System and Method for Mobility Management in a Wireless Communications System

Abstract

A system and method for mobility management in a wireless communications system are provided. A method for proxy server operations includes determining if a communications device is capable of performing an operation, forwarding a transmission to a destination of the transmission if the communications device is capable of performing an operation, and responding to the transmission on behalf of the communications device if the communications device is not capable of performing an operation.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for proxy server operations, the method comprising:
 determining, by the proxy server, if a communications device is capable of performing operations of a communications protocol;   forwarding, by the proxy server, a transmission to a destination of the transmission in response to the communications device being capable of performing the operations; and   responding, by the proxy server, to the transmission on behalf of the communications device in response to the communications device not being capable of performing the operations.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the communications protocol comprises a host identity protocol. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining if the communications device is capable of performing the operations comprises determining if the communications device is capable of supporting the communications protocol. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the communications protocol supports multiple identifiers for a single communications device. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the multiple identifiers comprise a first identifier for identification purposes and a second identifier for addressing purposes. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein forwarding the transmission comprises:
 processing the transmission; and   sending the processed transmission to the destination of the transmission.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein responding to the transmission further comprises translating the transmission from a first format to a second format. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the destination is the communications device, and wherein the translating comprises de-encapsulating the transmission. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein a source of the transmission is the communications device, and wherein the translating comprises encapsulating the transmission. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising providing mobility support in response to the communications device being capable of performing the operations. 
     
     
         11 . A proxy server comprising:
 a processor; and   a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions for:
 determining if a communications device is capable of performing operations of a communications protocol; 
 forwarding a transmission to a destination of the transmission in response to the communications device being capable of performing the operations of the communications protocol; and 
 responding to the transmission on behalf of the communications device in response to the communications device not being capable of performing the operations of the communications protocol. 
   
     
     
         12 . The proxy server of  claim 11 , wherein the instructions for forwarding the transmission to the destination of the transmission include instructions for:
 processing the transmission; and   sending the processed transmission to the destination of the transmission.   
     
     
         13 . The proxy server of  claim 12 , wherein the programming includes further instructions for translating the transmission from a first format to a second format. 
     
     
         14 . The proxy server of  claim 13 , wherein the destination is the communications device, and wherein the instructions for translating the transmission include instructions for de-encapsulating the transmission. 
     
     
         15 . The proxy server of  claim 13 , wherein a source of the transmission is the communications device, and wherein the instructions for translating the transmission include instructions for encapsulating the transmission. 
     
     
         16 . The proxy server of  claim 11 , wherein the programming includes further instructions for providing mobility support to communications devices capable of performing the operations of the communications protocol. 
     
     
         17 . The proxy server of  claim 11 , wherein the communications protocol comprises a host identity protocol. 
     
     
         18 . The proxy server of  claim 11 , wherein the instructions for determining if the communications device is capable of performing the operations include instructions for determining if the communications device is capable of supporting the communications protocol. 
     
     
         19 . The proxy server of  claim 18 , wherein the communications protocol supports multiple identifiers for a single communications device. 
     
     
         20 . The proxy server of  claim 19 , wherein the multiple identifiers comprise a first identifier for identification purposes and a second identifier for addressing purposes.