Patent ID: 8145210

Claim:
A method for maintaining an IP network session according to quality of service constraints for an application running on a mobile user device, the method comprising: receiving a list of preferred access networks for the mobile user device, the list comprising a plurality of access networks authorized for the mobile user device; receiving the quality of service constraints from the mobile user device; establishing the IP network session via a first access network based on the quality of service constraints, wherein the first access network is one of the plurality of networks; monitoring mobile user device conditions for the first access network and at least some of the plurality of networks on the list of preferred access networks to determine whether the first access network is able to maintain the IP network session with the mobile user device in accordance with the quality of service constraints for the application; and transferring, when the first access network is not able to maintain the IP network session with the mobile user device in accordance with the quality of service constraints, the IP network session to a second access network, the second access network being selected based at least in part on the mobile user device conditions, the mobile user device conditions including at least one of the group consisting of: a mobility direction indicator configured to indicate an access network technology type corresponding to the second access network, and a battery consumption indicator configured to indicate a battery life status of the mobile user device to be taken into account with the access network technology type of the second access network for selecting the second access network among the plurality of access networks in the preferred access network list.