User equipment for communicating data in a communications system

1. User equipment comprising:

a receiver configured to receive at least one data packet over a communications channel, wherein the data packet comprises an identifier; and

a processor configured to determine from the identifier if the user equipment is one of a subset of user equipment, wherein the processor is configured to determine from the identifier if the user equipment is one of the subset of user equipment when the identifier matches a first value when the communications channel is a common channel, and said processor is further configured to determine from the identifier if the user equipment is one of the subset of user equipment when the identifier matches a second value when the communications channel is a dedicated channel.

2. The user equipment as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the receiver is further configured to receive in a further data packet a further value configured to identify the subset of user equipment as not being in a dedicated channel state.

3. The user equipment as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the receiver is further configured to receive in the further data packet a second identifier value to identify each of the user equipment within the same subset.

4. The user equipment as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the communications channel is a high-speed downlink shared channel (HS-DSCH).

5. The user equipment as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the communications channel comprises at least one of:

a dedicated traffic channel (DTCH);

a dedicated control channel (DCCH) and a common control channel (CCCH).

6. The user equipment as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the data packet comprises radio resource communication data.

7. The user equipment as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the identifier is located in a medium access control (MAC) header of the data packet.

8. The user equipment as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the identifier is in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) level message on top of the MAC layer.

9. The user equipment as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first and second values are received in or calculated from at least one of a paging message;

a System Information Broadcast (SIB);

a dedicated paging message; and

a initial setup instruction.

10. A method comprising:

receiving a data packet over a communications channel at at least one of a plurality of user equipment, the data packet comprising an identifier configured to identify a subset of the plurality of user equipment; and

determining from the data packet identifier if the at least one user equipment is one of the said subset of user equipment, wherein said determining determines from the identifier if the user equipment is one of the subset of user equipment when the identifier matches a first value when the communications channel is a common channel, and said determining determines from the identifier if the user equipment is one of the subset of user equipment when the identifier matches a second value when the communications channel is a dedicated channel.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the communications channel comprises at least one of:

a dedicated traffic channel (DTCH);

a dedicated control channel (DCCH); and

a common control channel (CCCH).

12. The method as claimed in claim 10 , further comprising receiving in a further data packet a further value configured to identify the subset of user equipment as not being in a dedicated channel state.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12 , further comprising receiving in the further data packet a second identifier value to identify each of the user equipment within the same subset.

14. The method as claimed in claim 10 , further comprising receiving at least one of the first and second values in or calculating at least one of the first and second values from at least one of:

a paging message;

a System Information Broadcast (SIB);

a dedicated paging message; and

a initial setup instruction.

15. A computer program product comprising a memory and a computer program stored on the memory such that when the computer program is executed by a computer configured to carry out a method comprising:

receiving a data packet over a communications channel at at least one of a plurality of user equipment, the data packet comprising an identifier configured to identify a subset of the plurality of user equipment; and

determining from the data packet identifier if the at least one user equipment is one of the said subset of user equipment, wherein said determining determines from the identifier if the user equipment is one of the subset of user equipment when the identifier matches a first value when the communications channel is a common channel, and said determining determines from the identifier if the user equipment is one of the subset of user equipment when the identifier matches a second value when the communications channel is a dedicated channel.

16. The computer program product as claimed in claim 15 further configured to receive in a further data packet a further value configured to identify the subset of user equipment as not being in a dedicated channel state.

17. The computer program product as claimed in claim 16 , further configured to receive in the further data packet a second identifier value to identify each of the user equipment within the same subset.

18. The computer program product as claimed in claim 15 , wherein the communications channel comprises at least one of:

a dedicated traffic channel (DTCH);

a dedicated control channel (DCCH); and

a common control channel (CCCH).

19. The computer program product as claimed in claim 15 , further configured to receive at least one of the first and second values are received in or calculated from at least one of:

a paging message;

a System Information Broadcast (SIB);

a dedicated paging message; and

a initial setup instruction.

20. The computer program product as claimed in claim 15 , wherein the data packet comprises radio resource communication data.