Cell handover method and apparatus

#The present invention relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a cell handover method and an apparatus.

#On a wireless communications network, UE (User Equipment, user equipment) selects a cell for accessing, and exchanges data with the wireless communications network by using the accessed cell. Many UEs are mobile, and when UE moves from coverage of a cell accessed by the UE to coverage of another cell, the UE requires cell handover to access the another cell.

#Currently, the prior art provides a cell handover method, which may be: sending, by UE, a measurement report to a source base station to which a source cell accessed by the UE belongs; when determining, according to the measurement report, that cell handover needs to be performed, selecting, by the source base station, a target cell for the UE, sending a handover request message to a target base station to which the target cell belongs, receiving a handover request acknowledgement message sent by the target base station, and sending an RRC (Radio Resource Control, Radio Resource Control) connection reconfiguration message to the UE, where the RRC connection reconfiguration message carries an identifier of the target cell; and receiving, by the UE, the RRC connection reconfiguration message, disconnecting from the source base station, establishing a connection to the target base station according to the identifier of the target cell, and accessing the target cell. In this way, the UE is handed over from the source cell to the target cell.

#FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a cell handover method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

#FIG. 2-1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture according to an embodiment of the present invention;

#FIG. 2-2 is a flowchart of another cell handover method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

#To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the present invention clearer, the following further describes the embodiments of the present invention in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

#An embodiment of the present invention provides a cell handover method, including:

#Step 101: A first base station to which a first cell belongs determines to perform soft handover for UE, and selects a cell as a target cell for the UE, where the first cell is a primary carrier cell of the UE.