Patent ID: 8750179

Claim:
A method for operating a user equipment (UE) configured to support a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), the method comprising: transmitting, by the UE to an access node in a source cell associated with a group of neighboring cells, a message indicating an MBMS service associated with a multicast-broadcast single-frequency network (MBSFN); and receiving, by the UE from the access node, information promoting a handover of the UE to a target cell, wherein, when no cell in the group belongs to the MBSFN and exceeds a signal quality threshold, the target cell is the cell in the group with the highest signal quality and the MBMS service is continued in the target cell via point-to-point (p-t-p) transmission, and wherein, when the message comprises an MBMS priority information element (IE) indicating that the MBMS service is not a priority, the target cell is the cell in the group with the highest signal quality.