Patent ID: 8532056

Claim:
A method, comprising: obtaining sequence numbers from a header of one or more packets routed from a donor evolved Node B (eNB) to a user equipment (UE); requesting a handover procedure with the donor eNB, wherein requesting the handover procedure further includes requesting the handover procedure with the donor eNB to handover the UE and further includes requesting the handover procedure with a target relay eNB; transmitting at least one of the sequence numbers to the donor eNB as part of the handover procedure, wherein the at least one of the sequence numbers corresponds to a last packet transmitted to the UE; and providing contents of an uplink buffer to the donor eNB, wherein the uplink buffer facilitates communicating packets from the UE to the donor eNB, and the target relay eNB receives network access from a disparate donor eNB.