Handover of a coordinated multi-point connection

An apparatus, comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• at least one memory including computer program code,
• wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:
• send, to a user equipment, a radio resource control reconfiguration message defining a handover from a first cell to a second cell, wherein the first cell is initially a serving cell for the user equipment and the second cell is initially a coordinated multi-point cell for the user equipment,
• wherein the radio resource control reconfiguration message comprises an instruction to not perform a random access channel procedure for a handover from the first cell associated with the apparatus to the second cell and to reuse a timing advance of the second cell, or
• wherein the radio resource control configuration message comprises an instruction to not perform the random access channel procedure for a setup of a new coordinated multi-point cell for the user equipment and to reuse a timing advance of the first cell;
• and
• receive, from the user equipment, a radio resource control reconfiguration complete message, wherein the first cell is no longer the serving cell, the second cell is no longer the coordinated multi-point cell, and the second cell is the serving cell when the reconfiguration complete message is received.

A method, comprising:

• receiving, by a user equipment, a radio resource control reconfiguration message defining a handover from a first cell to a second cell, wherein the first cell is initially a serving cell for the apparatus and the second cell is initially a coordinated multi-point cell for the apparatus,
• wherein the radio resource control reconfiguration message comprises an instruction to not perform a random access channel procedure for a handover from the first cell to the second cell and to reuse a timing advance of the second cell, or
• wherein the radio resource control configuration message comprises an instruction to not perform the random access channel procedure for a setup of a new coordinated multi-point cell for the user equipment and to reuse a timing advance of the first cell;
• applying a configuration for the second cell without performing the random access channel procedure and with reusing the timing advance for the first cell or the timing advance of the second cell;
• and
• sending, to the first cell or the second cell, a radio resource control reconfiguration complete message, wherein the first cell is no longer the serving cell, the second cell is no longer the coordinated multi-point cell, and the second cell is the serving cell.