METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISTRIBUTING HANDOFF CONTROL IN WIRELESS NETWORKS VIA PROGRAMMABLE BLACK AND WHITE LISTS

摘要

A hierarchy of controllers that are part of a communication network include: (1) a network controller at the top of the hierarchy having direct access to at least one subscription profile, Profile_UE, associated with at least one User Equipment (UE), (2) a radio access network (RAN) controller located at a level directly beneath the network controller receiving the subscription profile, Profile _UE,, from the network controller, (3) a base station controller associated with a base station and located beneath the RAN controller in the hierarchy, (4) a UE controller associated with an UE located beneath the base station controller in the hierarchy. The RAN controller, based on information in the received subscription profile, Profile_UE, delegates handoff decisions to either the base station controller or the UE controller, and the RAN controller makes such delegation decisions by programming a per UE White List (WL_UE) and a per UE Black List (BL_UE), the WL_UE comprising a programmable list of candidate base stations with which the UE is permitted to conduct handoff operations, and the BL_UE comprising another programmable list of base stations with which the UE is not permitted to conduct handoff operations.