Patent ID: 9749928
Date: 2017-08-29
CPC Classifications: H04B,H04W

Claim:
1. A method comprising: determining a value for each of a set of path factors regarding each of a plurality of communications paths for potential handover of a mobile user terminal (UT) in a mobile satellite communications system; determining a path selection metric (PSM) for each communications path, wherein the PSM for each communications path is determined via a weighted calculation based on the determined values for the respective set of path factors for the communications path; determining a combined path metric (CPM) for each of a plurality of subsets of the plurality of communications paths to which the UT may be handed-over, wherein each subset is based at least in part on the PSM of each of the communications paths and a respective number of satellites over which the communications paths of the subset span; selecting an optimal candidate subset as a one of the plurality of subsets that has the highest CPM; and determining whether to trigger an intra-frequency handover of the UT from a current communications path of the UT to a new communications path of the optimal candidate subset.