System and method for paging off-line state terminals

A method of communicating using a communications terminal via a mobile communications network, the mobile communications network comprising a radio network part, a core network part and a virtual mobility manager, the radio network part including a plurality of base stations arranged to transmit data to and receive data from the communications terminal via a radio access interface, and the core network part including at least one packet data network gateway arranged to route data to and receive data from the base stations of the radio network part via the core network and a mobility manager arranged to track a location of the communications terminal within the mobile communications network for routing the data to and receiving the data from the communications terminal via the radio network part in accordance with context information of the communications terminal, the method comprising:

• transmitting, by the communications terminal via at least one of the base stations to the virtual mobility manager, an indication that the communications terminal is entering an off-line state, the virtual mobility manager state storing at least part of the context information of the communications terminal in response to the indication;
• receiving, by the communications terminal when the communications terminal in the off-line state and after occurrence of a triggering event, a paging message from the virtual mobility manager, the paging message indicating that the communications terminal should move to an attached state;
• and
• establishing, by the communications terminal, a communications bearer with the mobile communications network after the communications terminal has moved to the attached state, the communications bearer for communicating data with the mobile communications network.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions that, when executed by a communications terminal, causes communications terminal to perform a method of communicating via a mobile communications network, the mobile communications network comprising a radio network part, a core network part and a virtual mobility manager, the radio network part including a plurality of base stations arranged to transmit data to and receive data from the communications terminal via a radio access interface, and the core network part including at least one packet data network gateway arranged to route data to and receive data from the base stations of the radio network part via the core network and a mobility manager arranged to track a location of the communications terminal within the mobile communications network for routing the data to and receiving the data from the communications terminal via the radio network part in accordance with context information of the communications terminal, the method comprising:

• transmitting, via at least one of the base stations to the virtual mobility manager, an indication that the communications terminal is entering an off-line state, the virtual mobility manager state storing at least part of the context information of the communications terminal in response to the indication;
• receiving, when the communications terminal in the off-line state and after occurrence of a triggering event, a paging message from the virtual mobility manager, the paging message indicating that the communications terminal should move to an attached state;
• and
• establishing a communications bearer with the mobile communications network after the communications terminal has moved to the attached state, the communications bearer for communicating data with the mobile communications network.