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.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method for efficient delivery of data in wireless communications that includes a radio network controller (RNC) associated with at least one Node B, the at least one Node B communicating with a plurality of user equipments (UEs), and at least one of the plurality of UEs communicating within a cell and undergoing a high-speed downlink shared channel (HS-DSCH) cell change, the method comprising:
 determining at the RNC the need for an HS-DSCH cell change and for generating a notification to the at least one Node B regarding the cell change;   suspending at the RNC all further data transmissions to the at least one Node B serving the at least one UE; and   sending from the RNC to the at least one Node B the notification.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the notification indicates an activation time. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising:
 the at least one Node B receiving feedback from the UEs; and 
 the at least one Node B determining a modulation and coding set (MCS) level based on the feedback and the activation time. 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the activation time is an explicit moment of time known in the at least one Node B when the at least one UE stops listening to a HS-DSCH in a source cell and starts listening to a HS-DSCH in a target cell. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising:
 in response to receiving the notification, the at least one Node B scheduling data for transmission to the at least one UE to produce scheduled data by giving a higher priority to data transmissions of the at least one UE to provide a greater resource allocation than would normally be given to the at least one UE in a time interval ending at the activation time of the HS-DSCH cell change. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  further comprising:
 the at least one Node B applying a modulation and coding set (MCS) level to the scheduled data to generate modulated data based upon the activation time, wherein the activation time indicates when the at least one Node B will complete the transmission of the modulated data to the at least one UE; and 
 the at least one Node B transmitting the modulated data to the at least one UE prior to the activation time. 
 
     
     
         7 . A radio network controller (RNC) comprising:
 circuitry configured to transmit data transmissions to at least one Node B associated with the RNC, wherein the at least one Node B communicates with a plurality of user equipment (UEs), and at least one of the plurality of UEs communicates within a cell and undergoes a high-speed downlink shared channel (HS-DSCH) cell change;   the circuitry further configured to determine a need for an HS-DSCH cell change and generate a notification to the at least one Node B regarding the cell change;   the circuitry further configured to suspend all further data transmissions to the at least one Node B serving the at least one UE; and   sending from the RNC to the at least one Node B the notification.   
     
     
         8 . The RNC of  claim 7  wherein the notification indicates an activation time. 
     
     
         9 . The RNC of  claim 8  wherein the activation time is an explicit moment of time known in the at least one Node B when the at least one UE stops listening to a HS-DSCH in a source cell and starts listening to a HS-DSCH in a target cell.