UE communication handover between light fidelity access points in a communication system

1. A method by a coordination node for controlling communications between Light Fidelity, Li-Fi, Access Points, APs, and user equipments, UEs, the method comprising:

receiving peer connectivity reports from Li-Fi APs which identify Li-Fi APs having at least partially overlapping coverage areas;

developing a handover pathway data structure, based on the peer connectivity reports, that identifies Li-Fi APs that can receive communication handover from other identified Li-Fi APs;

determining an identifier of a first Li-Fi AP providing Li-Fi communication service for a UE;

accessing the handover pathway data structure using the identifier of the first Li-Fi AP to determine an identifier of a second Li-Fi AP to which handover from the first Li-Fi AP can be performed; and

initiating handover of the Li-Fi communication service for the UE from the first Li-Fi AP to the second Li-Fi AP.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein developing the handover pathway data structure, comprises:

determining an identifier of a reporting Li-Fi AP that reported one of the peer connectivity reports to the coordination node;

determining an identifier of one or more observed Li-Fi APs based on content of the one of the peer connectivity reports; and

storing in the handover pathway data structure the identifier of the one or more observed Li-Fi APs with a logical association to the identifier of the reporting Li-Fi AP.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein determining an identifier of a first Li-Fi AP providing Li-Fi communication service for a UE, comprises:

receiving a report containing a measurement by the UE of a Li-Fi signal received from the first Li-Fi AP;

responsive to determining that the measurement does not satisfy a signal quality threshold, performing the initiating handover of the Li-Fi communication service for the UE from the first Li-Fi AP to the second Li-Fi AP.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein:

the one of the peer connectivity reports contains pairs of an identifier of one of the one or more observed Li-Fi APs and a measurement by the reporting Li-Fi AP of a Li-Fi signal received from the one of the one or more observed Li-Fi APs; and

selectively performing the storing in the handover pathway data structure the identifier of the observed Li-Fi AP with a logical association to the identifier of the reporting Li-Fi AP, only if the measurement by the reporting Li-Fi AP of the Li-Fi signal received from the one of the one or more observed Li-Fi APs satisfies a signal quality threshold.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the identifier of the one of the one or more observed Li-Fi APs is selectively stored in the handover pathway data structure with a logical association to the identifier of the reporting Li-Fi AP, only if at least one of the following conditions is satisfied: 1) a signal strength indicated by the measurement satisfies a signal strength threshold; and 2) a bit error rate indicated by the measurement satisfies a bit error rate threshold.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein:

the one of the peer connectivity reports contains pairs of an identifier of one of the one or more observed Li-Fi APs and a measurement by the reporting Li-Fi AP of a Li-Fi signal received from the one of the one or more observed Li-Fi APs, and the pairs are stored in the handover pathway data structure with a logical association to the identifier of the reporting Li-Fi AP; and

responsive to when the accessing of the handover pathway data structure using the identifier of the first Li-Fi AP identifies a plurality of candidate Li-Fi APs, the second Li-Fi AP is selected from among the candidate Li-Fi APs based on comparison of the measurements associated with the candidate Li-Fi APs which are retrieved from the handover pathway data structure.

7. The method of claim 2 , wherein developing the handover pathway data structure further comprises:

subsequent to the storing, determining that an absentee one of the observed Li-Fi APs has not been identified in a peer connectivity report received from the reporting Li-Fi AP in at least a threshold elapsed time; and

removing from the handover pathway data structure the identifier of the absentee one of the observed Li-Fi APs and its logical association to the identifier of the reporting Li-Fi AP.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the identifier of the first Li-Fi AP providing Li-Fi communication service for the UE, comprises parsing a handover request message received from the first Li-Fi AP to determine the identifier of the first Li-Fi AP.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the initiating handover of the Li-Fi communication service for the UE from the first Li-Fi AP to the second Li-Fi AP, comprises:

initiating re-routing of data packets that are addressed to the UE, to be directed to the second Li-Fi AP instead of to the first Li-Fi AP.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the initiating handover of the Li-Fi communication service for the UE from the first Li-Fi AP to the second Li-Fi AP, comprises:

coordinating negotiations between the first and second Li-Fi APs to perform the handover of the Li-Fi communication service for the UE.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

responsive to an access of the handover pathway data structure resulting in return of no identifier of another Li-Fi AP as having been defined as associated with the identifier of the first Li-Fi AP, initiating handover of the Li-Fi communication service for the UE from the first Li-Fi AP to a group of Li-Fi APs at least one of which that is likely to have a coverage area that includes the UE.

