Patent ID: 8305992

Claim:
A method for supporting relocation of an Internet Protocol session during a network layer handover in a mobile communication system, the method comprising: sending application context information from a first device to a second device, the application context information indicating activities to be executed pro-actively before a network layer handover and including a requested communication requirement, wherein the application context information includes information on a current state of the Internet Protocol session and facilitates the relocation of the Internet Protocol session; receiving a first message from the second device at the first device, the first message including a first indicator indicating whether or not the second device can satisfy the requested communication requirement; in response to the first indicator indicating that the second device cannot satisfy the requested communication requirement, sending the application context information from the first device to a third device and receiving a second message from the third device at the first device, the second message including a second indicator indicating whether or not the third device can satisfy the requested communication requirement; and in response to the second indicator indicating that the third device can satisfy the requested communication requirement, selecting the third device as a target access router for the network layer handover.