Patent ID: 7944887

Claim:
In a network access server operating as a mobile-IP (MIP) foreign agent, a method of managing communications with a mobile node having a data link layer connection with the network access server, wherein the mobile node has a first MIP session with a first MIP home agent, the method comprising: making a determination of whether the first MIP home agent is a particular MIP home agent; if the determination is that the first MIP home agent is the particular MIP home agent, then not responsively forcing handoff of the mobile node to the particular MIP home agent; and if the determination is that the first MIP home agent is not the particular MIP home agent, then responsively forcing handoff of the mobile node to the particular MIP home agent, wherein forcing handoff of the mobile node to the particular MIP home agent comprises (i) generating and sending to the mobile node a MIP teardown request requesting teardown of the MIP session, (ii) receiving from the mobile node a data link layer connection teardown request, (iii) responsively sending to the mobile node a rejection of the data link layer connection teardown request, so as to maintain the data link layer connection with the mobile node, (iv) receiving from the mobile node an acceptance of the MIP teardown message, (v) sending an agent advertisement message to the mobile node to trigger MIP registration by the mobile node, (vi) receiving a MIP registration request sent by the mobile node in response to the agent advertisement message, and (vii) sending the MIP registration request to the particular MIP home agent to facilitate registration of the mobile node with the particular MIP home agent.