Patent ID: 8848516
Filing Date: 2014-09-30
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
1. A serving gateway support node that controls connections through at least one serving gateway of a radio telecommunications network, the serving gateway support node comprising circuitry configured to: detect failure of communications to a first serving gateway; detect an event triggering handover of a user equipment node, the event triggering handover including one or more of a tracking area update, a routing area update, a radio handover, or a radio release with redirection; detect at the serving gateway support node the event triggering handover of a user equipment node, which has not yet been relocated to the second serving gateway, from the serving gateway support node to another serving gateway support node; initiate relocation of existing connections through the first serving gateway to instead pass through a second serving gateway in response to the detected failure of communications and the event triggering handover; relocate a first one of the existing connections associated with the user equipment node by communicating from the serving gateway support node to the other serving gateway support an instruction in a GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP) message to carry out relocation of the first existing connection from the serving gateway support node to the other serving gateway support node: detect recovery of communications to the first serving gateway; and cease relocation of at least some of the existing connections that have not yet been relocated to the second serving gateway in response to the detected recovery of communications.