Patent ID: 7536187

Claim:
A method for supporting one or more communication sessions at a mobile node, comprising: identifying a plurality of available communication sessions; receiving, at a mobile node, shared information from a Tier 1 element of a first network system, the shared information comprising a network element address and session information, the network element address identifying a Tier 2 network element of a second network system, the session information identifying at least one network attachment point used by the mobile node to connect to the first network system; executing a decision procedure to select a second communication session from the plurality of available communication sessions; inserting, by the mobile node, the network element address into a plurality of packets to bypass the Tier 1 network element to communicate directly with the Tier 2 network element; inserting, by the mobile node, the session information into the packets; sending the plurality of packets from the mobile node to the Tier 2 network element to establish the second communication session, the Tier 2 network element configured to retrieve data from the network attachment point to establish the second communication session; and establishing the second communication session using the Tier 2 network element.