FORM 2

THE PATENTS ACT  1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENTS RULES  2003

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See section 10  rule 13)

“A Group handover method and system in wireless communication system that supports mobile relay station”

Tejas Networks Limited
2nd floor  GNR Tech Park  46/4  Garbebhavi Palya 
Kudlu Gate  Hosur main road 
Bangalore 560 068  Karnataka  India

The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication method  system  relay node  enode-B and Mobile Management Entity (MME) for use in a wireless network with a handover function.

Background of the Invention
With the continuous advancement in science and technology  ever higher requirements for the people are being imposed on communications. Nowadays  more and more importance is being attached to convenience of communications in addition to requirements on quality of communications. Among the various communication means  the wireless communications are advantageous in that they provide higher mobility by obviating the need of physical communication network wiring. Therefore  the mobile products with wireless-communication function (i.e.  mobile stations)  such as mobile phones  notebooks  and so on  are gaining more and more popularity in recent years and have become the mainstream products in the consumer electronics market.
However  in practice  the mobile stations often have to handover between the different base stations according to the environments in order to maintain a certain quality of service (QoS).
Generally a base station continuously measures wireless signals there around and reports the measured results to a network that is presently accessed by the base station. The network to which the measured results are reported from the base station determines a handover operation according to a predetermined reference and the base station request resource reservation to a network (that is  a target network) to which the handover is made. Therefore  the base station may continuously receive the corresponding broadcast contents through the handover operation and the resumption of a broadcasting service between the communication network and the broadcasting network.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a wireless network 100. The wireless network 100 comprises the base stations 160  170 and mobile stations 110  120  130  140 and 150. The base station 160 has coverage 165  and the base station 170 has coverage 175. Users of the mobile stations 110  120  130  140 and 150 are directly served by the Donor enode B 160 or it is also possible that some of the UEs or mobile station may be in coverage or served by a relay node 180. Further network includes a Mobile Management Entity (MME) 190.
As can be seen in FIG. 1  the mobile stations 110  120  130  140 and 150 are all served by the base station or Donor enode B 160. From viewpoints of the mobile stations 110  120  130  140 and 150 are traveling or moving away from the Donor enode B coverage to the next available coverage. By moving away from the range 165  all the mobile stations signal strength starts fading from the source base station or source enode B or Donor enode B. Also  all the mobile stations signal strength will become stronger gradually since all of them are approaching the target base station or target enode B 170. To ensure a certain quality of service  it is highly probable that the mobile stations 110  120  130  140 and 150will handover from the base station 160 (i.e. source enode B) to the base station 170 (i.e. target enode B) within the same time period.
In this case  group of mobile stations or User Equipments (UEs) which are in the range of Donor enode B have to perform a handover (HO) procedure or request individually based on the receipt of the measurement report from the UE’s  based on the measurement report Donor enode B decides to perform HO or not. Since Donor enode B serves a plurality of UE’s within the range 165  due to same Donor enode B faces heavy burden of handover individually to the target enode B due to processing of the massive handover-related control messages by all the base stations or UEs within the handover time period. Moreover  the communications of the handover-related control messages between the base stations and the mobile stations increase latency and also waste a great bandwidth of the wireless network. Due to same  the backhaul bandwidth is also wasted because source eNB needs to communicate with target eNB for handing over each UE.
Accordingly  an urgent need exists in the art to effectively decrease the burden of the base stations and the wireless network in processing the handover-related control messages during a mobile station""s handover procedure  thereby to increase the handover efficiency and the overall effectiveness of the wireless network as a whole.
Summary of the Invention
