The present invention relates to the field of communication systems and to systems and methods for preserving application identification information on base station handover in communication systems.
In a capacity constrained, multiple-access communication network, two goals are omnipresent: the successful transfer of information and the minimization of one transfer from disrupting other transfers. Often these goals are in conflict with each other, and thus represent opportunity for system optimization.
Success in transferring information may be judged by how the user experiences the transfer. That is, the quality of the experience is a metric for judging successful transfer of information. A communication system can generally improve the user experience by avoiding disruptions or delays in the services provided to the user. The communication characteristics that provide a positive user experience may vary with the type of application associated with the information transfer. For example, for an email application, delay in delivering part of a message to the user is preferred to failing to deliver part of the message, whereas for a video conferencing application, dropping a portion of the video may be preferable to delaying its delivery.
Determination of the type of application associated with a given data packet is often complex. For example, a wireless access node may be simultaneously providing many diverse types of services to each of many users. The applications used change over time. Furthermore, additional challenges to providing improved quality user experiences occur in a mobile network when the wireless access node providing information transfers to a user changes.