Patent ID: 8023467

Claim:
A method for efficient discontinuous reception (‘DRX’) operation during handover in Long Term Evolution (‘LTE’) in which a user equipment expects handover to occur between a source enhanced Node B (‘eNB’) and a target eNB, the method comprising the steps of: checking, at the user equipment, whether a no handover initiation decision by the source eNB is received from the source eNB within a predetermined time period; if the no handover initiation decision by the source eNB is not received from the source eNB within a predetermined time period, performing the steps of: ensuring the user equipment is not in a DRX sleep period during reception of a handover grant; checking whether a handover grant is received, if the handover grant is received, performing a handover procedure; and if the handover grant is not received, resuming a DRX sleep interval; and if the no handover initiation decision by the source eNB is received from the source eNB within the predetermined time period, resuming a DRX sleep interval; and wherein the step of ensuring the user equipment is not in the DRX sleep period utilizes a short DRX period; the short DRX period has a length set based on a value that is one of received from the source eNB or pre-configured; and the value is dependent on whether the handover is inter radio access technology or intra radio access technology.