Mobile communication system, mobile station and diversity handover branch control method

Abstract

A branch candidate selecting method by a mobile station and a diversity handover control method on a network side in DHO performance are provided which consider a maximum cable branch number and maximum radio branch number of the mobile station, when the mobile station detects the plurality of addition branch candidates and deletion branch candidates. The mobile station inserts a plurality of addition branch candidates and deletion branch candidates, that is, all the DHO candidates into one handover trigger signal, and notifies the network. The addition branch candidates are put into addition information parameters in the handover trigger signal, and the deletion branch candidates are put into deletion information parameters. To simplify processing on the network side, the network side separates the addition branch candidates from the deletion branch candidates, and carries out sequential processing of them independently.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A diversity handover control method in a mobile communication system that includes a mobile station, a plurality of base stations capable of communicating with said mobile station each via a corresponding radio branch, and a center communicating with each of said base stations via a corresponding cable second branch, the second branch being one of a cable branch or a fixed radio channel, the center controlling diversity handover, said diversity handover control method comprising the steps of:
 notifying, from said mobile station to said center, information on one or more addition branch candidates; and 
 carrying out, at said center, the diversity handover based on said notified information on one or more addition branch candidates by establishing, between said center and said mobile station, a plurality of communicating branches each via a different base station, wherein the communicating branch for any given one of the plurality of base stations is composed of a radio branch communicating between the mobile station and the given base station, and a cable second branch communicating between the given base station and the center, the second branch being one of a cable branch or a fixed radio channel, 
 wherein when said center establishes a communicating branch of the plurality of communicating branches between said center and said mobile station for the diversity handover, said center establishes a cable second branch of the communicating branch before establishing a radio branch of the communicating branch. 
 
     
     
       2. A diversity handover control method as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
 detecting, at said mobile station, one or more radio branches whose radio condition quality becomes poor in radio branches of communicating branches; 
 releasing, at said mobile station, the detected radio branches; 
 notifying, from said mobile station to said center, information on the released radio branches as information on deletion branch candidates; and 
 releasing, at said center, cable second branches corresponding to the released radio branches based on the notified information on the deletion branch candidates. 
 
     
     
       3. A diversity handover control method as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising the step of notifying, from said mobile station to said center, information on one or more deletion branch candidates,
 wherein said addition branch candidates are one or more branches whose radio condition quality is equal to or better than that of the highest priority communicating branch, or worse than that of the highest priority communicating branch by less than an addition diversity handover (DHO) threshold value, 
 said deletion branch candidates are one or more branches whose radio condition quality is worse than that of the highest priority communicating branch by more than a deletion DHO threshold value, and 
 said deletion DHO threshold value is greater than said addition DHO threshold value. 
 
     
     
       4. A diversity handover control method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein when the number of communicating radio branches is equal to the maximum number of radio branches which can be established simultaneously, said mobile station notifies said center of only addition branch candidates whose radio condition quality is better than that of the lowest priority communicating branch by more than a predetermined threshold.