Patent ID: 8416744

Claim:
A method for detecting the point of attachment of mobile terminals moving within a mobile communication network in idle mode, wherein the mobile communication system can be logically divided into plural tracking areas to which the mobile terminals register, the method comprising: maintaining at a first network control entity context information for the respective mobile terminals in idle mode served by the first network control entity, wherein the context information for a respective mobile terminal comprises a marker that, when set, indicates that the respective mobile terminal has simultaneously registered to another tracking area than that controlled by the first network control entity, transmitting a notification for verifying the current point of attachment of said marked mobile terminals, and receiving at the first network control entity information indicative of whether at least one marked mobile terminal in idle mode is currently attached to a radio access network within the tracking area controlled by the first network control entity, wherein the marker, when set, further indicates that the respective mobile terminal has registered to a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) service and wherein the notification is transmitted to the marked mobile terminal as part of a counting procedure for counting the mobile terminals in the cell that receive said service.