The following presents a simplified summary of one or more embodiments in order to provide a basic understanding of such embodiments. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated embodiments  and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all embodiments nor delineate the scope of any or all embodiments. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more embodiments in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention is a method of supporting communication via at least one Relay Node (RN) in order to facilitate for sending group handover request for a group of UEs from a Donor Enode B (DenB) to a Target Enode B (TenB) in a wireless communication system  the method comprising: receiving measurement report message from all the user equipments (UEs) by theRelay Node  initiating a group handover request for all the user equipments to the Donor enode B  wherein the step of initiating is based on the measurement report received by the relay node from each UE or based on RN’s radio resource management decision  receiving a group handover command by the relay node from the Donor enode B and requesting by the relay node to send the handover command to each UE individually.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention is a relay node for supporting communication in a wireless communication system  the system comprising: a plurality of User Equipments (UEs) in communication with the Relay Node  wherein the relay node is configured for sending group handover request for a group of UEs from a Donor Enode B to a Target Enode B  the relay node is capable of receiving measurement report message from all the user equipments (UEs)  initiating a group handover request for all the user equipments to the Donor enode B  wherein the step of initiating is based on the measurement report received by the relay node from each UE or based on RN’s radio resource management decision  receiving a group handover command by the relay node from the Donor enode B and requesting by the relay node to send the handover command to each UE individually.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention is a method of supporting communication in order to facilitate for sending group handover request for a group of UEs from a Source Enode B (SenB) to a Target Enode B (TenB) /Target Relay Node (TRN) in a wireless communication system  the method comprising: receiving measurement report message from all the user equipments (UEs) by the SenB  forming a digest of group message based on the received measurement report message from all the UEs or based on eNB’s radio resource management decision  initiating a group handover request for all the user equipments by the Source enode B to the target enode B  wherein the step of initiating is based on the measurement report received by the SenB from each UE or based on eNB’s radio resource management decision and initiating the group handover procedure for all the UEs by the Source enode B towards the Target enode B  wherein the group handover procedure is executed over X2 interface or via MME over S1 interface.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention is a enode B  comprising: a memory  a processor communicatively coupled to the memory and a control circuit communicatively coupled to the memory and the processor  wherein the control circuit is configured for supporting communication to facilitate for sending group handover request for a group of UEs from a Source Enode B (SenB) to a Target Enode B (TenB) /Target Relay Node (TRN) in a wireless communication system  receiving measurement report message from all the user equipments (UEs) by the SenB  forming a digest of group message based on the received measurement report message from all the UEs or based on eNB’s radio resource management decision  initiating a group handover request for all the user equipments by the Source enode B to the target enode B  wherein the step of initiating is based on the measurement report received by the SenB from each UE or based on eNB’s radio resource management decision and initiating the group handover procedure for all the UEs by the Source enode B towards the Target enode B  wherein the group handover procedure is executed over X2 interface or via MME over S1 interface.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention so that those skilled in the art may better understand the detailed description of the invention that follows. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter that form the subject of the claims of the invention. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that they may readily use the conception and the specific embodiment disclosed as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. Those skilled in the art should also realize that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention in its broadest form.
Before undertaking the detailed description of the invention below  it may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases used throughout this patent document: the terms “include” and “comprise ” as well as derivatives thereof  mean inclusion without limitation; the term “or ” is inclusive  meaning and/or; the phrases “associated with” and “associated therewith ” as well as derivatives thereof  may mean to include  be included within  interconnect with  contain  be contained within  connect to or with  couple to or with  be communicable with  cooperate with  interleave  juxtapose  be proximate to  be bound to or with  have  have a property of  or the like; and the term “controller” means any device  system or part thereof that controls at least one operation  such a device may be implemented in hardware  firmware or software  or some combination of at least two of the same. It should be noted that the functionality associated with any particular controller may be centralized or distributed  whether locally or remotely. Definitions for certain words and phrases are provided throughout this patent document  those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that in many  if not most instances  such definitions apply to prior  as well as future uses of such defined words and phrases.

