Patent ID: 9094887
Filing Date: 2015-07-28
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
1. A method for a first communication device configured to perform cellular network assisted device-to-device communication with at least a second communication device, the first communication device having a communication link to a first network node and one of the first and the second communication devices initially has a network control signal gateway function, said gateway function comprising receiving downlink control signals from a respective network node, transmitting uplink control signals to the respective network node, and operating all device-to-device communication control signaling related to the first and second communication devices in association with the downlink and uplink control signals, the method comprising: detecting a cell of a second network node as a prospect target cell for handover; detecting whether the first communication device has the gateway function; if the detection is made that the first communication device has the gateway function, passing over the gateway function to the second communication device before handover is performed; and performing a handover of a cellular communication of the first communication device from the first network node to the second network node.