Patent ID: 8837429

Claim:
A method for handover of a mobile node (MN) in a communications network, comprising: receiving a handover indicator concerning a mobile node (MN) from a previous mobility access gateway (pMAG) at a new MAG (nMAG), wherein the handover indicator relates to a handover of the MN from a previous point of attachment (p-PoA) associated with the pMAG to a new PoA (n-PoA) associated with the nMAG, wherein the pMAG and nMAG are associated with a local mobility anchor (LMA); establishing a transient binding between the nMAG and the LMA; and receiving download data for the MN in a download path from the LMA at the nMAG prior to establishment of a connection between the MN and the n-PoA; wherein the LMA is configured to automatically remove the transient binding with the nMAG, unless the nMAG confirms a successful handover to the n-PoA by activating the transient binding into a normal binding within a timer period after receipt of a trigger from the n-PoA at the nMAG indicating a connection between the MN and the n-PoA has been established; the method further comprising: signalling the pMAG from the LMA that the MN has moved to the nMAG and the normal binding at the LMA has been updated to the nMAG; and receiving at least one data packet from the pMAG at the LMA in conjunction with a handover failure mode, wherein the at least one data packet is destined for the MN, was buffered at the pMAG, and can no longer be transmitted from the pMAG to the MN, wherein the at least one data packet is transmitted from the LMA to the nMAG using the normal binding at the LMA after the at least one data packet is received from the pMAG.