Patent ID: 8774759

Claim:
A method for security capability negotiation during a handover of a user equipment (UE) from a first network to a second network, wherein the first network is a 2G or 3G network, the second network is a long term evolution (LTE) access network, and the security capabilities include a radio resource control (RRC) algorithm and a user plane (UP) encryption algorithm, comprising: receiving, by an evolved node B (eNodeB) of the second network, a handover preparation request message from a mobility management entity (MME) of the second network, wherein the handover preparation request message includes a RRC algorithm and a UP encryption algorithm supported by the UE; selecting, by the eNodeB, a RRC algorithm and a UP encryption algorithm supported by both the UE and the eNodeB, according to the RRC algorithm and the UP encryption algorithm supported by the UE and a RRC algorithm and a UP encryption algorithm supported by the eNodeB; and sending, by the eNodeB, the selected RRC algorithm and the selected UP encryption algorithm to the first network.