Importance

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Abstract

In a mobile radio network such a GSM network, an operative identity code is passed by a mobile station to the fixed network part at the start of each communication transaction. This operative identity code will either be the unique identity code (IMSI) assigned to the mobile-station user or, more usually, a temporary, substitute, identity code (TMSI) allocated by the fixed network part with a view to obscuring the identity of the user to anyone monitoring the network radio traffic. Whilst the fixed network infrastructure knows the association between a temporary identity code (TMSI) and the corresponding unique identity code (IMSI) of a user, this information is generally not readily accessible. To enable the current temporary identity code (TMSI) of a user to be readily tracked without burdening the network infrastructure, a monitoring arrangement is provided which monitors network signalling messages to link the different messages associated with a particular user mobile station that separately give the current operative identity code (line 'c') and assign a successor operative identity code to that user (line 'h'). In one embodiment applicable to a GSM network, messages on the A interface that carry identity code information for a particular user during a communication transaction are linked through the local references of the SCCP connection established for the transaction. In a second embodiment, also applicable to GSM, messages on the Abis interface are monitored and linked through the channel numbers contained in these messages.

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First Claim