Method Of Providing Hand-Off Hysteresis For Subnet Borders

A method of paging an access terminal (AT) in a communications network including a plurality of areas, the method comprising:

• receiving at a controller a location update message from the AT indicating an area, from among the plurality of areas, in which the AT is located;
• and
• paging the AT by
• determining, at the controller, a radius value based on the location update message, and
• sending at least one paging message to one or more areas, from among the plurality of areas, within a region defined by the area indicated in the location update message and the determined radius.

A method of operating a first controller in a communications network including a plurality of areas divided into at least a first and second subnet, the method comprising:

• receiving a location update message at the first controller, the first controller being associated with the first subnet, the location update message including access terminal (AT) identification information and controller identification information;
• determining if the controller identification information indicates a second controller different from the first controller;
• and
• if the controller identification information identifies the second controller,
• forwarding the location update message to the second controller, and
• receiving, from the second controller, session information associated with the AT, in response to the forwarding of the location update message.

A method of operating a first controller in a communications network including a plurality of areas divided into at least a first and second subnet, the method comprising:

• receiving a location update request at the first controller, the first controller being associated with the first subnet, the location update message including access terminal (AT) identification information;
• determining whether the location update message was received from a second controller different from the first controller;
• and
• if the location information message was received from the second controller,
• determining, at the first controller, session information for the AT indicated by the AT identification information, and
• forwarding, to the second controller, the session information associated for the AT, in response to receipt of the location update message.

A controller device for facilitating communications in a communications network including a plurality of areas divided into at least a first and second subnet, the controller device comprising:

• a receiver unit configured to receive data from other network elements of the communications network;
• a transmitting unit configured to transmit data to other network elements of the communications network;
• a memory unit configured to store at least address information associated with other controllers in the communications network;
• and
• a processing unit coupled to the transmitting unit, the receiving unit, and the memory unit, and configured to control operations including
• receiving a location update message at the first controller, the first controller being associated with the first subnet, the location update message including access terminal (AT) identification information and controller identification information;
• determining if the controller identification information indicates a second controller different from the first controller;
• and
• if the controller identification information identifies the second controller,
• forwarding the location update message to the second controller, and
• receiving, from the second controller, session information associated with the AT, in response to the forwarding of the location update message.

A controller device for facilitating communications in a communications network including a plurality of areas divided into at least a first and second subnet, the controller device comprising:

• a receiver unit configured to receive data from other network elements of the communications network;
• a transmitting unit configured to transmit data to other network elements of the communications network;
• a memory unit configured to store at least session information for access terminals (ATs) associated with the controller, and address information associated with other controllers in the communications network;
• and
• a processing unit coupled to the transmitting unit, the receiving unit, and the memory unit, and configured to control operations including
• receiving a location update request at the first controller, the first controller being associated with the first subnet, the location update message including AT identification information;
• determining whether the location update message was received from a second controller different from the first controller;
• and
• if the location information message was received from the second controller,
• determining, at the first controller, session information for the AT indicated by the AT identification information, and
• forwarding, to the second controller, the session information associated for the AT, in response to receipt of the location update message.

A method of operating an access terminal (AT) in a communications network including a plurality of areas divided into at least a first and second subnet, the method comprising:

• moving from a first cell in the first subnet to a cell in the second subnet;
• receiving, at the AT, location information associated with the second cell;
• performing a comparison operation based on the location information of the second cell and location information of the first cell stored in the AT;
• and
• based on the comparison,
• sending, from the AT, a location update message to a network element in the second cell, and
• receiving, at the AT, a subnet identifier associated with the second subnet.