The objective of the present invention is to provide services by effectively switching, by a terminal, a macro cell and a small cell on the basis of time in a communication system in which the macro cell and the small cell coexist. A method for operating a terminal in a wireless communication system comprises the steps of: transmitting, to a first base station and/or a second base station, information on a switching delay time required for the terminal to perform cell switching; and communicating through a resource of the first base station and a resource of the second base station which are allocated by considering the switching delay time.

Techniques for supporting location services for a base station such as a home Node B (HNB) and its user equipments (UEs) are disclosed. In an aspect, location services may be supported for a UE by having an HNB inter-work between user plane and control plane location solutions. In another aspect, a location server may be used to support assisted GNSS (A-GNSS) for HNBs and UEs. In one design, a location server receives a positioning request including an identification value from a base station, determines a positioning method based on the identification value, sends a positioning response to the base station based on the positioning method, receives positioning information from the base station, determines the position of the base station based on the positioning information, and stores the position of the base station.

Techniques for supporting location services for a base station such as a home Node B (HNB) and its user equipments (UEs) are disclosed. In an aspect, location services may be supported for a UE by having an HNB inter-work between user plane and control plane location solutions. In another aspect, a location server may be used to support assisted GNSS (A-GNSS) for HNBs and UEs. In one design, a location server receives a positioning request including an identification value from a base station, determines a positioning method based on the identification value, sends a positioning response to the base station based on the positioning method, receives positioning information from the base station, determines the position of the base station based on the positioning information, and stores the position of the base station.

The invention relates methods for time aligning uplink transmissions by a mobile terminal in a mobile communication system, and to methods for performing a handover of a mobile terminal to a target aggregation access point. The invention is also providing apparatus and system for performing these methods, and computer readable media the instructions of which cause the apparatus and system to perform the methods described herein. In order to allow for aligning the timing of uplink transmissions on uplink component carriers, where different propagation delays are imposed on the transmissions on the uplink component carriers, the inventions suggests to time align the uplink component carriers based on a reference time alignment of a reference cell and a reception time difference or propagation delay difference between the downlink transmissions in the reference cell and the other radio cells, the uplink component carriers of which need to be time aligned.

The invention relates methods for time aligning uplink transmissions by a mobile terminal in a mobile communication system, and to methods for performing a handover of a mobile terminal to a target aggregation access point. The invention is also providing apparatus and system for performing these methods, and computer readable media the instructions of which cause the apparatus and system to perform the methods described herein. In order to allow for aligning the timing of uplink transmissions on uplink component carriers, where different propagation delays are imposed on the transmissions on the uplink component carriers, the inventions suggests to time align the uplink component carriers based on a reference time alignment of a reference cell and a reception time difference or propagation delay difference between the downlink transmissions in the reference cell and the other radio cells, the uplink component carriers of which need to be time aligned.

Under a terminal device aspect, a device is proposed, wherein a control module is configured to report a candidate transceiver device for use after a handover via the transceiver module, and receive a handover instruction via the transceiver module. The handover instruction includes at least an indication that information is to be stored in a memory module for use in a processing to be applied after handover. Also, under a network transceiver device aspect, there is proposed a device wherein a control module is configured to receive a report indicative of a candidate transceiver device for use after a handover via the transceiver module, and upon processing the report, to issue a handover instruction via the transceiver module. Methods and respective computer program products are disclosed. Further, network transceiver device aspects related to such device to which handover is performed are encompassed.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to the technical field of wireless communications, and specifically relate to a method, system and device for switching, for use in solving the problem in the prior art of the risk of communication interruption when a user equipment (UE) is switching due to greatly increased frequency and number of times of switching by the UE in an E-UTRAN network architecture. The method of the embodiments of the present invention comprises: a UE receives a DRB reconfiguration message from a macro base station; and the UE keeps a PDCP layer corresponding to all of the DRBs of a control side and of a user side at the macro base station, and switches other layers corresponding to some or all of the DRBs of the user side except the PDCP layer onto at least one base station. Because the embodiments of the present invention reduce the number of times of control side switching by the UE, in the case of increased frequency and number of times of switching by the UE in the E-UTRAN network architecture, the risk of communication interruption is reduced when the UE is switching.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to the technical field of wireless communications, and specifically relate to a method, system and device for switching, for use in solving the problem in the prior art of the risk of communication interruption when a user equipment (UE) is switching due to greatly increased frequency and number of times of switching by the UE in an E-UTRAN network architecture. The method of the embodiments of the present invention comprises: a UE receives a DRB reconfiguration message from a macro base station; and the UE keeps a PDCP layer corresponding to all of the DRBs of a control side and of a user side at the macro base station, and switches other layers corresponding to some or all of the DRBs of the user side except the PDCP layer onto at least one base station. Because the embodiments of the present invention reduce the number of times of control side switching by the UE, in the case of increased frequency and number of times of switching by the UE in the E-UTRAN network architecture, the risk of communication interruption is reduced when the UE is switching.

The present invention provides a method for determining a core network type during a handover process, a terminal device, an access network device, and a core network device. In a process of cell handover, a target access network device may determine the core network type of a target cell according to preferred core network type information reported by a terminal device; alternatively, the target access device may determine the core network type of the target cell by information exchange with a core network device. Therefore, smooth cell handover is ensured, and user experience is improved. The method comprises: during a process of handover of a terminal device from a source cell to a target cell, the terminal device sends preferred core network type information for the target cell to a source access network device, wherein the preferred core network type information is reference information for determining the core network type of the target cell.

The present invention provides a method for determining a core network type during a handover process, a terminal device, an access network device, and a core network device. In a process of cell handover, a target access network device may determine the core network type of a target cell according to preferred core network type information reported by a terminal device; alternatively, the target access device may determine the core network type of the target cell by information exchange with a core network device. Therefore, smooth cell handover is ensured, and user experience is improved. The method comprises: during a process of handover of a terminal device from a source cell to a target cell, the terminal device sends preferred core network type information for the target cell to a source access network device, wherein the preferred core network type information is reference information for determining the core network type of the target cell.