Handover Event Prioritization

A method, implemented by a communications device, for communicating wireless handover events, the communications device being associated with at least one serving cell of a cellular communications network, the method comprising:

• determining, based on at least one or more first measurement results indicative of one or more cell quality parameters of respective ones of a first plurality of cells of the cellular communications network, a first handover event associated with a first one of the first plurality of cells;
• initiating communication of a first handover message indicative of the determined first handover event to a network entity of the cellular network;
• determining, based on at least one or more second measurement results indicative of one or more cell quality parameters of respective ones of a second plurality of cells of the cellular communications network, a plurality of further handover events associated with respective ones of the second plurality of cells, resulting in a plurality of pending handover events waiting to be communicated to a network entity of the cellular network;
• determining a priority order for at least a subset of the pending handover events, wherein the subset comprises handover events from the first handover event associated with the first one of the first plurality of cells and the plurality of further handover events associated with respective ones of the second plurality of cells;
• wherein determining the priority order is further based on at least one of:
• a signal strength;
• a rate of occurrence of handover events;
• a determined speed with which the communications device moves relative to the cellular network;
• a signal-to-interference ratio of the cells associated with the respective pending handover events;
• wherein the determining the priority order comprises determining estimated validity periods for each of the subset of pending handover events;
• wherein the determining the priority order is based on the determined estimated validity periods;
• selecting, based on the priority order, a handover event from the first handover event and the pending handover events;
• and
• communicating a second handover message indicative of the selected handover event.

A communications device comprising:

• a measurement circuit configured to obtain a plurality of measurement results indicative of one or more cell quality parameters of respective first plurality of cells of a cellular communications network;
• a control circuit configured to determine, based on at least a first set of measurement results obtained by the measurement unit, a first handover event associated with a first one of the cells;
• a message generator circuit configured to initiate communication of a first handover message indicative of the determined first handover event to a network entity of the cellular network;
• wherein the communications device is configured to:
• determine, based on at least the first set of measurement results, a first handover event associated with a first one of the first plurality of cells;
• initiate communication of the first handover message to the network entity of the cellular network;
• determine, based on at least one or more second measurement results indicative of one or more cell quality parameters of respective ones of a second plurality of cells of the cellular communications network, a plurality of further handover events associated with respective ones of the second plurality of cells, resulting in a plurality of pending handover events waiting to be communicated to the network entity of the cellular network;
• determine a priority order for at least a subset of the pending handover events, wherein the subset comprises handover events from the first handover event associated with the first one of the first plurality of cells and the plurality of further handover events associated with respective ones of the second plurality of cells;
• wherein the determining the priority order is further based on at least one of:
• a signal strength;
• a rate of occurrence of handover events;
• a determined speed with which the communications device moves relative to the cellular network;
• a signal-to-interference ratio of the cells associated with the respective pending handover events;
• <wherein the determining the priority order comprises determining estimated validity periods for each of the subset of pending handover events;
• wherein the determining the priority order is based on the determined estimated validity periods;
• select, based on the priority order, a handover event from the first handover event and the pending handover events;
• and
• communicate a second handover message indicative of the selected handover event.