US 12,395,909 B2
Efficient handover in 5G networks
Mehdi Alasti, Arlington, VA (US); Khalid W. Al-Mufti, Sterling, VA (US); and Siddhartha Chenumolu, Broadlands, VA (US)
Assigned to DISH WIRELESS L.L.C., Englewood, CO (US)
Filed by DISH Wireless L.L.C., Englewood, CO (US)
Filed on Mar. 22, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/188,342.
Prior Publication US 2024/0323785 A1, Sep. 26, 2024
Int. Cl. H04W 36/10 (2009.01); H04W 36/00 (2009.01)
CPC H04W 36/10 (2013.01) [H04W 36/0033 (2013.01)] 22 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method for efficient handover in a Fifth Generation (5G) communications network, the method comprising:
responsive to detecting that a user device is located in a geographic area with overlapping 5G coverage from a first Next Generation NodeB (gNB) and a second gNB and that the user device is moving away from the first gNB's coverage toward the second gNB's coverage, determining to perform a light inter-gNB handover of the user device; and
causing execution of the light inter-gNB handover by at least causing a physical switch from a physical Central Unit Control Plane (CU-CP) of the first gNB to a physical CU-CP of the second gNB, a logical switch from a logical Central Unit User Plane (CU-UP) of the first gNB to a logical CU-UP of the second gNB, a logical switch from a logical Distributed Unit (DU) of the first gNB to a logical DU of the second gBN, and a logical switch from a logical Remote Unit (RU) of the first gNB to a logical RU of the second gBN, wherein the logical switches are performed without transfer of context data associated with the user device.