Brief description of the drawings
For a more complete understanding of the present invention  and the advantages thereof  reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings  wherein like numbers designate like objects  and in which:
Figure 1 is a schematic view of a conventional wireless network.
Figure 2 is a schematic view of a wireless network of the present invention.
Figure 3 is a flow chart of a method of supporting communication in order to facilitate for sending group handover request for a group of UEs from a Donor Enode B (DenB) to a Target Enode B (TenB) in a wireless communication system.
Figure 4 is a flow chart of a method of supporting communication via at least one relay node in order to facilitate for sending group handover request for a group of UEs from a Donor Enode B (DenB) to a Target Enode B (TenB) in a wireless communication system.
Figure 5 shows a block diagram of the UE and Node B.
Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and may have not been drawn to scale. For example  the dimensions of some of the elements in the figure may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.
Throughout the drawings  it should be noted that like reference numbers are used to depict the same or similar elements  features  and structures.

Detail description of the Invention
In the following description  for purposes of explanation and not limitation  specific details are set forth such as particular architectures  interfaces  techniques  etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However  it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced in other embodiments that depart from these specific details. That is  those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements which  although not explicitly described or shown herein  embody the principles of the invention and are included within its spirit and scope. In some instances  detailed descriptions of well-known devices  circuits  and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the present invention with unnecessary detail. All statements herein reciting principles  aspects  and embodiments of the invention  as well as specific examples thereof  are intended to encompass both structural and functional equivalents thereof. Additionally  it is intended that such equivalents include both currently known equivalents as well as equivalents developed in the future  i.e.  any elements developed that perform the same function  regardless of structure.
Thus  for example  it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that block diagrams herein can represent conceptual views of illustrative circuitry embodying the principles of the technology. Similarly  it will be appreciated that any flow charts  state transition diagrams  pseudo code  and the like represent various processes which may be substantially represented in computer readable medium and so executed by a computer or processor  whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown.
The functions of the various elements including functional blocks labeled or described as "computer"  "processor" or "controller" may be provided through the use of dedicated hardware as well as hardware capable of executing software in the form of coded instructions stored on computer readable medium. A computer is generally understood to comprise one or more processors  and the terms computer and processor may be employed interchangeably herein. When provided by a computer or processor  the functions may be provided by a single dedicated computer or processor  by a single shared computer or processor  or by a plurality of individual computers or processors  some of which may be shared or distributed. Such functions are to be understood as being computer-implemented and thus machine-implemented. Moreover  use of the term "processor" or "controller" shall also be construed to refer to other hardware capable of performing such functions and/or executing software  and may include  without limitation  digital signal processor (DSP) hardware  reduced instruction set processor  hardware (e.g.  digital or analog) circuitry  and (where appropriate) state machines capable of performing such functions.
Figure 2 is a schematic view of a wireless network of the present invention  according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a wireless communication system 200 with multiple Node B’s 260 and 270 and user equipments (UEs) 210  220  230  240  250 etc. A Node B is generally a fixed station that communicates with the UEs and may also be referred to as an evolved Node B (eNB)  a base station  an access point  etc. Each Node B 260  270 provides communication coverage for a particular geographic area and supports communication for the UEs located within the coverage area. A system controller (not shown in figure) couples to Node Bs 260  270 and provides coordination and control for these Node Bs. System controller may be a single network entity or a collection of network entities.
UEs 210-250 may be dispersed throughout the system  and each UE may be stationary or mobile. A UE may also be referred to as a mobile station  a terminal  an access terminal  a subscriber unit  a station  etc. A UE may be a cellular phone  a personal digital assistant (PDA)  a wireless device  a handheld device  a wireless modem  a laptop computer  etc.
