Patent ID: 8873578

Claim:
A method of routing traffic in a communications network employing Proxy Mobile IP, the method comprising: transferring a traffic flow, intended for a target node via a mobility anchor function, from a first interface of a multi-homed mobile node, having a first IP address, to a second interface of the multi-homed mobile node, having a second IP address; selecting a unique port number for the mobile node, the unique port number based on a combination of an IP address of the target node and a port number of the target node; wherein the unique port number is used with the IP address of the target node and the port number of the target node to uniquely identify the traffic flow; for traffic sent from the mobile node: at the mobile node, translating the IP address used in packets of the traffic flow from the first IP address to the second IP address, while maintaining the first IP address for use by an application residing on the mobile node; upon reaching the mobility anchor function, translating the IP addresses used in the packets of the traffic flow from the second IP address back to the first IP address, before forwarding the packets to the target node; for traffic sent from the target node to the mobile node: at the mobility anchor function translating the IP address used in packets of the traffic flow from the first IP address to the second IP address, while maintaining the first IP address for use by an application residing on the mobility anchor function; and upon reaching the mobile node, translating the IP addresses used in the packets of the traffic flow from the second IP address back to the first IP address.