Network device, terminal device and methods for facilitating handover of terminal device

A network device for facilitating handover of a terminal device served by the network device to a target beam or to a target network device, the network device comprising:

• a processor and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, the non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the network device to:
• generate information on configurations for a set of candidate target beams or candidate target network devices, or both candidate target beams and candidate target network devices, for transmission to the terminal device before the handover of the terminal device is triggered;
• generate a handover command for transmission to the terminal device to trigger the handover of the terminal device, wherein the handover command contains an identifier for identifying, from the information on the configurations for the set of the candidate target beams or the candidate target network devices, or both, information on the configuration for the target beam or the target network device;
• and
• transmit the information on configurations for the set of the candidate target beams or the candidate target network devices, or both, and the handover command to the terminal device.

A method performed in a wireless communication network for facilitating handover of a terminal device served by its serving network device to a target beam or to a target network device, the method comprising:

• initiating, by a handover control unit, transmission of a handover command to the terminal device to trigger the handover of the terminal device, wherein
• information on configurations for a set of candidate target beams or candidate target network devices, or both candidate target beams and candidate target network devices, have been transmitted to the terminal device before the handover of the terminal device is triggered;
• and
• the handover command contains an identifier for identifying, from the information on the configurations for the set of the candidate target beams or the candidate target network devices, or both, information on the configuration for the target beam or the target network device.