With the fast development of network technologies, an Internet access technology is improved continuously. A home access mode is a new access mode being developed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and non-3GPP standard organizations.
The home access mode connects a user equipment (UE) to a mobile network through a universal Internet Protocol (IP) access network by using a home wireless access point (WAP) and an allowed spectrum. The allowed spectrum includes spectrums in various networks, for example, the spectrums used in a UMTS terrestrial radio access network (UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network, UTRAN), an evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN), a code division multiple access (CDMA) network, a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) network, a wireless local area network (WLAN), and a high rate packet data (HRPD) network. The home WAP is also known as a femtocell.
To restrict access to a specific home WAP by a UE, a closed subscriber group (CSG) mechanism is introduced. The CSG identifies some UEs (or subscribers, users or subscribers). These UEs are allowed to access one or several cells of an operator, but the access to these cells by other UEs is restricted. One CSG area includes one or several cells, and is identified by a CSG identifier (ID). One CSG area can be accessed by only one group of UEs, and the access by other UEs is restricted. An allowed CSG list, also known as a CSG white list, is a list of CSG IDs of all the CSG areas that a UE is allowed to access. When the UE is handed over from a source access network element (NE) to a target area, the UE decides whether to hand over by determining whether the CSG ID of the target area is included in the allowed CSG list of the UE. If the CSG ID of the target area is included in the allowed CSG list of the UE, the UE is allowed to be handed over to the target area; if the CSG ID of the target area is not included in the allowed CSG list of the UE, the UE is not allowed to be handed over to the target area.
Evidently, in a handover process under the current CSG mechanism, the source access network decides to initiate handover to the target area when signals are weak, and refuses the UE for being handed over to the target area when determining that the CSG ID of the target area is not included in the allowed CSG list of the UE. If the access mode of the target area is a Hybrid Access Mode, however, the UE is allowed to hand over to the target area. In this case, an ongoing service of the UE is terminated and service experience of the user is affected.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds