METHOD OF TRIGGERING HANDOVER

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method of triggering a decision of a wireless communication system on a handover and/or of triggering a handover by means of at least one trigger signal. SOLUTION: Vertical handovers in heterogeneous networks are difficult to perform because the radio link quality in a different radio access topology (RAT) is defined differently. This is why the radio link quality in a different RAT can hardly be anticipated. It is suggested to use a generic algorithm for triggering handover trigger signals. The algorithm uses generic parameters representing at least an aspect of the quality of service of a radio link. The method facilitates handovers in multi-RAT networks and decreases the signaling as part of the handover decision making is transferred to the terminal device. COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT