Patent ID: 9749918
Date: 2017-08-29
CPC Classifications: H04B,H04W

Claim:
1. A method for executing a handover associated with relay termination, the method comprising: in response to a first terminal moving from a location outside of a coverage area of a first base station to a location inside a coverage area of a second base station, receiving, at the second base station associated with a network, a network registration request from the first terminal, the first terminal being currently connected to the first base station via a relay terminal that is located within the coverage area of the first base station and has a current data session established with the first base station; transmitting, from the second base station to the first terminal, a network registration acknowledgment; receiving, at the second base station, a radio resource control (RRC) connection request from the first terminal, wherein in response to receiving, at the second base station, the connection request from the first terminal, an inter-base station handover procedure is conducted between the first base station and the second base station that includes receiving, at the second base station, information associated with the first terminal transferred directly from the first base station; and executing a handover operation that results in establishing a direct connection between the second base station and the first terminal, wherein signaling associated with the handover operation comprises (i) in response to receiving, at the second base station, the RRC connection request from the first terminal, transmitting, from the second base station to the first terminal, a RRC connection complete indication, and (ii) in response to completion of the inter-base station handover procedure, transmitting, from the first base station to the relay terminal, a relay termination request and receiving, at the first base station, a relay termination acknowledgement from the relay terminal, wherein signaling in connection with the relay terminal included in the handover operation consists of receiving the relay termination request and transmitting the relay termination acknowledgement.