Method and apparatus for transferring a communicaton session

Abstract

Session Inter-Device (SID) mobility networks () are described in which a seamless transfer of a communication session from a first device () to a second device () can be achieved without interrupting the active session. According to the SID mobility network (), the transfer can be accomplished by transferring away from the Transferring Node or first device () the IP address associated with the active session () so that the network () will route the session to the desired Target Node or second device (). The Transferring Node () transfers its IP address () to the Agent () and stops requesting data packets addressed to its IP address (). The Agent () then begins to request and eventually receive the packets addressed to the Transferring Node's IP address (). The Agent () then transfers the packets to the Target Node (). In an alternate SID mobility network (), the Transferring Node () transfers a session specific IP address () to the Agent (). The Agent () then transfers packets sent to the session specific IP address () to the Target Node (). In another SID mobility network (), the Transferring Node () obtains a temporary IP address () and transfers its IP address () to a Session Agent (). The Session Agent () begins to request and eventually receive the packets addressed to the Transferring Node's IP address (164), and for each received packet determines if it belongs to the session the Transferring Node () requested to transfer to the Target Node (). If it does, the Session Agent () will transfer the packet to the Target Node () at the Target Node's IP address (). If it does not, the Session Agent () will transfer the packet to the Transferring Node () at its temporary IP address (). In each SID mobility network, the session with respect to the Correspondent Node continues without interruption throughout the transfer, thereby providing a seamless transfer of the session from a first device to a second device.