METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING HANDOVER AS METRIC FUNCTION OF SERVICE LEVEL INDICATING METRICS

摘要

FIELD: physics, communications.;SUBSTANCE: invention relates to wireless communication. Method and apparatus for an access terminal which makes handover decisions between a number of potential alternative attachment points based on service level indicating metrics are described. The access terminal computes a service level indicating metric differently for a current connection than for a potential alternative connection. A service level indicating metric is a function of loading information and received signal strength. A selection may be made by selecting between attachment points by selecting the attachment point having the highest service level indicating metric from among a plurality of attachment points, one per possible carrier where the attachment point which is considered for a given carrier is the one having the best connection for the given carrier.;EFFECT: load balancing in a multiple-carrier wireless communication system, which promotes stability of the system.;32 cl