Patent ID: 8787212

Claim:
A method for reducing set-up signaling in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, the method comprising: at an LTE subsystem performing: receiving, from each of one or more user equipment (UE), a first message comprising a virtual channel identifier for a virtual channel on which the UE intends to transmit media, wherein the virtual channel is an information flow between a media source and a set of target UE and is associated with a downlink bearer; determining whether the virtual channel is available for a transmission; comparing a number of first messages received to a threshold; when the number of first messages received is less than the threshold and when the virtual channel is available, sending to each of the one or more UE a response to the first message that allows the connection procedure to proceed; and when the number of first messages received is greater than the threshold and when the virtual channel is available, sending, to a number of the one or more UE less than the threshold, a response that allows the connection procedure to proceed and sending, to all the other UE that sent the first message, a response that terminates the connection procedure.