Method and apparatus for supporting a network initiated handover in a wireless network

A base station comprising:

• a transceiver;
• a network interface;
• a processing unit, communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the network interface,
• adapted to send, via the transceiver, a first message requesting a remote unit to handover but not indicating any network nodes to which to handover, wherein the first message causes the remote unit to determine at least one target node preferred for handover by the remote unit,
• adapted to receive, from the remote unit via the transceiver in response to the first message, a second message indicating a target node preferred for handover by the remote unit,
• adapted to notify the target node, via the network interface, of a potential handover by the remote unit, in response to receiving the second message, and
• adapted to send, to the remote unit via the transceiver, a third message indicating to the remote unit to proceed with a handover to the target node.

A remote unit comprising:

• a transceiver;
• a processing unit, communicatively coupled to the transceiver,
• adapted to receive, from a serving base station via the transceiver, a first message requesting the remote unit to handover but not indicating any network nodes to which to handover, wherein the first message causes the remote unit to determine at least one target node preferred for handover by the remote unit,
• adapted to send, via the transceiver and in response to the first message, a second message indicating a target node preferred for handover by the remote unit, and
• adapted to receive, from the serving base station via the transceiver, a third message indicating to the remote unit to proceed with a handover to the target node.