TRANSFER OF CONNECTIONS TRIGGERED BY A MME IN CASE OF FAILURE OF A SERVING GATEWAY

摘要

A serving gateway support node (9) for a radio telecommunications network (1), in which the serving gateway support node (9) is arranged to control at least one serving gateway (7) in the radio telecommunications network (1) to connect user equipment (2) to a packet-based network (4) via a home gateway (8) and is also arranged to cause each serving gateway (7) to hand over the connections between the user equipment (2) and the packet-based network (4) to other serving gateways (7) in the radio telecommunications network (1) whilst maintaining the user equipment's (2) connection to the packet-based network (4) as the user equipment (2) roam throughout the radio telecommunications network (1), in which the serving gateway support node (9) is arranged to detect a loss of connectivity between the user equipment (2) and the home gateway (8) or between the serving gateway support node (9) and a serving gateway (7), the serving gateway support node (9) is arranged to re-establish the connection from the user equipment (2) to the packet-based data network (4) via a serving gateway (7) and a home gateway (8) without interrupting the connection of the user equipment (2) to the packet-based network (4). The radio telecommunications network (1) may be a GPRS or LTE (Long Term Evolution) network, and the serving gateway support node (9) may be a mobile management entity (MME).