Patent ID: 8594046

Claim:
A method of performing an intra-segment handover of a mobile station from a source access point of a tree-structured segment of an Ethernet-compliant telecommunication network to a target access point of said segment , whereby a segment gateway switch is the root node of the tree-structured segment, and whereby the source access point and the target access point are leaf nodes of the tree-structured segment, the method comprising the steps of: relaying, by the source access point , session traffic associated with an ongoing session to and from the mobile station; after establishing contact between the mobile station and the target access point, sending, by the mobile station or the target access point, an update entry request addressed to the segment gateway switch whereby the update entry request contains an address of the mobile station; receiving, by a switch positioned in the tree structure of the segment hierarchically above the source and target access points and below the segment gateway switch, the update entry request; checking, by the said switch, whether a forwarding database of the switch contains a first entry comprising the address of the mobile station received by means of the update entry request; if the forwarding database of the switch contains the said first entry, squelching said update entry request by the switch and assuming by the switch the function of an anchor switch regarding the handover, whereby the anchor switch is a switch of the segment which is positioned in the tree structure of the segment hierarchically above the source and target access points and below the segment gateway switch and which is common to the ongoing session before and after the handover; based on said update entry request, bi-casting, by the switch serving as the anchor switch, the session traffic addressed to the mobile station both via the source access point and the target access point; when disconnecting the mobile station from the source access point, sending, by the mobile station or the source access point, a cancel entry request addressed to the segment gateway switch; and receiving and squelching said cancel entry request by the switch serving as the anchor switch and discontinuing, based on said cancel entry request, the routing of the session traffic addressed to the mobile station via the source access point.