The techniques described herein may be used for various wireless communication systems such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems  Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems  Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems  Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems  Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems  etc. The terms “system” and “network” are often used interchangeably. A CDMA system may implement a radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA)  cdma2000  etc. UTRA includes Wideband CDMA (W-CDMA) and Time Division Synchronous CDMA (TD-SCDMA). cdma2000 covers IS-2000  IS-95 and IS-856 standards. A TDMA system may implement a radio technology such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). An OFDMA system may implement a radio technology such as Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA)  Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB)  IEEE 802.20  IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX)  Flash-OFDM®  etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) is an upcoming release of UMTS that uses E-UTRA  which employs OFDMA on the downlink and SC-FDMA on the uplink. UTRA  E-UTRA  UMTS  LTE and GSM are described in documents from an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project” (3GPP). cdma2000 is described in documents from an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2” (3GPP2). These various radio technologies and standards are known in the art. For clarity  certain aspects of the techniques are described below for UMTS  and 3GPP terminology is used in much of the description below.
In UMTS  data for a UE may be processed as one or more transport channels at a higher layer. The transport channels may carry data for one or more services  e.g.  voice  video  packet data  etc. The transport channels may be mapped to physical channels at a physical layer. The physical channels may be channelized with different channelization codes and may thus be orthogonal to one another in the code domain.
In an operation  the communication network includes a plurality of UEs (210-250) all are within the coverage of enode B 260 (it may be a Donor enode B). A Skilled person will appreciate that a base station or eNode B which communicates with UE’s including and via one or more Relay Nodes is called as Donor enode B and in the context of handover as Source eNodeB. Similary  it is further understood a Target node could be enode B (Target eNode B (TeNB)) or a Relay Node (Target Relay Node (TRN)). Within the enode B 260 coverage may include a plurality of Relay nodes (e.g. 280 as shown in figure 2) which are serving different UEs for effective bandwidth.
Further the network includes a Mobile Management Entity (MME) 290  where the MME is the key control-node for the LTE access-network. It is responsible for idle mode UE (User Equipment) tracking and paging procedure including retransmissions. It is involved in the bearer activation/deactivation process and is also responsible for choosing the Serving Gateway (SGW) for a UE at the initial attach and at time of intra-LTE handover involving Core Network (CN) node relocation. It is responsible for authenticating the user (by interacting with the Home Subscriber Server (HSS)). The Non Access Stratum (NAS) signaling terminates at the MME and it is also responsible for generation and allocation of temporary identities to UEs. It checks the authorization of the UE to camp on the service provider’s Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) and enforces UE roaming restrictions. The MME is the termination point in the network for ciphering/integrity protection for NAS signaling and handles the security key management. Lawful interception of signaling is also supported by the MME. The MME also provides the control plane function for mobility between LTE and 2G/3G access networks with the S3 interface terminating at the MME from the SGSN. The MME also terminates the S6a interface towards the home HSS for roaming UEs.
Considering all the UE’s are moving away from the coverage of enode B 260 and entering into a next available coverage. In this example embodiment  let’s say target is enode B 270. The coverage part of the enode B’s is not shown in figure 2 but it is same as shown in figure 1. By moving away from the range of Donor enode B 260  all the UEs signal strength starts fading from the source base station or source enode B or Donor enode B. Also  all the UE’s signal strength will become stronger gradually since all of them are approaching the target base station or target enode B 270. To ensure a certain quality of service  it is highly probable that the UEs 210  220  230  240  250 etc will handover from the base station 260 (i.e. Donor enode B) to the base station 270 (i.e. target enode B) within the same time period.
In this case  group of mobile stations or User Equipments (UEs) which are in the range of Donor enode B will perform a handover procedure or request in a group based on the measurement report Donor enode B which decides to perform HO or not. The receiving measurement report message from all the user equipments (UEs) may include one or more relay node come out to be nearly same.
In the present case of Group HO  a compact  concatenated  compressed  or optimized message  herein referred to as digest message  of all UE’s measurement report can be sent to target eNB which reduces backhaul bandwidth. Since all UEs info which are to be admitted at Target eNB is available in single message  latency of processing each UE individually at target eNB can also be reduced effectively.
