Packet-forwarding for proxy mobile IP

1. A method for network based mobility management, said method comprising:

registering a mobile access terminal (AT) and a first IP gateway (IPGW) with a home agent (HA) when a wireless communication session is established between the mobile AT and the first IPGW; and

transferring context information regarding the mobile AT and a proxy mobile security key obtained by the first IPGW, from the first IPGW to a second IPGW when the mobile AT moves from a first access network associated with the first IPGW to a second access network associated with the second IPGW, wherein said context information and said proxy mobile security key are transferred to the second IPGW without communicating any of said context information and said proxy mobile key with the mobile AT, and the context information and the proxy mobile security key are transferred from the first IPGW to the second IPGW without communicating any of said context information and said proxy mobile key through an authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) server, and the proxy mobile security key is associated with the context information.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein registering the mobile AT and the first IPGW with the HA comprises establishing connectivity between the mobile AT and the HA and establishing a proxy link between the first IPGW and the HA utilizing the proxy mobile security key for the mobile AT.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein registering the mobile AT and the first IPGW with the HA comprises creating a binding at the HA binding the first IPGW with a home address (HoA) assigned to the mobile AT and a care of address (CoA) of the mobile AT, the HoA being a fixed IP address for the mobile AT that does not change and the CoA being a temporary IP address for the mobile AT that is changeable based on a location of the mobile AT.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the CoA is generated by the mobile AT based on a network prefix of first IPGW.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

creating a binding at the HA binding the second IPGW with a home address (HoA) and a care of address (CoA) of the mobile AT once the context information and the proxy mobile security key are transferred to the second IPGW, to provide a tunnel for data packets to flow between the mobile AT and the HA, via the second IPGW.

6. A method for network based mobility management, said method comprising:

establishing a proxy link between a first IP gateway (IPGW) and a home agent (HA) utilizing a proxy mobile home agent routing key obtained by the first IPGW, when a mobile IP session is initiated between a mobile access terminal (AT) and the first IPGW;

registering the mobile AT with the HA by establishing a link between the HA and the mobile AT using the same proxy mobile home agent routing key used to establish the proxy link;

transferring context information regarding the mobile AT and the proxy mobile home agent routing key from the first IPGW to a second IPGW when the mobile AT changes from communicating with a first access network to communicating with a second access network, wherein said context information and said home agent routing key are transferred to the second IPGW without communicating any of said context information and said home agent router key with the mobile AT; and

establishing a link between the second IPGW and the HA utilizing the context information and the proxy mobile home agent route key acquired from the first IPGW to provide a tunnel for data packets to flow between the mobile AT and the HA, via the second IPGW, wherein the context information and the proxy mobile home agent routing key are transferred from the first IPGW to the second IPGW without communicating any of said context information and said proxy mobile home agent routing key through an authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) server, and the proxy mobile home agent routing key is associated with the context information.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein establishing the proxy link comprises creating a binding at the HA binding the first IPGW to a home address (HoA) of the mobile AT, the HoA being a fixed IP address for the mobile AT that does not change.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein registering the mobile AT comprises updating the binding at the HA to include a care of address (CoA) of the mobile AT, thereby binding the first IPGW, the HoA and the CoA, the CoA being a temporary IP address for the mobile AT that is changeable based on a location of the mobile AT.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the CoA is generated by the mobile AT based on a network prefix of first IPGW.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein transferring the context information and the proxy mobile home agent routing key comprises establishing a tunnel between the second access network and the second IPGW prior to transferring the context information and the proxy mobile home agent routing key.

11. The method of claim 6 , wherein transferring the context information and the proxy mobile home agent routing key comprises establishing secure connectivity between the first IPGW and the second IPGW utilizing using generic routing and encapsulation (GRE) protocol keys.

12. The method of claim 6 , wherein establishing a link between the second IPGW and the HA comprises establishing a binding at the HA binding the second IPGW with HoA and the CoA.

13. The method of claim 6 , wherein establishing a proxy link comprises triggering a proxy mobile IP (PMIP) session upon completion of an IP configuration request from the mobile AT to the first IPGW.

14. The method of claim 6 , wherein forwarding packets from the HA to the mobile AT comprises forwarding the packets through one of the first and second IPGW and changing an outer header of the IP packet to be the same as the CoA of the mobile AT.

15. A method for network based mobility management, said method comprising:

registering a mobile access terminal (AT) with a home agent (HA) when a mobile IP session is initiated between the mobile AT and a first IP gateway (IPGW);

registering the first IPGW with the HA by establishing a proxy link between the first IPGW and the HA utilizing a proxy mobile home agent routing key obtained by the first IPGW from an authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA);

transferring context information regarding the mobile AT and the proxy mobile home agent routing key from the first IPGW to a second IPGW when the mobile AT hands-off communication with a first access network linked to the first IPGW to a second access network linked to the second IPGW, wherein said context information and said proxy mobile security key are transferred to the second IPGW without communicating any of said context information and said proxy mobile key with the mobile AT;

establishing a link between the second IPGW and the HA utilizing the context information and the proxy mobile home agent route key acquired from the first IPGW to provide a tunnel for data packets to flow between the mobile AT and the HA, via the second access network and the second IPGW, wherein the context information and the proxy mobile home agent route key are transferred from the first IPGW to the second IPGW without communicating any of said context information and said proxy mobile home agent key through the AAA server, and the proxy mobile home agent routing key is associated with the context information.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein registering the mobile AT with the HA comprises creating a binding at the HA binding a home address (HoA) for the mobile AT with a care of address (CoA) for the mobile AT, the HoA being a fixed IP address for the mobile AT that does not change and the CoA being a temporary IP address for the mobile AT that is changeable based on a location of the mobile AT.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the CoA is generated by the mobile AT based on a network prefix of first IPGW.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein registering the first IPGW with the HA comprises updating the binding at the HA to include the first IPGW, thereby binding the first IPGW, the HoA and the CoA.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein establishing a link between the second IPGW and the HA comprises establishing a binding at the HA binding the second IPGW with HoA and the CoA.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein registering the first IPGW with the HA comprises triggering a proxy mobile IP (PMIP) session upon completion of a client mobile IP configuration response from the HA to the first IPGW.