Apparatus and method for obtaining slice-support information

A method for obtaining slice-support information, comprising:

• receiving, by a first radio access network (RAN) node, slice-context information of a neighboring cell of the first RAN node from a network entity, wherein the neighboring cell of the first RAN node is a cell that is of a second RAN node, and that neighbors one or more cells of the first RAN node, wherein the first RAN node is a serving RAN node to a user equipment (UE), wherein the second RAN node is a target RAN node of the first RAN node in a handover procedure, wherein the slice-context information comprises a slice support area ID, a tracking area identity (TAI) list for the UE), an access node ID, or a cell ID;
• determining the slice-support information based on the slice-context information, wherein the slice-support information comprises a mapping of a slice to an area, wherein the area comprises a tracking area or a slice-support area;
• and
• processing a slice-related information based on the slice-support information.

An access-and-mobility management function (AMF), or an operations-and-management system (OMS), comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor and storing program instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the AMF or the OMS to perform operations comprising:
• transmitting slice-context information of a neighboring cell of a first radio access network (RAN) to the first RAN node, wherein the neighboring cell of the first RAN node is a cell that is of a second RAN node, and that neighbors one or more cells of the first RAN node, wherein the first RAN node is a serving RAN node to a user equipment (UE), wherein the second RAN node is a target RAN node of the first RAN node in a handover procedure, wherein the slice-context information comprises a slice support area ID, a tracking area identity (TAI) list for the UE, an access node ID, or a cell ID, and is used by the first RAN node to determine slice-support information, wherein the slice-support information comprises a mapping of a slice to an area, wherein the area comprises a tracking area or a slice-support area.

A system for obtaining slice-support information, comprising:

• a first radio network access (RAN) node with a first processor and a first memory;
• a network entity with a second processor and a second memory;
• and
• wherein the first memory coupled to the first processor of the first RAN node and storing program instructions, which when executed by the first processor, cause the first RAN node to perform operations comprising:
• receiving slice-context information of a neighboring cell of the first RAN node from an access-and-mobility management function (AMF) or an operations-and-management system (OMS), wherein the neighboring cell of the first RAN node is a cell that is of a second RAN node, and that neighbors one or more cells of the first RAN node, wherein the first RAN node is a serving RAN node to a user equipment (UE), wherein the second RAN node is a target RAN node of the first RAN node in a handover procedure, wherein the slice-context information comprises a slice support area ID, a tracking area identity (TAI) list for the UE, an access node ID, or a cell ID,
• determining the slice-support information based on the slice-context information, wherein the slice-support information comprises a mapping of a slice to an area, wherein the area comprises a tracking area, and
• processing a slice-related information based on the slice-support information;
• and
• wherein the second memory coupled to the second processor of the network entity and storing program instructions, which when executed by the second processor, cause the network entity to perform operations comprising:
• transmitting the slice-context information of the neighboring cell to the first RAN node.