Patent ID: 7860032

Claim:
An apparatus housed in a wireless mobile station for efficiently processing an Internet Protocol (IP) packet incoming to the mobile station, comprising: a receiver, at the mobile station tethered to a terminal equipment and operable to provide the terminal equipment with access to a wireless network, for wirelessly receiving an IP packet having a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) header, wherein the TCP/IP header comprises a Van Jacobson (VJ) compressed header comprising a connection identification corresponding to one of the terminal equipment, or the mobile station, or a site associated with a Packet Data Service Node (PDSN) in communication with the mobile station via the wireless network; a storage at the mobile station, communicatively associated with said receiver, for storing a list, wherein the list comprises at least one VJ connection identification, wherein the at least one VJ connection identification identifies at least one of a first source having an active TCP/IP session with an active application on the mobile station, or a first destination corresponding to the active application on the mobile station, or a second source or a second destination both not corresponding to the active application on the mobile station; and a comparator at the mobile station for comparing the connection identification of the IP packet with the at least one VJ connection identification in the list and forwarding the IP packet based on the result of the comparing, wherein the IP packet is forwarded without decompressing the IP packet, to the intended destination if the comparing determines that the connection identification does not correspond to the active application on the mobile station, and wherein the IP packet is forwarded, with decompressing the IP packet, to the intended destination if the comparing determines that the connection identification corresponds to the active application on the mobile station.