Method, apparatus and system of membership verification

Abstract

Devices, systems and methods of membership verification during handover to a target cell are presented. The target cell triggers membership verification (MV) process during handover, accepting user equipment (UE) as a non-member and upgrading it to a full member, e.g., if the membership verification process is successful.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of handover of a user equipment (UE) from a source cell to a target cell, the method operating by the target cell, the method comprising:
 sending a path switch request to a mobility management entity (MME); and   receiving from the MME a path switch request acknowledge, which includes a closed subscriber group (CSG) membership status after the MME has performed a membership verification (MV) process for the UE.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the source cell and the target cell comprise a Home evolved Node-B (HeNB). 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the handover is done by using an X2 handover protocol. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the CSG membership status comprises a non-member status and a member status. 
     
     
         5 . A cellular system comprising:
 a Mobility Management Entity (MME) to perform a membership verification (MV) process after handover from a cell to a target cell and to send to the target cell a path switch request acknowledge message, which includes a closed subscriber group (CSG) membership status.   
     
     
         6 . The cellular systems of  claim 5 , comprising a Home evolved Node-B (HeNB). 
     
     
         7 . The cellular system of  claim 5 , wherein the MME is able to perform the handover of a user equipment (UE) to the target cell according to the closed subscriber group (CSG) membership status. 
     
     
         8 . The cellular system of  claim 5 , wherein the CSG membership status comprises a non-member or a member status. 
     
     
         9 . An article comprising: a non-transitory computer readable medium containing program instructions of handover communications to a target cell, the instructions, when executed by the target cell, result in:
 sending a path switch request to a mobility management entity (MME); and   receiving from the MME a path switch request acknowledge, which includes a closed subscriber group (CSG) membership status after the MME has performed a membership verification (MV) process for the UE.   
     
     
         10 . The article of  claim 9 , wherein the target cell comprises a Home evolved Node-B (HeNB). 
     
     
         11 . The article of  claim 9 , wherein the handover is done by using an X2 handover protocol. 
     
     
         12 . The article of  claim 9 , wherein the CSG membership status comprises a non-member status and a member status. 
     
     
         13 . A wireless communication system comprising:
 a cell that includes at least:   a handover module to send a path switch request message and to receive from a mobility management entity (MME) a path switch request acknowledge message, which includes a closed subscriber group (CSG) membership status after the MME has performed a membership verification (MV) process for a user equipment (UE); and   a transceiver operably coupled to at least two dipole antennas to transmit Single Carrier Frequency Domain Multiple Access (SC_FDMA) modulated radio frequency (RF) signals over an uplink and to receive Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) modulated RF signals over a downlink.   
     
     
         14 . The wireless communication system of  claim 13 , wherein the CSG membership status provides either a non-member or a member status. 
     
     
         15 . The wireless communication system of  claim 13 , wherein the cell comprises a Home evolved Node-B (HeNB). 
     
     
         16 . The wireless communication system of  claim 13 , wherein the membership verification (MV) process comprises an X2 handover protocol.