Patent ID: 9609602
Date: 2017-03-28
CPC Classifications: H04B,H04J,H04L,H04W,Y02D

Claim:
1. An evolved Node B (eNB) for operating in an LTE (Long Term Evolution) network, comprising: processing circuitry; a radio interface for communicating with user equipment (UEs); an S1-MME network interface for communicating with a mobile management entity (MME); an S1-U network interface for communicating with a serving gateway (S-GW); an X2 network interface for communicating with another eNB; wherein the processing circuitry is to, when a request for an always-on S1-U bearer is received from a UE, instruct the MME to provide the UE with an S1-U bearer that persists as the UE moves between RRC_CONNECTED and RRC_IDLE states and preserve the UE context information during an S1 Release procedure or when the UE otherwise goes into an RRC_IDLE or ECM-IDLE state; and, after receiving an NAS (non-access stratum) Service Request message from a UE with an always-on S1-U bearer along with an S-GW IP address, S-GW TEID assigned to the always-on S1-U bearer, last eNB IP address, and last eNB ECGI (E-UTRAN Cell Global Identifier), and if the UE's eNB has changed and a low mobility indication has been received from the UE, the processing circuitry is further to: send an enhanced UE Context Release message to the UE's last eNB that informs the last eNB to release resources associated with the always-on S1-U bearer; re-establish security context with the UE.