In an embodiment of the present invention  eNodeB is intelligent enough to take decision of creating Group Handover request message based on well known data compression algorithm within a short span of time. In case of HO over S1 interface  MME also needs to be upgraded to support Group HO feature. The Donor enode B  the Target enode B and MME are capable of understanding the group handover request message. The message exchanged for handover request for each UE between the DenB and TenB is limited to one Group Handover Message on X2 interface or over S1 interface  ie. Via MME.
Figure 3 is a flow chart 300 of a method of supporting communication via at least one relay node in order to facilitate for sending group handover request for a group of UEs from a Donor Enode B (DenB) to a Target Enode B (TenB) in a wireless communication system  according to one embodiment of the present invention. At step 310  the method receives measurement report message from all the user equipments (UEs). The measurement report message is a WTRU RRC Measurement Report message received from a plurality of wireless UEs by the relay node. The receiving measurement report message from all the user equipments (UEs) by the relay node comes out to be nearly same.
At step 320  the method initiates a group handover request for all the user equipments to the Donor enode B. The initiating is based on the measurement report received by the relay node from each UE. The received measurement report messages from all the user equipments (UEs) by the Relay node come out to be nearly same. The measurement report may include but not limited to signal strength  radio resource availability at the Target Enode B  processing capability of enode B or any other parameters which is acceptable by the Source enode B.
At step 330  the method receives a group handover command by the relay node from the Donor enode B. The message received by the relay node indicating whether the group handover request UEs is approved  from the Target enode B via Donor enode B.
At step 340  the method requests by the relay node to send the handover command to each UE individually. The initiation of group handover procedure for all the UEs by the Donor enode B towards the Target enode B over X2 interface or via MME ie  over S1 interface
The Donor enode B  the Target enode B and MME are capable of understanding the group handover request message. The message exchanged for handover request for each UE between the DenB and TenB is limited to one Group Handover Message on X2 interface or over S1 interface  ie. Via MME.
Figure 4 is a flow chart 400 of a method of supporting communication in order to facilitate for sending group handover request for a group of UEs from a a Source Enode B (SenB) to a Target Enode B (TenB) /Target Relay Node (TRN) in a wireless communication system  according to one embodiment of the present invention.
At step 410  the method receives measurement report message from all the user equipments (UEs) by the Source Enode B.
At step 420  the method forms a digest of group message based on the received measurement report message from all the UEs. The digest message may be or may include but not limited to compression of group of messages  concatenation of messages  etc.
At step 430  the method initiates a group handover request for all the user equipments by the Source Enode B to the Target Enode B. The initiating is based on the measurement report received by the Source Enode B from each UE. The received measurement report messages from all the user equipments (UEs) and the Relay node come out to be nearly same. The measurement report may include but not limited to signal strength  radio resource availability at the Target Enode B  processing capability of enode B or any other parameters which is acceptable by the Source enode B.
At step 440  the method initiates the group handover procedure for all the UEs by the Source enode B towards the Target enode B. The group handover procedure is executed over X2 interface or via MME i.e over S1 interface.
Although the method flowchart includes steps 310-340 and 410-440 that are arranged logically in the exemplary embodiments  other embodiments of the subject matter may execute two or more steps in parallel  using multiple processors or a single processor organized as two or more virtual machines or sub-processors. Moreover  still other embodiments may implement the steps as two or more specific interconnected hardware modules with related control and data signals communicated between and through the modules  or as portions of an application-specific integrated circuit. Thus  the exemplary process flow diagrams are applicable to software  firmware  and/or hardware implementations.
FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of a design of UE 520. On the uplink  an encoder 532 may receive data and signaling (e.g.  CQIs) to be sent by UE 520 on the uplink. Encoder 532 may process (e.g.  format  encode  and interleave) the data and signaling. A modulator (Mod) 534 may further process (e.g.  modulate  channelize  and scramble) the encoded data and signaling and provide output chips. A transmitter (TMTR) 542 may condition (e.g.  convert to analog  filter  amplify  and frequency upconvert) the output chips and generate an uplink signal  which may be transmitted via an antenna 544 to the Node Bs.
