Quality of service aware handoff trigger

A method of estimating QoS in an IP network, comprising the steps of:

• sending a first and second probing packet across a fixed core network from a plurality of candidate access routers to a correspondent access router;
• sending a forward collector packet that follows said first and second probing packet across said fixed core network to said correspondent access router, wherein said forward collector packet collects a predetermined set of parameters from said routers;
• sending said first and second probing packet and said forward collector packet back to said originating access router from said correspondent access router;
• sending a reverse collector packet that follows said first and second probing packet across said fixed core network to said originating access router from said correspondent access router, wherein said reverse collector packet collects a second predetermined set of parameters from said routers;
• and
• processing the first and second predetermined set of parameters from said forward and reverse collector packets to determine a level of QoS experienced by said candidate access router.

A method of estimating QoS for making a handoff trigger decision for a remote terminal in a wireless IP network, comprising the steps of:

• generating at least a first and second probing packet with an access router from a plurality of access points;
• sending said first and second probing packets from said access points over a fixed core network having a plurality of routers to a correspondent access router and then back to said access routers;
• sending at least one collector packet to follow said first and second probing packets to gather at least one predetermined QoS parameter from said routers after said first and second probing packets leave said routers;
• and
• processing said at least one QoS parameter with said access routers to make said handoff trigger decision.

A method of estimating QoS for making a handoff trigger decision for a remote terminal in a wireless IP network, comprising the steps of:

• sending a first and second probing packet across a fixed core network from a plurality of candidate access routers to a correspondent access router;
• sending a forward collector packet that follows said first and second probing packet across said fixed core network to said correspondent access router, wherein said forward collector packet collects a predetermined set of parameters from said routers;
• sending said first and second probing packet and said forward collector packet back to said originating access router from said correspondent access router;
• sending a reverse collector packet that follows said first and second probing packet across said fixed core network to said originating access router from said correspondent access router, wherein said reverse collector packet collects a second predetermined set of parameters from said routers;
• and
• processing the first and second predetermined set of parameters from said forward and reverse collector packets to make a handoff trigger decision.