Patent ID: 8140074

Claim:
A mobile internet protocol (IP) communication network for allowing a mobile entity to move between IP subnets in an IP infrastructure while maintaining its ongoing IP sessions and reducing a number of binding updates required to be sent from the mobile entity to its home agent, the method comprising: a home agent configured to support mobility of the mobile entity by generating a binding between a static home address of the mobile entity and a varying care of address of the mobile entity; a mapping processor configured to provide at least one set of mappings comprising at least one mapping between a potential future care of address for a mobile entity, different from a current care of address for the mobile entity, and a real time characteristic criterion; and a processor configured to determine a real time characteristic and to determine, by comparing the real time characteristic with the real time characteristic criterion, whether the care of address for the mobile entity should be changed from the current care of address to the potential future care of address; wherein the home agent is further configured to change the binding between the home address and the care of address to reflect the potential future care of address in response to the comparison and without receiving a corresponding binding update from the mobile entity reflecting the potential future care of address.