Patent ID: 8792408

Claim:
A method of managing header compression in a telecommunications network comprising: negotiating use of header compression over at least a portion of a backhaul link, wherein the backhaul link comprises: (i) a first tunnel having a first tunnel identifier and extending between a serving gateway node of the telecommunications network and a donor base station node and (ii) a second tunnel having a second tunnel identifier and extending between the donor base station node and a relay base station node, and wherein the second tunnel traverses a radio interface between the relay base station node and the donor base station node, the negotiating comprising: receiving a first signaling message at a mobility management entity, the first signaling message indicating whether the serving gateway node agrees to use header compression; receiving a second signaling message at the mobility management entity, the second signaling message indicating whether the donor base station agrees to use header compression; receiving, at the donor base station node, a packet transmitted over the first tunnel, wherein the received packet comprises an outer internet protocol (IP) header and an inner IP header; compressing the inner IP header of the packet; and switching the packet from the first tunnel to the second tunnel for transmission to the relay base station node.