Patent ID: 8717880

Claim:
A method for restoring bearers and flows within a communication network comprising: establishing a plurality of bearers between a mobile device and a plurality of radio access networks (RANs), wherein the plurality of bearers comprise a plurality of dedicated bearers; detecting an abnormal termination of a dedicated bearer of the plurality of dedicated bearers, referred to as a lost bearer, wherein the lost bearer is not a default bearer within a communication network, wherein the lost bearer includes one or more lost communication flows, wherein each of the lost communication flows is an information exchange between a network component and the mobile device; identifying an alternative radio access network (RAN) capable of communicating with the mobile device, wherein the RAN is not one used for the dedicated bearer that was abnormally terminated and wherein the alternative RAN is one of the plurality of RANs or is a new RAN; detecting or establishing at least one alternative bearer at the alternative RAN; and automatically and dynamically routing each of the lost communication flows to the at least one alternative bearer where moved lost communication flows are referred to as restored flows, wherein a one-to-one correspondence exists between lost communication flows and restored flows, wherein the moving occurs without interrupting communications and in a manner that requires no manual actions to be taken by a user of the mobile device, wherein the flow of a non-terminated bearer of the plurality of dedicated bearers, which non-terminated bearer is established at a different RAN than the RAN associated with the least one alternative bearer, remains at the different RAN and is not moved to the alternative RAN associated with the least one alternative bearer.