Node b and rnc actions during a serving hsdpa cell change

Abstract

An apparatus and method in accordance with the present invention reduce the amount of data that is stalled in a source Node B after a serving HS-DSCH cell change in a communication system that includes a serving RNC and at least one Node B. In a first embodiment, the RNC temporarily suspends data transmissions from the RNC to the Node B. In a second embodiment, the activation time is used in data scheduling. In a third embodiment, a more robust MCS level is selected. In a fourth embodiment flow control is employed for the data transmitted between the RNC and the Node B.

1 . A Node B configured to receive and buffer comprising:
 a receiver configured to receive a notification of a high-speed downlink shared channel (HS-DSCH) cell change for a user equipment (UE);   a scheduler configured to schedule data for transmission to the UE to produce scheduled data by allocating resources, wherein a greater amount of resources are allocated to data for transmission to the UE than to data for transmission to other UEs served by the Node B;   a modulation and coding set (MCS) unit configured to apply a modulation and coding set MCS level to the scheduled data using a predetermined MCS level to generate modulated data; and   a transmitter configured to transmit the modulated data to the UE.   
   
   
       2 . The Node B of  claim 1  wherein the notification includes an activation time, which indicates when the UE will cease communicating within the cell. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the modulated data to the UE prior to the activation time. 
   
   
       4 . The Node B of  claim 1  wherein the Node B is further configured to perform flow control, such that data for transmission to the UE is sent at a higher rate from the RNC to the Node B. 
   
   
       5 . A method for efficient delivery of Node B buffered data comprising:
 receiving at a Node B a notification of a high-speed downlink shared channel (HS-DSCH) cell change for a user equipment (UE) communicating with the Node B within a cell;   scheduling data at the Node B for transmission to the UE to produce scheduled data by allocating resources, wherein a greater amount of resources are allocated to data for transmission to the UE than to data for transmission to any other UE served by the Node B;   applying a modulation and coding set (MCS) level to the scheduled data using a predetermined MCS level to generate modulated data; and   transmitting the modulated data to the UE.   
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 5  wherein the receiving a notification is such that the notification includes an activation time, which indicates when the UE will cease communicating within the cell. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the scheduling data at the Node B is such that the data for transmission to the UE is sent to the UE prior to the activation time. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 5  further comprising performing flow control, such that data for transmission to the UE is sent at a higher rate from the RNC to the at least one Node B. 
   
   
       9 . A method for efficient delivery of buffered data comprising:
 determining at a radio network controller RNC a need for a high-speed downlink shared channel HS DSCH cell change for a user equipment UE communicating with a Node B within a cell;   generating a notification at the RNC to the Node B regarding the cell change;   suspending at the RNC all further data transmissions to the Node B for the UE; and   sending from the RNC to the Node B the notification.   
   
   
       10 . A method for efficient delivery of data comprising:
 determining at a radio network controller RNC a need for a high-speed downlink shared channel HS-DSCH cell change for a user equipment UE communicating with a Node B within a cell;   generating a notification at the RNC to the Node B regarding the cell change;   sending from the RNC to the Node B the notification; and   performing flow control at the RNC, such that data for transmission to the UE is sent at a higher rate from the RNC to the Node B.