Parallel transmission of handover message
In a method and system handover commands to a mobile station supporting simultaneous reception on two different channels is transmitted both on the regular channel and on an additional channel. By supporting decoding of both handover commands in the mobile station the likelihood of a successful handover is greatly increased.
1. A method of transmitting a handover command to a mobile station that is using a first carrier to send or receive data from a serving base station that serves a cell, the method comprising:
(a) determining that the mobile station is approaching the boundary of the cell;
(b) in response to determining that the mobile station is near the boundary of the cell, transmitting to the mobile station a message that causes the mobile station to begin monitoring a second carrier;
(c) after performing step (b), determining that a handover command should be transmitted to the mobile station; and
(d) in response to the determination that the handover command should be transmitted to the mobile station, performing the following steps:
(d1) transmitting the handover command from the serving base station to the mobile station on the first carrier; and
(d2) transmitting the same handover command to the mobile station on the second carrier that is at a different frequency than the first carrier, wherein the handover command transmitted on the second carrier is transmitted from a third base station, which is different than the serving base station and a target base station.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the message is transmitted using a Slow Associated Control Channel (SACCH).
3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the handover command transmitted on the second carrier is transmitted on a channel being busy with an ongoing speech connection by omitting a number of speech frames in order to transmit the handover command.
4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising: after performing step (b), transmitting a command from the serving base station releasing the mobile station from monitoring the second carrier in response to detecting that the mobile station has moved back towards the center of the cell.
5. A base station subsystem comprising:
a first base station operable to serve a mobile station in a serving cell using a first carrier; and
a second base station, wherein
the base station subsystem is configured such that,
(a) in response to a determination that the mobile station is approaching the boundary of the serving cell, the base station subsystem transmits to the mobile station a message that causes the mobile station to monitor a second carrier that has a different frequency than the first carrier, and (b) in response to the first base station determining that a handover command should be sent to the mobile station, the base station subsystem transmits two of the same handover commands to the mobile station, a first handover command and a second handover command, wherein
the first handover command is transmitted, from the first base station, to the mobile station on the first carrier, and
the second handover command is transmitted to the mobile station on the second carrier that has a different frequency than the first carrier, wherein
the base station subsystem comprises a third base station, which is different from the first base station and the second base station, wherein
the first base station is the serving base station and the second base station is a handover target base station, and
the base station subsystem is configured such that the second handover command is transmitted from the third base station.
6. The base station subsystem according to claim 5 , wherein the base station subsystem is configured such that the message is transmitted to the mobile station on a Slow Associated Control Channel (SACCH).
7. The base station subsystem according to claim 5 , wherein the base station subsystem is configured such that the second handover command is transmitted on a channel being busy with an ongoing speech connection by omitting a number of speech frames in order to transmit the handover command.
8. The base station subsystem according to claim 5 , wherein the base station subsystem is configured such that, in response to a determination that the mobile station has moved back towards the center of the serving cell, during a time in which the mobile station is monitoring the second carrier, the base station subsystem transmits to the mobile station a command releasing the mobile station from monitoring the second carrier.