Alcatel Lucent

Lucent Technologies Inc.

Newfield Wireless

Vladan Jovanovic

David William Kleinbeck

Yang Yang

Frances Lin Jiang

A wireless communication system () includes an ability to discern whether an end of a communication link between a mobile station () and a base station () corresponds to the mobile station () tuning away from a first service to a second, different service. In a disclosed example, a radio network controller () includes a link monitoring portion that uses information regarding the mobile station from the second service to determine a pattern of expected tune aways by the mobile station to the second service. In one disclosed example, the link monitoring portion uses observed mobile station behavior to estimate the pattern of expected tune aways. Whenever an end of a communication link with the mobile station corresponds to an expected tune away, that end is not considered for purposes of service measurement parameters. The disclosed examples provide the ability to avoid mistakenly considering a mobile station-initiated tune away as a dropped link or handoff failure resulting from an issue with the system.

Evaluating lost communication links with mobile stations

A method for identifying a missing neighbor in a wireless network includes receiving a report about two or more pilot signals measured by a mobile station; determining that one or more of the reported pilot signals is a missing neighbor not comprised in a current neighbor list of the mobile station; choosing one or more candidate sectors having a pilot signal with the same pilot identity as the missing neighbor; and selecting a most likely sector as the missing neighbor from the one or more candidate sectors, based on calculated distances between the mobile station and a source sector, between the mobile station and at least one of the one or more candidate sectors, and between the source sector and at least one of the one or more candidate sectors, so as to identify the missing neighbor in the wireless network.

Method for identifying missing neighbors and for updating current neighbors in wireless networks

In response to a determination that a received pilot signal identification is not present in a current neighbor list of a mobile station, a network controller identifies one of a plurality of sectors associated with the missing pilot signal identification that is a most likely handoff candidate. In one embodiment, the most likely handoff candidate is determined as the sector that is closest to the mobile station. When the most likely candidate is identified, a handoff may be initiated between the mobile station and the identified sector. The handoff may be accomplished by activating a traffic channel for the mobile station in the identified sector.

Method and apparatus for handoff in a wireless network

To avoid interference with the reverse link of a base station within an underlay area, a described method determines when to redirect and handover a mobile terminal that is still communicating on an adjacent carrier with a border base station within an overlay area but is within the coverage area of the base station in the underlay area. The method determines that redirection and handover to the base station in the underlay area should occur when together: (1) the power being received on the downlink from the base station in the underlay area exceeds the power being received on the downlink from the border base station within the overlay area by a first predetermined threshold that indicates that the mobile terminal is at the border of the overlay area; and (2) the sum of the power being received on the downlink from the underlay base station plus the power of the signal being transmitted by the mobile terminal to the base station within the overlay area is greater than a second predetermined threshold that indicates that the power being received by the base station in the underlay area from the transmitting mobile terminal can interfere with the operation of that base station.

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Morris Plains, NJ, United States of America

Vladan Jovanovic