Handover mechanism in cellular networks

Abstract

Systems, apparatuses, and methods for a handover procedure in heterogeneous networks are provided. In particular, an intermediate handover (IHO) is introduced. Certain aspects of the disclosure involve, a method, performed at a serving base station of a wireless communications network, where the serving base station serves a user equipment (UE). The method includes receiving a downlink (DL) signal quality indicator from the UE; and determining, from the signal quality indicator, whether a condition for an intermediate handover (IHO) state is satisfied. If the condition for the intermediate handover state is satisfied, the serving base station can initiate the intermediate handover state.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.