Communication of segmented radio resource control messages

A user device comprising processing hardware and configured to:

• divide, by a radio resource control, RRC, layer of the user device, a first RRC message into N segments of a segmented RRC message;
• transmit at least M segments of the segmented RRC message to a first base station, M being an integer greater than zero and less than N;
• receive from the first base station a second RRC message that configures the user device to hand over from a cell of the first base station to a cell of a second base station;
• and
• after receiving the second RRC message, transmit all segments of the segmented RRC message to the second base station.

A method, performed by a first base station configured to communicate with a user device, for managing communication of a segmented radio resource control, RRC, message that includes N segments, wherein the segmented RRC message comprises an RRC message that has been divided into the N segments by an RRC layer of the user device, the method comprising:

• receiving M segments of the segmented RRC message from the user device, M being an integer greater than zero and less than N;
• determining, before receiving an (M+1)-th segment of the segmented RRC message, that one or more criteria for initiating a handover to a second base station are satisfied;
• after determining that the criteria are satisfied, receiving at least the (M+1)-th to N-th segments of the segmented RRC message from the user device;
• and
• after receiving at least the (M+1)-th to N-th segments of the segmented RRC message from the user device, initiating the handover to the second base station.

A base station comprising processing hardware and configured to:

• receive M segments of a segmented radio resource control, RRC, message from a user device, the segmented RRC message including N segments, and M being an integer greater than zero and less than N;
• determine, before receiving an (M+1)-th segment of the segmented RRC message, that one or more criteria for initiating a handover to a second base station are satisfied;
• after determining that the criteria are satisfied, receive at least the (M+1)-th to N-th segments of the segmented RRC message from the user device;
• and
• after receiving at least the (M+1)-th to N-th segments of the segmented RRC message from the user device, initiate the handover to the second base station.