Granted Patent B2

US 12,652,542 · App. 18/832,803 · Granted Jun 9, 2026

Inventor: Maria Cuevas Ramirez (London, GB)

Assignee: BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY

H04W12/40H04L61/106

Abstract

Claims (64)

1 . A method of operating a telecommunications network, said telecommunications network comprising a cellular telecommunications network and a non-cellular telecommunications network, wherein both of said networks are accessible to a User Equipment, UE, the method comprising the steps of:

establishing a network connection between the UE and the cellular telecommunications network via the non-cellular telecommunications network;

obtaining, by means of the cellular telecommunications network, a:

unique cellular subscriber identity associated with the UE and for accessing the cellular telecommunications network; and

network address associated with the UE and for use with the non-cellular telecommunications network for the network connection;

generating an identifier for identifying the UE to the non-cellular telecommunications network;

generating, by means of the cellular telecommunications network, a mapping between the: identifier; unique cellular subscriber identity; and the network address; and

receiving, at the non-cellular telecommunications network, based on the generated mapping, the identifier in association with the network address.

2 . A method of operating a cellular telecommunications network, said network forming part of a telecommunications network, in turn also comprising a non-cellular telecommunications network, wherein both the cellular telecommunications network and the non-cellular telecommunications network are accessible to a User Equipment, UE, the method comprising the steps of:

participating in establishing a network connection between the UE and the cellular telecommunications network via the non-cellular telecommunications network;

obtaining a:

unique cellular subscriber identity associated with the UE and for accessing the cellular telecommunications network; and

network address associated with the UE and for use with the non-cellular telecommunications network for the network connection;

generating an identifier for identifying the UE to the non-cellular telecommunications network;

generating a mapping between the: identifier; unique cellular subscriber identity; and the network address; and

sending to the non-cellular telecommunications network, based on the generated mapping, the identifier in association with the network address.

3 . A method of operating a non-cellular telecommunications network, said network forming part of a telecommunications network, in turn also comprising a cellular telecommunications network, wherein both the non-cellular telecommunications network and the cellular telecommunications network are accessible to a User Equipment, UE, the method comprising the steps of:

participating in establishing a network connection between the UE and the cellular telecommunications network via the non-cellular telecommunications network;

receiving an identifier generated by operation of the cellular telecommunications network according to the method of claim 2 ; and

using the identifier to associate network activity using the obtained network identifier with the identifier, and therefore with the UE.

4 . A method according to claim 1 , wherein the network address comprises: a physical network address; a transport network address; and/or a fixed access line identifier.

5 . A method according to claim 1 , wherein the identifier is a new identifier such that the new identifier is different to the unique cellular subscriber identity.

6 . A method according to claim 1 , wherein the identifier is unique.

7 . A method according to claim 1 , wherein the network connection is a subsequent network connection and wherein the network address is a subsequent network address, the method comprising the further steps of:

prior to establishing the subsequent network connection, establishing a previous network connection between the UE and the cellular telecommunications network via the non-cellular telecommunications network;

for said previous network connection, identifying, by means of the cellular telecommunications network:

the unique cellular subscriber identity;

a previous network address associated with the UE and for use with the non-cellular telecommunications network for the previous network connection;

after establishing the subsequent network connection, comparing the previous network address and the subsequent network address, wherein generating the identifier for the UE is performed in response to determining that said network addresses are different.

8 . A method according to claim 1 , wherein the unique cellular subscriber identity is withheld from the non-cellular telecommunications network.

9 . A method according to claim 1 , wherein the non-cellular telecommunications network comprises an access point through which the network connection is established, and wherein the identifier in association with the network address is communicated by the non-cellular and/or the cellular telecommunications network/s to the access point.

10 . A method according to claim 9 , wherein the step of obtaining the, or at least part of the, network address comprises the step of the non-cellular and/or cellular telecommunications network/s requesting said network address from the access point.

11 . A non-transitory computer-readable carrier medium comprising a computer program, which, when the computer program is executed by a computer, causes the computer to carry out the steps of claim 1 .

12 . A cellular telecommunications network comprising:

a first network interface for communicating with a non-cellular telecommunications network;

a second network interface for communicating with a User Equipment, UE, via the non-cellular telecommunications network; and

a processor configured to:

participate in establishing a network connection between the UE and the cellular telecommunications network via the non-cellular telecommunications network;

obtain a:

unique cellular subscriber identity, associated with the UE, for accessing the cellular telecommunications network;

network address associated with the UE and for use with the non-cellular telecommunications network for the network connection;

generate an identifier for identifying the UE to the non-cellular telecommunications network;

generate a mapping between the: identifier; unique cellular subscriber identity; and the network address; and

communicate, to the non-cellular telecommunications network via the first network interface, based on the generated mapping, the identifier, thereby to permit the non-cellular telecommunications network to associate the network address with the identifier.

13 . A non-cellular telecommunications network, said network forming part of a telecommunications network, in turn also comprising a cellular telecommunications network according to claim 12 , wherein both the non-cellular telecommunications network and the cellular telecommunications network are accessible to a User Equipment, UE, the non-cellular telecommunications network comprising:

a receiver for receiving the identifier generated by the cellular telecommunications network; and

a controller configured to:

participate in establishing a network connection between the UE and the cellular telecommunications network via the non-cellular telecommunications network; and

use the identifier to associate network activity using the obtained network identifier with the identifier, and therefore with the UE.

14 . A telecommunications network comprising:

a cellular telecommunications network according to claim 12 ; and

a non-cellular telecommunications network.

15 . A method according to claim 1 , wherein:

the network address associated with the UE and obtained by means of the cellular telecommunications network is a Media Access Control (MAC) address associated with the UE;

the method further comprises communicating, from the cellular telecommunications network to the non-cellular telecommunications network, an IP address and a port number associated with a tunnel between the UE and the cellular telecommunications network; and

the MAC address is associated with the communicated IP address and port number.

16 . A method according to claim 2 , wherein:

the network address associated with the UE and obtained by means of the cellular telecommunications network is a Media Access Control (MAC) address associated with the UE;

the method further comprises communicating, from the cellular telecommunications network to the non-cellular telecommunications network, an IP address and a port number associated with a tunnel between the UE and the cellular telecommunications network; and

the MAC address is associated with the communicated IP address and port number.

17 . A cellular telecommunications network according to claim 12 , wherein:

the network address associated with the UE is a Media Access Control (MAC) address associated with the UE;

the processor is further configured to communicate, from the cellular telecommunications network to the non-cellular telecommunications network, an IP address and a port number associated with a tunnel between the UE and the cellular telecommunications network; and

the MAC address is associated with the communicated IP address and port number.

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (27)