Patent ID: 8472983

Claim:
A method operable at a home node gateway in communication with a core network and with a plurality of home nodes, the method comprising: receiving, at the gateway, location information from a home node of the plurality of home nodes which indicates that a mobile device is attached to the home node; storing, at the gateway, the location information in one or more data structures, wherein the location information includes an identity of the mobile device and an identity of the home node; mapping, at the gateway, in the one or more data structures the identity of the mobile device to the identity of the home node; receiving, at the gateway, a paging request message which contains the identity of a desired mobile device, wherein the paging request message requests the gateway to page the desired mobile device; identifying, at the gateway, one or more associated home nodes through the mapping with the identity of the desired mobile device, wherein the paging request message contains information other than the identity of the desired mobile device which narrows the possible home nodes to which the desired mobile device is attached, and the one or more associated home nodes are a proper subset of the possible home nodes; and forwarding, from the gateway, the paging request message to the one or more associated home nodes.