Seamless handover with dual connectivity

A method for wireless communication by a source base station (BS), comprising:

• deciding to handover a user equipment (UE) from the source BS to a target BS, wherein the source BS and the target BS are associated with a same radio access technology (RAT);
• receiving information regarding UE capability to allocate a portion of UE resources for initiating a handover procedure for the handover of the UE from the source BS to the target BS while maintaining connectivity with the source BS, wherein the information includes information regarding a UE capability to:
• switch at least one transmit chain of a plurality of transmit chains, at least one receive chain of a plurality of receive chains, or a combination thereof to the target BS for initiating the handover procedure;
• and
• maintain connectivity with the source BS using at least one remaining transmit chain of the plurality of transmit chains and at least one remaining receive chain of the plurality of receive chains;
• and
• transmitting a handover command to handover the UE from the source BS to the target BS based on the UE capability.

An apparatus for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE), comprising:

• means for receiving a handover command to handover the UE from a source base station (BS) to a target BS, wherein the source BS and the target BS are associated with a same radio access technology (RAT);
• means for allocating a portion of UE resources for initiating a handover procedure for the handover of the UE from the source BS to the target BS while maintaining connectivity with the source BS, wherein the means for allocating the portion of UE resources comprise:
• means for switching at least one transmit chain of a plurality of transmit chains, at least one receive chain of a plurality of receive chains, or a combination thereof to the target BS for initiating the handover procedure;
• means for performing, based on the handover command, the handover procedure with the target BS to hand over the UE from the source BS to the target BS using the at least one transmit chain, the at least one receive chain, or the combination thereof, wherein performing the handover procedure comprises:
• means for maintaining connectivity with the source BS during the handover procedure using at least one remaining transmit chain of the plurality of transmit chains and at least one remaining receive chain of the plurality of receive chains;
• and
• means for maintaining connectivity to both the source BS and the target BS during at least a portion of the handover procedure;
• and
• means for terminating connectivity with the source BS after completion of the handover procedure.

An apparatus for wireless communication by a source base station (BS), comprising:

• means for deciding to handover a user equipment (UE) from the source BS to a target BS, wherein the source BS and the target BS are associated with a same radio access technology (RAT);
• means for receiving information regarding UE capability to allocate a portion of UE resources for initiating a handover procedure for the handover of the UE from the source BS to the target BS while maintaining connectivity with the source BS, wherein the information includes information regarding a UE capability to:
• switch at least one transmit chain of a plurality of transmit chains, at least one receive chain of a plurality of receive chains, or a combination thereof to the target BS for initiating the handover procedure;
• and
• maintain connectivity with the source BS using at least one remaining transmit chain of the plurality of transmit chains and at least one remaining receive chain of the plurality of receive chains;
• and
• means for transmitting a handover command to handover the UE from the source BS to the target BS based on the UE capability.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE), comprising:

• instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
• receive a handover command to hand over the UE from a source base station (BS) to a target BS, wherein the source BS and the target BS are associated with a same radio access technology (RAT);
• allocate a portion of UE resources for initiating a handover procedure for the handover of the UE from the source BS to the target BS, while maintaining connectivity with the source BS, wherein the instructions that cause the at least one processor to allocate the portion of UE resources further comprise instructions that cause the at least one processor to:
• switch at least one transmit chain of a plurality of transmit chains, at least one receive chain of a plurality of receive chains, or a combination thereof to the target BS for initiating the handover procedure;
• perform, based on the handover command, the handover procedure with the target BS to hand over the UE from the source BS to the target BS using the at least one transmit chain, the at least one receive chain, or the combination thereof, wherein the instructions that cause the at least one processor to perform the handover procedure further comprise instructions that cause the at least one processor to:
• maintain connectivity with the source BS during the handover procedure using at least one remaining transmit chain of the plurality of transmit chains and at least one remaining receive chain of the plurality of receive chains;
• and
• maintain connectivity to both the source BS and the target BS during at least a portion of the handover procedure;
• and
• terminate connectivity with the source BS after completion of the handover procedure.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium for wireless communication by a source base station (BS), comprising:

• instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
• decide to handover a user equipment (UE) from the source BS to a target BS, wherein the source BS and the target BS are associated with a same radio access technology (RAT);
• receive information regarding UE capability to allocate a portion of UE resources for initiating a handover procedure for the handover of the UE from the source BS to the target BS while maintaining connectivity with the source BS, wherein the information includes information regarding a UE capability to:
• switch at least one transmit chain of a plurality of transmit chains, at least one receive chain of a plurality of receive chains, or a combination thereof to the target BS for initiating the handover procedure;
• and
• maintain connectivity with the source BS using at least one remaining transmit chain of the plurality of transmit chains and at least one remaining receive chain of the plurality of receive chains;
• and
• transmit an indication to the UE regarding the handover based on the UE capability.