12. A coordination node for controlling communications between Light Fidelity, Li-Fi, Access Points, APs, and user equipments, UEs, the coordination node comprising:

a network interface;

a processor coupled to the network interface; and

a memory coupled to the processor and storing program code that when executed by the processor causes the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving peer connectivity reports from Li-Fi APs which identify Li-Fi APs having at least partially overlapping coverage areas;

developing a handover pathway data structure, based on the peer connectivity reports, that identifies Li-Fi APs that can receive communication handover from other identified Li-Fi APs;

determining an identifier of a first Li-Fi AP providing Li-Fi communication service for a UE;

accessing the handover pathway data structure using the identifier of the first Li-Fi AP to determine an identifier of a second Li-Fi AP; and

initiating handover of the Li-Fi communication service for the UE from the first Li-Fi AP to the second Li-Fi AP.

13. A method by a Light Fidelity, Li-Fi, Access Point, AP, for communicating with user equipments, UEs under control of a coordination node, the method comprising:

receiving Li-Fi signals from observed Li-Fi APs, the Li-Fi signals providing identifiers of the observed Li-Fi APs;

generating a peer connectivity report containing an identifier of the Li-Fi AP and the identifiers of the observed Li-Fi APs; and

reporting the peer connectivity report to the coordination node,

wherein generating the peer connectivity report further comprises:

subsequent to the reporting of the peer connectivity report to the coordination node, determining that a Li-Fi signal has not been received from one of the observed Li-Fi APs contained in the peer connectivity report in at least a threshold elapsed time; and

excluding the one of the observed Li-Fi APs from another peer connectivity report that is next reported to the coordination node responsive to the determination.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

receiving from a UE measurements by the UE of Li-Fi signals transmitted by the Li-Fi AP and other Li-Fi APs; and

reporting an indication of the measurements in the peer connectivity report.

15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

measuring a Li-Fi signal received from a UE during Li-Fi communication service by the Li-Fi AP for the UE; and

including an indication of the measurement in the peer connectivity report reported to the coordination node.

16. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

receiving from a UE measurements by the UE of a Li-Fi signal transmitted by the Li-Fi AP; and

sending a handover request to the coordination node responsive to the measurement not satisfying a signal quality threshold.

17. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

receiving a handover message from the coordination node; and

performing handover of Li-Fi communication service for a UE from the Li-Fi AP to one of the observed Li-Fi APs that is identified by the handover message.

18. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

measuring the Li-Fi signals received from the observed Li-Fi APs; and

generating the peer connectivity report to further contain the measurements with defined associations to the identifiers of the observed Li-Fi APs.

19. A Light Fidelity, Li-Fi, Access Point, AP, for communicating with user equipments, UEs under control of a coordination node, the Li-Fi AP comprising:

a network interface;

a processor coupled to the network interface; and

a memory coupled to the processor and storing program code that when executed by the processor causes the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving Li-Fi signals from observed Li-Fi APs, the Li-Fi signals providing identifiers of the observed Li-Fi APs;

generating a peer connectivity report containing an identifier of the Li-Fi AP and the identifiers of the observed Li-Fi APs; and

reporting the peer connectivity report to the coordination node,

wherein generating the peer connectivity report further comprises:

subsequent to the reporting of the peer connectivity report to the coordination node, determining that a Li-Fi signal has not been received from one of the observed Li-Fi APs contained in the peer connectivity report in at least a threshold elapsed time; and

excluding the one of the observed Li-Fi APs from another peer connectivity report that is next reported to the coordination node responsive to the determination.