Patent ID: 9088922
Filing Date: 2015-07-21
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
1. A method of supporting handover of a mobile Relay Node (RN) from a source radio base station to a target radio base station, the method performed by an anchor node and comprising: anchoring a control-plane connection of a relay-connected User Equipment (UE) before said handover with respect to a control plane entity that supports the relay-connected UE and acting as a proxy for the control plane entity towards the source radio base station, for control-plane signaling involving the relay-connected UE; receiving a handover request message from the source radio base station and sending a corresponding handover request message to the target radio base station, said corresponding handover request message identifying the anchor node rather than the control plane entity as the supporting control plane entity of the relay-connected UE, and initiating switching of a user-plane connection of the relay-connected UE from the source radio base station to the target radio base station, while retaining the control-plane connection of the relay-connected UE at the anchor node; and anchoring the control-plane connection of the relay-connected UE after said handover with respect to the control plane entity and acting as a proxy for the control plane entity towards the target radio base station, for control-plane signaling involving the relay-connected UE.