USE OF DISTRIBUTED HASHTABLES FOR WIRELESS ACCESS MOBILITY MANAGEMENT

1 . A method for management of a wireless communication network having a plurality of access nodes, the method comprising:

creating a distributed hash table (“DHT”), the DHT containing mobility management data for the wireless communication network; and

storing the DHT across at least a portion of the plurality of access nodes.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein creating the distributed hash table includes assigning a NODEID to each node storing at least a portion of the DHT, each access NODEID being based on a unique identifier corresponding to the access node.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein creating the distributed hash table includes

creating a key for information to be stored in the DHT, the key identifying the access node storing a portion of the mobility management data.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the mobility management data includes mobile device session information.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the mobility management data includes an identity of the access node storing the mobile device session information.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the mobility management data includes location data corresponding to a mobile device.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the mobility management data includes an identity of an access node storing location data of a mobile device.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the mobility management data includes an identity of a serving access node for handoff of a mobile device.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the mobility management data includes access nodes within a paging zone, wherein a paging zone id is the basis of a DHT key.

10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

evaluating the DHT to determine a paging zone; and

instructing access nodes within the determined paging zone initiate a page to the mobile device.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

evaluating the DHT to determine access node membership when paging is unsuccessful; and

transmitting a flooding paging request to all access nodes.

12 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

storing the traffic anchor point for a mobile device in the DHT; and

retrieving the traffic anchor point for the mobile device in the DHT in order to route traffic to the mobile device.

13 . An apparatus for a wireless communication network, the apparatus comprising:

a processor, the processor operating to create at least a portion of a distributed hash table (“DHT”), the DHT containing mobility management data of at least one mobile device using the wireless communication network; and

a storage device in operative communication with the processor, the storage device storing a portion of the DHT.

14 . The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the apparatus has a hash key, the hash key being based on a unique identifier corresponding to the apparatus.

15 . The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the mobility management data includes a location of a mobile device, where the processor further operates to update the DHT to store mobile device location updates.

16 . The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the processor further operates to:

evaluate the DHT to determine a last known access node engaged in wireless communication with a mobile device; and

transmit a request to the last known access node to page the mobile device.

17 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the processor further operates to:

evaluate the DHT to determine access node membership when the paging is unsuccessful; and

transmit a flooding paging request to all access nodes.

18 . The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the DHT includes paging zone information, wherein the process further operates to:

evaluate the DHT to determine a paging zone;

instruct access nodes within the determined paging zone initiate a page to the mobile device.

19 . A system for wireless communication, the system comprising:

a plurality of access nodes, each access node having:

a processor, the processor operating to create at least a portion of a distributed hash table (“DHT”), the DHT containing mobility management data of at least one mobile device using the wireless communication network; and

a storage device in operative communication with the processor, the storage device storing a portion of the DHT.

20 . The system of claim 19 , wherein each of plurality of access nodes has a corresponding NODEID, each corresponding NODEID being based on a unique identifier of the access node.