Patent ID: 8676206

Claim:
A user equipment (UE) comprising: a processor; a receiver configured to receive a message from a non-Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) access device, the message providing handover synchronization information of the non-E-UTRA access device related to one or more E-UTRA access devices, the handover synchronization information comprising: when the message is a handover message, an indicator indicating whether the non-E-UTRA access device is synchronized with a target E-UTRA access device, and when the message is a broadcast message, an indicator indicating a synchronization state, wherein the synchronization state is a synchronized state or an unsynchronized state, and a list of the one or more E-UTRA access devices having the synchronization state indicated by the indicator; and a controller configured to: determine whether the non-EUTRA access device and the target E-UTRA access device are synchronized based on the handover synchronization information; when the non-E-UTRA access device and the target E-UTRA access device are synchronized, determine a polarity of a target E-UTRA system frame number based on a timing offset between the non-E-UTRA access device and the target E-UTRA access device; and performing a random access procedure for an inter-radio access technology (RAT) handover from the non-E-UTRA access device to the target E-UTRA access device based on the received message.