Claims
- 1. A communications method comprising:
operating a paging and location server to receive a first registration message from an access node, the registration message including an end node session signaling server address and an access node session signaling server address, the access node session server address being included in a forwarding address field of said first registration message; and operating the paging and location server to store registration information associating the end node session signaling server address with the access node session signal server address.
- 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
operating a home session signaling server node to receive a second registration message, said second registration message including an end node session signaling address and a paging and location server session signaling server address; and operating the home session signaling server to store registration information associating said end node session signaling registration address with said paging and location server session signaling address.
- 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:
operating said paging and location server to generate said second registration message by performing an address translation operation on said first registration message.
- 4. The method of claim 3, wherein performing an address translation operation further includes:
amending the session signaling address of the access node included in a forwarding address field of the received first registration message with at least a portion of a session signaling address of the paging and location server.
- 5. The method of claim 4, wherein said at least a portion of a session signaling address of the paging and location server module is a domain part of said session signaling address.
- 6. The method of claim 3, further comprising:
operating the access node to receive a third registration message from the end node; and generating the first registration message received by said paging and location server from the third registration message received from the end node.
- 7. The method of claim 6, wherein operating the access node to generate the first registration message received by said paging and location server includes:
amending the session signaling address of the end node included in a forwarding address field of the registration message received from the end node with at least a portion of a session signaling address of the access node.
- 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the amended portion of the session signal address of the access node is a domain part of the session signaling address.
- 9. A communications method, comprising:
operating a first access node to transmit a first session signaling server registration message to a paging and location server to cause the paging and location server to store registration information associating session signaling address information corresponding to an end node with session signaling server address information corresponding to an access node; and operating said access node to transmit a second session signaling server registration message to a home session signaling server node to cause the session signaling server node to store registration information associating session signaling address information corresponding to said end node and with session signal address information corresponding to said paging and location server.
- 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the second session signaling server message originates from said end node, the method further comprising:
operating the access node to receive said second session signaling server registration message from said end node prior to transmitting the second session signaling server registration message.
- 11. The communications method of claim 9, further comprising performing a handoff operation to handoff said end node from said first access node to a second access node, the handoff including:
updating registration information stored in said paging and location server to replace the session signaling address corresponding to the first access node with a session signal server address corresponding to the second access node thereby associating the session signaling address corresponding to the second access node with the session signaling address corresponding to the end node.
- 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the handoff operation is completed without updating the session signal server information stored by the paging and location server corresponding to said end node.
- 13. The method of claim 11, further comprising, prior to performing said handoff, operating said access node to transmit a third session signaling server registration message to an additional home session signaling server node to cause the additional session signaling server node to store registration information associating session signaling address information corresponding to said end node and with session signal address information corresponding to said paging and location server.
- 14. The method of claim 13, wherein said handoff operation is performed without updating the registration information corresponding to said end node that is stored in said home session signaling server node and said additional home session signaling server node.
- 15. A communications system, comprising:
a paging and location server, the paging and location server including:
i. means for receiving session signaling registration messages; and ii. memory including session signaling registration information associating each of a plurality of end node session signaling server addresses with a corresponding access node session signaling server address.
- 16. The communication system of claim 15, further comprising:
a first home session signaling server coupled to said paging and location server, said first home session signaling server including:
memory including session signaling registration information associating each of a plurality of end node session signaling server addresses with a session signaling address of said paging and location server.
- 17. The communication system of claim 16, further comprising:
a second home session signaling server coupled to said paging and location server, said second home session signaling server including:
memory including session signaling registration information associating each of a second plurality of end node session signaling server addresses with the session signaling address of said paging and location server.
- 18. The communication system of claim 17, wherein said first and second home session signaling servers are located in first and second domains and said paging and location server is located in a third domain.
- 19. The communication system of claim 18, further comprising:
a first access node coupled to said paging and location server, the first access node being located in said third domain and including means for transmitting end node session signaling registration information to said paging and location server in response to an end node having a home domain corresponding to either of the first or second domains registering with said access node.
- 20. The communication system of claim 18, further comprising:
a first access node coupled to said paging and location server, the first access node being located in said third domain and including means for transmitting end node session signaling registration information to said paging and location server in response to an end node having a home domain corresponding to at least one of the first and second domains transmitting a session signaling registration message to said first access node.
- 21. The communication system of claim 20, further comprising:
a second access node coupled to said paging and location server, the second access node being located in said third domain and including means for transmitting end node session signaling registration information to said paging and location server in response to said end node having a home domain corresponding to at least one of the first and second domains as part of a handoff of said end node from said first access node to said second access node.
- 22. The communication system of claim 20, wherein the system further comprises said end node having a home domain corresponding to at least one of the first and second domains, said end node including:
means for transmitting a session signaling registration message to said paging and location server upon entering the third domain and for transmitting a separate session signaling registration message to at least one of said first and second home session signaling servers to register the session signaling address of said paging and location server.
- 23. The communication system of claim 22, wherein said end node includes means for transmitting a register update message to said paging and location server as part of a handoff from the first access node to the second access node in said third domain.
- 24. A method of storing and updating session signaling registration information, the method comprising the steps of:
registering a session signaling address of a mobile node with a paging and location server in a visited domain when said mobile node visits the visited domain; and registering the session signaling address of said paging and location server in said visited domain with a home session signaling server located in a home domain of said mobile node, said registering including storing information associating a session signaling server address of said mobile node with a session signaling address of said paging and location server.
- 25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:
updating the session signaling address registered with said paging and location server when said mobile node changes its point of network attachment in the visited domain from a first access node in the visited domain to a second access node in the visited domain.
- 26. The method of claim 25, further comprising:
maintaining the stored registration information associating the session signaling server address of said mobile node with the session signaling address of said paging and location server while the mobile node remains registered with said paging and location server.
- 27. The method of claim 26, wherein said mobile node remains registered with said paging and location server for the duration of time the mobile node is attached to an access node in the visited domain.
- 28. The method of claim 25, further comprising the step of:
operating said home session signaling server use the registration information to route packets directed to said mobile node to said paging and location server; and operating said home session signaling server to route said packets directed to said mobile node using the registration information stored in said paging and location server.
- 29. The method of claim 28, wherein said home session signaling server continues to route packets directed to said mobile node to said paging and location server after the handoff from the first access node to the second access node.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/167,668, filed Jun. 11, 2002, which is titled “Methods and Apparatus For Supporting Session Signaling And Mobility Management in A Communications System” which claims the benefit of the following applications: U.S. Provisional Patent Application S. No. 60/298,283, filed on Jun. 14, 2001, titled “Location of SIP Proxy Server in Wireless Access Router”; U.S. Provisional Patent Application S. No. 60/369,016, filed on Apr. 1, 2002, titled: “Methods and Apparatus for Registration for SIP Services in Mobile Networks”; U.S. Provisional Patent Application S. No. 60/370,524, filed on Apr. 5, 2002, titled: “Methods and Apparatus for SIP Message Forwarding and Redirection”; and U.S. Provisional Patent Application S. No. 60/313,035, filed on Aug. 16, 2001, titled: “A Method for Controlling IP Applications During Network Changes that Result in Resource Shortages”, each of the above mentioned patent applications is hereby expressly incorporated by reference.
Provisional Applications (4)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60298283 |
Jun 2001 |
US |
|
60369016 |
Apr 2002 |
US |
|
60370524 |
Apr 2002 |
US |
|
60313035 |
Aug 2001 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10167668 |
Jun 2002 |
US |
Child |
10322356 |
Dec 2002 |
US |