On the downlink  antenna 544 may receive downlink signals transmitted by Node B 510 and other Node Bs. A receiver (RCVR) 546 may condition (e.g.  filter  amplify  frequency downconvert  and digitize) the received signal from antenna 544 and provide samples. A demodulator (Demod) 536 may process (e.g.  descramble  channelize  and demodulate) the samples and provide symbol estimates. A decoder 538 may further process (e.g.  deinterleave and decode) the symbol estimates and provide decoded data. Encoder 532  modulator 534  demodulator 536  and decoder 538 may be implemented by a modem processor 530. These units may perform processing in accordance with the radio technology (e.g.  W-CDMA) used by the system.
A controller/processor 552 may direct the operation of various units at UE 520. Controller/processor 552 may implement process as described in FIG. 3-4 and/or other processes for reporting CQIs. Memory 554 may store program codes and data for UE 520.
FIG. 5 also shows a block diagram of Node B 510  which may be one of the Node Bs in FIG. 1. Within Node B 510  a transmitter/receiver 558 may support radio communication with UE 520 and other UEs. A processor/controller 560 may perform various functions for communication with the UEs. Controller/processor 560 may also implement process as described in figure 3-4 and/or other processes for receiving CQIs from UEs and sending data to the UEs. Memory 562 may store program codes and data for Node B 510.
Those of skill in the art would understand that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example  data  instructions  commands  information  signals  bits  symbols  and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages  currents  electromagnetic waves  magnetic fields or particles  optical fields or particles  or any combination thereof.
Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks  modules  circuits  and algorithm steps described in connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented as electronic hardware  computer software  or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software  various illustrative components  blocks  modules  circuits  and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application  but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.
The various illustrative logical blocks  modules  and circuits described in connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented or performed with a general-purpose processor  a digital signal processor (DSP)  an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)  a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device  discrete gate or transistor logic  discrete hardware components  or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor  but in the alternative  the processor may be any conventional processor  controller  microcontroller  or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices  e.g.  a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor  a plurality of microprocessors  one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core  or any other such configuration.
The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the disclosure herein may be embodied directly in hardware  in a software module executed by a processor  or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory  flash memory  ROM memory  EPROM memory  EEPROM memory  registers  hard disk  a removable disk  a CD-ROM  or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from  and write information to  the storage medium. In the alternative  the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal. In the alternative  the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.
In one or more exemplary designs  the functions described may be implemented in hardware  software  firmware  or any combination thereof. If implemented in software  the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example  and not limitation  such computer-readable media can comprise RAM  ROM  EEPROM  CD-ROM or other optical disk storage  magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices  or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code means in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer  or a general-purpose or special-purpose processor. Also  any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example  if the software is transmitted from a website  server  or other remote source using a coaxial cable  fiber optic cable  twisted pair  digital subscriber line (DSL)  or wireless technologies such as infrared  radio  and microwave  then the coaxial cable  fiber optic cable  twisted pair  DSL  or wireless technologies such as infrared  radio  and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc  as used herein  includes compact disc (CD)  laser disc  optical disc  digital versatile disc (DVD)  floppy disk and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically  while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.
The previous description of the disclosure is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art  and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Thus  the disclosure is not intended to be limited to the examples and designs described herein but are to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.
FIGS. 1-5 are merely representational and are not drawn to scale. Certain portions thereof may be exaggerated  while others may be minimized. FIGS. 1-5 illustrate various embodiments of the invention that can be understood and appropriately carried out by those of ordinary skill in the art.

