Methods and apparatus for home address management at home agent for NAI based mobile nodes

摘要

The present invention provides methods and apparatus for managing an IP address assigned to a Mobile Node. In one embodiment, the Mobile Node appends an extension to the registration request that is sent to its Home Agent, which indicates that the Mobile Node requests use of the IP address previously assigned to the Mobile Node for an additional period of time. When the Home Agent receives the registration request, it indicates whether a lease on the IP address previously assigned to the Mobile Node has been granted by the Home Agent for an additional period of time. In another embodiment, the Home Agent sends a first control message to determine whether the Mobile Node continues to use the IP address. The Home Agent then determines whether a second control message has been received in order to ascertain whether the Mobile Node continues to use the IP address previously assigned to the Mobile Node. The present invention is preferably performed when a Mobile Node returns to its home network, thereby enabling the Mobile Node to retain the IP address assigned to it.