Patent ID: 8625529

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving, via a network, a request for allocation of a Logical Home Agent for a mobile node; determining whether a Logical Home Agent should be selected for the mobile node based at least in part on comparing one or more identified performance metrics with a specified Quality of Service (QoS) for a mobile node, the determination comprising one or more of: identifying a current home agent associated with the mobile node and determining one or more metrics associated with the current home agent; identifying a current path from a correspondent node to the current home agent and determining one or more metrics associated with the current path from the correspondent node to the current home agent; identifying a current path from a current home agent to a current foreign agent and determining one or more metrics associated with the current path from the current home agent to the current foreign agent; and identifying a current path from a current foreign agent to the mobile node and determining one or more metrics associated with the current path from the current foreign agent to the mobile node; selecting a Logical Home Agent for the mobile node based on one or more performance metrics; and communicating Logical Home Agent selection to the selected Logical Home Agent and the mobile node, wherein selecting a Logical Home Agent for the mobile node based on one or more performance metrics further comprises one or more of: identifying a potential Logical Home Agent to associate with the mobile node and determining one or more metrics associated with the potential Logical Home Agent; identifying a potential path from a correspondent node to the potential Logical Home Agent and determining one or more metrics associated with the potential path from the correspondent node to the potential Logical Home Agent; identifying a potential path from a potential Logical Home Agent to a current foreign agent and determining one or more metrics associated with the current path from the current home agent to the current foreign agent; and identifying a current path from a current foreign agent to the mobile node and determining one or more metrics associated with the current path from the current foreign agent to the mobile node.