Patent ID: 11937143
Assignee: T-MOBILE INNOVATIONS LLC
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 6:
7. A system for managing handovers between a plurality of relay access nodes, the system comprising:
a donor access node for providing network services to an end-user wireless device;
a first relay access node for relaying the network services between the donor access node and the end-user wireless device; and
a processor communicatively coupled to the donor access node, the processor configured to:
monitor a latency of the donor access node;
determine a quality of service corresponding to the end-user wireless device meets a quality of service criteria;
determine a handover condition of the wireless device meets a handover criteria based on the latency of the donor access node meeting a threshold and the quality of service meeting the quality of service criteria; and
instruct the first relay access node to handover the end-user wireless device to a target access node in response to the determination that the handover condition is met, wherein the target access node is the donor access node, a neighboring access node, or a second relay access node served by the neighboring access node; and
identify candidate target access nodes by identifying relay access nodes served by the donor access node and excluding the relay access nodes served by the donor access node from serving as the target access node, thereby preventing the excluded relay access nodes from serving the wireless device;
select the target access node from remaining access nodes not served by the donor access node; and
instruct the first relay access node to hand the wireless device over to the target access node.