Patent ID: 6859448

Claim:
An H.323-based mobility protocol for real-time mobile multimedia communications and conferencing over packet-based networks by a Mobile Terminal/Node/Entity having a Home Gatekeeper/Home Location Database, comprising the steps of: upon becoming mobile and initiating by the Mobile Terminal/Node/Entity an H.323 communication that includes at least one of: audio, video and data, with respect to notification of available support services, one of the following: providing, by at least one of a plurality of available H.323 Home/Foreign Mobility Gatekeepers, notification of H.323 mobility services availability by periodically broadcasting/multicasting/unicasting a Mobility Gatekeeper Advertisement with a multicast address; and where the Mobile Terminal/Node/Entity lacks notification of H.323 mobility services availability, broadcasting/multicasting/unicasting/sending, by the Mobile Terminal/Node/Entity, a message to the Home Gatekeeper/Home Location Database, which notifies H.323 Home/Foreign Mobility Gatekeepers in a preselected area local to the Mobile Terminal/Node/Entity that the Mobile Terminal/Node/Entity needs H.323 mobility services and notifying, by the H.323 Home/Foreign Mobility Gatekeepers, the Mobile Terminal/Node/Entity of available H.323 Home/Foreign Mobility Gatekeepers; and thereafter registering, by the Mobile Terminal/Node Entity, with a H.323 Home/Foreign Mobility Gatekeeper of the available H.323 Home/Foreign Mobility Gatekeepers that support H.323 mobility services in a Location Area/Cell/zone of the Mobile Terminal/Node/Entity; and providing, for the Mobile Terminal/Node/Entity by the H.323 Home/Foreign Mobility Gatekeeper with which the Mobile Terminal/Node/Entity is registered, support for the H.323 communication that includes at least one of: audio, video and data.