METHOD OF PERFORMING AN INTRA-SEGMENT HANDOVER

摘要

The invention concerns a method of performing an intra-segment handover (HO) of a mobile station (MS) from a source access point (AP1) of a tree- structured segment (S1) of an Ethernet-compliant telecommunication network to a target access point (AP2) of said segment (S1), as well as a switch (SW-123) to support the execution of this method. After establishing contact between the mobile station (MS) and the target access point (AP2), the mobile station (MS) sends an update entry request addressed to the segment gateway switch (GW). The update entry request is received by a switch (SW-123) positioned in the tree structure of the segment (S1) hierarchically above the source and target access points (AP1, AP2) and below the segment gateway switch (GW). The switch (SW-123) checks whether its forwarding database contains a first entry comprising an address of the mobile station (MS) received by means of the update entry request. If the forwarding database of the switch (SW-123) contains the first entry, the switch (SW-123) squelches said update entry request and assumes the function of an anchor switch regarding the handover (HO), whereby the anchor switch is a switch of the segment (S1) which is positioned in the tree structure of the segment (S1) hierarchically above the source and target access points (AP1, AP2) and below the segment gateway switch (GW) and which is common to the ongoing session before and after the handover (HO).