Patent ID: 8457648

Claim:
A method of facilitating a Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS) session provided using a radio access network, the method implemented by a radio base station located in the radio access network comprising the steps of: (a) receiving at the radio base station a transport channel setup request message, the radio base station being arranged to serve plural cells; (b) determining a common transport bearer corresponding to the MBMS session; (c) determining one or more common transport channels each mapped to the common transport bearer; and (d) configuring a new transport channel mapped to the common transport bearer such that the new transport channel is stable relative to each of the one or more common transport channels, wherein the transport channel setup request message relates to a particular cell of the plural cells, each of the one or more common transport channels corresponds to each of one or more cells other than the particular cell, wherein a mapping between a transport channel and a transport bearer is such that MBMS data of the MBMS session received over the transport bearer is retransmitted from the radio base station over the mapped transport channel to the corresponding cell, and wherein a stability between first and second transport channels using a same transport bearer is such that a timing adjustment of the same transport bearer triggered for the first transport channel does not trigger an opposing timing adjustment of the same transport bearer for the second transport channel.