Mobile communications network, infrastructure equipment and method

1. A mobile communications network for communicating data packets to or from one or more mobile communications terminals, the mobile communications network comprising:

a radio network part including a plurality of base stations for communicating data packets to or from the mobile communications terminals via a radio access interface, and

a core network part which is configured to communicate the data packets to destination addresses from the radio network part or to communicate the data packets to the radio network part from source addresses, the mobile communications network being configured to establish communications bearers for communicating the data packets to or from the mobile communications terminals via the radio network part and the core network part, each of the communications bearers being established using context information associated with one or more connections from the mobile communications terminals to the destination addresses, or to the mobile communications terminals from source addresses,

wherein one of the mobile communications terminals is configured to

when in an idle state, communicate a short message data packet to one of the base stations of the radio network part as a signaling message using predetermined parameters for configuring a transmitter of the mobile communications terminal, which correspond with parameters with which a receiver in the base station is configured to receive the short message data packet, the short message data packet including an indication of context information for use by the mobile communications network for communicating the short message data packet to a mobility manager of the mobile communications network, and

wherein the predetermined parameters for configuring the transmitter of the mobile communications terminal with the effect that the short message data packet is communicable to the base station include at least one of a power control level setting a power with which a radio signal representing the short message data packet is transmitted, modulation and encoding of the short message data packet for communicating the short message data packet from the mobile communications terminal to the base station using the radio signal.

2. The mobile communications network as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the context information provided in the short message packet includes an identifier f the mobile communications terminal, which was provided to the mobile communications terminal by the mobile communications network, when the mobile communications terminal attached to the base station of the mobile communications network.

3. The mobile communications network as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the identifier of the mobile communications terminal is a temporary international mobile subscriber identity number.

4. The mobile communications network as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the short message data packet includes a field identifying the short message data packet to the base station, for which the base station should communicate to a mobility manager.

5. The mobile communications network as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the predetermined parameters for configuring the transmitter of the mobile communications terminal with the effect that the short message data packet is communicable to the base station establish a temporary context between the communications terminal and the base station, the temporary context providing a radio bearer for communicating the short message data packet between the communications terminal and the base station.

6. The mobile communications network as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the communications terminal and the base station are configured to remove the radio bearer after the short message data packet has been received by the base station.

7. The mobile communications network as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the mobile communications terminal and the base station are configured to remove the radio bearer after an acknowledgement message has been communicated to the mobile communications terminal, the acknowledgement message being communicated from the mobility manager to the mobile communications terminal to acknowledge receipt of the short message data packet by the mobility manager.

8. A method of communicating a short message data packet via a mobile communications network from a communications terminal, the mobile communications network comprising a radio network part including a plurality of base stations for communicating data packets to or from the mobile communications terminals via a radio access interface, and a core network part which is configured to communicate the data packets to destination addresses from the radio network part or to communicate the data packets to the radio network part from source addresses, the mobile communications network being configured to establish communications bearers for communicating the data packets to or from the mobile communications terminals via the radio network part and the core network part, each of the communications bearers being established using context information associated with one or more connections from the mobile communications terminals to the destination addresses, or to the mobile communications terminals from source addresses, the method comprising:

when in an idle state, communicating a short message data packet, using the communications terminal, to one of the base stations of the mobile communications network as a signaling message, after the communications terminal has attached to the base station, and

when the communications terminal is in the idle state, using predetermined parameters for configuring a transmitter of the mobile communications terminal, which correspond with parameters with which a receiver in the base station is configured to receive the short message data packet, the short message data packet including an indication of context information for use by the mobile communications network for communicating the short message data packet to a mobility manager of the mobile communications network,

wherein the predetermined parameters for configuring the receiver of the base station with the effect that the short message data packet is receivable include at least one of a power control level setting a power with which a radio signal representing the short message data packet is transmitted, modulation and encoding of the data of the short message data packet for communicating the short message data packet from the mobile communications terminal to the base station using the radio signal.

9. A base station for a mobile communications network for communicating data packets to or from one or more mobile communications terminals via a wireless access interface, the mobile communications network being configured to communicate the data packets to destination addresses from the base station or to communicate the data packets to the base station from source addresses, the mobile communications network being configured to establish communications bearers for communicating the data packets to or from the one or more mobile communications terminals, each of the communications bearers being established using context information associated with one or more connections from the mobile communications terminals to the destination addresses, or to the mobile communications terminals from source addresses, the base station comprising:

circuitry configured to

receive a short message data packet as a signaling message, from one of the mobile terminals when the mobile terminal is attached to the base station and is in an idle state, the short message data packet including an indication of context information for use by the mobile communications network for communicating the short message data packet,

wherein the short message data packet is received by using predetermined parameters for configuring a receiver of the base station which correspond to predetermined parameters used by a transmitter of the mobile communications terminal to transmit the short message data packet, which correspond with parameters with which a transmitter of the mobile communications terminal transmitted the short message data packet, the short message data packet including an indication of context information for use by the base station for communicating the short message data packet to a mobility manager of the mobile communications network, and

wherein the predetermined parameters for configuring the receiver of the base station with the effect that the short message data packet is receivable include at least one of a power control level setting a power with which a radio signal representing the short message data packet is transmitted, modulation and encoding of the data of the short message data packet for communicating the short message data packet from the mobile communications terminal to the base station using the radio signal.

10. The base station as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the circuitry of the base station is configured to

provide an identifier of the mobile communications terminal to the mobile communications terminal, when the mobile communications terminal is attached to the base station,

recognize that no communications bearer has been established for the mobile terminal for communicating the short message data packet, and

derive the context information provided in the short message packet using the identifier of the mobile communications terminal.

11. The base station as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the identifier of the mobile communications terminal is a temporary international mobile subscriber identity number.

12. The base station as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the predetermined parameters for configuring the receiver of the base station with the effect that the short message data packet transmitted by the mobile communications terminal is receivable by the base station, establish a temporary context between the communications terminal and the base station, the temporary context providing a radio bearer for communicating the short message data packet between the communications terminal and the base station.

13. The base station as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the communications terminal and the base station are configured to remove the radio bearer after the short message data packet has been received by the base station.

14. The base station as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the base station is configured to remove the radio bearer after communicating an acknowledgement message has been communicated to the mobile communications terminal, the acknowledgement message being communicated from the mobility manager to the mobile communications terminal to acknowledge receipt of the short message data packet by the mobility manager.