Method and apparatus for establishing a communication connection

摘要

Method and apparatus for establishing a connection between a device (e.g., a mobile device such as a telephone or tablet) and a communication network (e.g., a telephone/data service provider's network). The communication network may adhere to a mobile communication standard such as 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) LTE (Long Term Evolution). When the user device attempts a connection to a default access point name or APN (e.g., via an Attach Request message), and that access point is unavailable, instead of rejecting the request (e.g., with an Attach Reject message) the communication network identifies an access point that is available and returns an Attach Accept message that identifies the available access point. After the connection is established, if the default access point becomes available, the network may subsequently detach the user device from the network, but specify that the device should re-attach (to the default access point).

主权项

1. A method of establishing a connection between a device and a communication network, the method comprising:
determining that the device needs to obtain a signaling connection with or an attachment to the communication network; issuing an Attach_Request message requesting a connection with the communication network, comprising a first identifier of a first access point in the communication network, wherein no other Attach_Request message has been issued from the device to the communication network since the determination; in response to issuing the Attach_Request message identifying the first access point, and upon the communication network determining the first access point is unavailable, receiving an Attach_Accept message comprising a second identifier of a second access point in the communication network, wherein the second access point is different than the first access point; and issuing an Attach_Complete message to complete connection of the device to the second access point.