UE);

determine a second MII of the UE, the second MII being associated with the first MII;

determine a second NCN associated with the second MII; and

send the second MII to the second NCN.

12. The NCN of claim 11 , wherein the second MII is sent to the second NCN via a handover report message.

13. The NCN of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive the second MII from the second NCN in a process of the UE handing over from the second NCN to the NCN before the RLF indication message is received by the NCN.

14. The NCN of claim 11 , wherein the NCN is a base station associated with a serving cell of the UE.

15. The NCN of claim 11 , wherein the first MII is allocated by the NCN to identify the UE.

16. The NCN of claim 15 , wherein the first MII is a cell radio network temporary identifier (CRNTI).

17. A system comprising a first network control node (NCN) communicatively coupled with a second NCN, both of the first NCN and the second NCN being capable of communicating with a user equipment (UE), wherein the first NCN is configured to:

receive an radio link failure (RLF) indication message including a first mobile identity indicator(MII) of the UE;

determine a second MII of the UE, the second MII being associated with the first MII;

determine a second NCN associated with the second MII; and

send the second MII to the second NCN.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the second MII is sent to the second NCN via a handover report message.

19. The system of claim 17 , wherein the second MII is designated to be used by the second NCN to adjust one or more radio network parameters of the second NCN after the second NCN receives the second MII from the first NCN.

20. The system of claim 17 , wherein the UE is instructed to hand over from the second NCN to the first NCN before the RLF indication message is received by the first NCN.