Handover method in media independent handover based on geographical location

摘要

There is discussed a mobile communication device having means for monitoring its geographical position and a database storing data associating a plurality of geographical locations with respective wireless communication networks. During a handover operation, the mobile communication device calculates if the current geographical position satisfies a proximity criterion to one of the plurality of geographical locations, and if it does initiates handover of a communication link to an access point to the wireless communication network associated with that geographical location. By storing data associating such geographical locations with respective wireless communication networks, it is not necessary to query for available networks and therefore the handover operation is facilitated and the amount of network signalling is reduced. The database also stores one or more time durations associated with previous handover operations. The mobile communication device calculates a time interval associated with a handover operation using said stored time durations, estimates a geographical position where the mobile communication device will be after said calculated time interval has passed using the geographical position of the mobile communication device as determined at two or more different timings and sends to a remote network device a message specifying the estimated geographical position and requesting information on access points associated with the estimated geographical position. By using such an estimated geographical position, it is more likely that the list of networks provided by the network will be relevant when handover actually takes place. The application lies in media independent handover (MIH) of the IEEE 802.21 specification.