Application of Context Transfer for Roaming in IP-Based Evolved 3G Networks

The 3G mobile networks are currently undergoing evolution and optimization to cope with the rapid growth in IP data traffic and to ensure their competitiveness during the next 10 years and beyond. Roaming, a key revenue generator for mobile wireless networks, has been identified as one of the key capabilities to be retained in the evolved architecture. However, drawbacks have been identified with the existing home controlled and visited controlled roaming models. Towards that end, this paper proposes mechanisms to resolve the problems associated with both of the existing roaming models, utilizing a context transfer concept. The proposed solutions enhance the home controlled roaming model with the optimal routing capability for the user traffic while maintaining its existing strengths such as home control of user traffic and home services access. For the visited controlled roaming model, the proposed mechanisms enable home operator control over the user traffic while retaining its optimized routing for user-to-user traffic and local breakout features