Patent ID: 8189596

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving at a first network node a first bearer creation request; obtaining to said first network node, from a remote network node, a plurality of gate descriptions in response to said first bearer creation request, said plurality of gate descriptions comprising at least two bi-directional gate description combinations comprising an uplink gate description and a downlink gate description, said bi-directional gate description combinations being associated with at least two packet flows; establishing said first bearer to said first network node; receiving a packet associated with said first bearer in said first network node; matching said packet with at least one of said plurality of gate descriptions to determine a first bi-directional gate description combination; establishing a mapping between said first bi-directional gate description combination and said first bearer in said first network node, in response to said matching; receiving at said first network node a second bearer creation request; establishing said second bearer to said first network node; receiving a second packet associated with said second bearer in said first network node; matching said second packet with at least one of said plurality of gate descriptions to determine a second bi-directional gate description combination; and establishing a mapping between said second bi-directional gate description combination and said second bearer in said first network node.