We Claim:
1. A method of supporting communication via at least one Relay Node (RN) in order to facilitate for sending group handover request for a group of UEs from a Source eNode B (SenB) to a Target eNode B (TenB) or a Target Relay Node (TRN) in a wireless communication system  the method comprising:
receiving measurement report message from all the user equipments (UEs) by the Relay Node ;
initiating a group handover request for a group of user equipments to the Source enode B  wherein the step of initiating is based on the measurement report received from each UE or based on RN’s radio resource management decision;
receiving a group handover command by the relay node from the Donor enode B; and
requesting by the relay node to send the handover command to each UE individually.

2. The method of claim 1  further including 
receiving a group handover request by the Donor enode B from the Relay Node; and
initiating the group handover procedure for all the UEs by the Donor enode B towards the Target enode B over X2 interface or via MME ie  over S1 interface or towards Target RN.

3. The method of claim 1  further comprising:
receiving a message by the relay node indicating whether the group handover request UEs is approved  from the Target enode B or the Target RN via Donor enode B.

4. The method of claim 1  wherein the measurement report message is a WTRU RRC Measurement Report message received from a plurality of wireless UEs by the relay node.

5. The method of claim 1  wherein the receiving measurement report message from all the user equipments (UEs) by the relay node come out to be nearly same.

6. The method of claim 1  wherein the Donor enode B  the Target enode B  Target Relay Node and MME are capable of understanding the group handover request message.

7. The method of claim 1  wherein the message exchanged for handover request for each UE between the DenB and TenB is limited to one Group Handover Message on X2 interface or over S1 interface  ie. via MME.

8. A relay node for supporting communication in a wireless communication system  the system comprising:
a plurality of User Equipments (UEs) in communication with the Relay Node;
wherein the relay node is configured for sending group handover request for a group of UEs from a Donor Enode B to a Target Enode B or Target Relay Node  the relay node is capable of
receiving measurement report message from all the user equipments (UEs);
initiating a group handover request for all the user equipments to the Donor enode B  wherein the step of initiating is based on the measurement report received by the relay node from each UE or based on RN’s radio resource management decision;
receiving a group handover command by the relay node from the Donor enode B; and
requesting by the relay node to send the handover command to each UE individually.
9. A method of supporting communication in order to facilitate for sending group handover request for a group of UEs from a Source Enode B (SenB) to a Target Enode B (TenB) /Target Relay Node (TRN) in a wireless communication system  the method comprising:
receiving measurement report message from all the user equipments (UEs) by the SenB;
forming a digest of group message based on the received measurement report message from all the UEs or based on eNB’s radio resource management decision;
initiating a group handover request for all the user equipments by the Source enode B to the target enode B  wherein the step of initiating is based on the measurement report received by the SenB from each UE or based on eNB’s radio resource management decision; and
initiating the group handover procedure for all the UEs by the Source enode B towards the Target enode B  wherein the group handover procedure is executed over X2 interface or via MME over S1 interface.

10. The method of claim 9  wherein the Donor enode B  the Target enode B and MME are capable of understanding the group handover request message.

11. The method of claim 9  wherein the message exchanged for handover request for each UE between the DenB and TenB is limited to one Group Handover Message on X2 interface or over S1 interface  ie. Via MME.

12. The method of claim 9  wherein the MME having at least one interface to other mobility management entities of the network and another interface to a configuration database for constructing a connection and for transmitting data to the configuration database of all the UE’s information.

13. 2A enode B  comprising:
a memory;
a processor communicatively coupled to the memory; and
a control circuit communicatively coupled to the memory and the processor  wherein the control circuit is configured for supporting communication to facilitate for sending group handover request for a group of UEs from a Source Enode B (SenB) to a Target Enode B (TenB) /Target Relay Node (TRN) in a wireless communication system 
receiving measurement report message from all the user equipments (UEs) by the SenB;
forming a digest of group message based on the received measurement report message from all the UEs or based on eNB’s radio resource management decision;
initiating a group handover request for all the user equipments by the Source enode B to the target enode B  wherein the step of initiating is based on the measurement report received by the SenB from each UE or based on eNB’s radio resource management decision; and
initiating the group handover procedure for all the UEs by the Source enode B towards the Target enode B  wherein the group handover procedure is executed over X2 interface or via MME over S1 interface.

Abstract
A Group handover method and system in wireless communication system that supports mobile relay station
The present invention relates to a communication method  system  relay node  enode-B and Mobile Management Entity (MME) for use in a wireless network with a handover function. In one embodiment this is accomplished by receiving measurement report message from all the user equipments (UEs) by the DenB  forming a compact/digest group message based on the received measurement report message from all the UEs  initiating a group handover request for all the user equipments by the Donor enode B to the target enode B  wherein the step of initiating is based on the measurement report received by the DenB from each UE and initiating the group handover procedure for all the UEs by the Donor enode B towards the Target enode B  wherein the group handover procedure is executed over X2 interface or via MME over S1 interface.

Figure 2 (for publication)