Patent ID: 8503992

Claim:
A method of facilitating the provision of circuit-switched Service Area-dependent services to a mobile station from a service level network that requires a Service Area Identifier (SAI) to provide the Service Area-dependent services to the mobile station, the mobile station communicating with a cell of a cellular Packet Switched (PS) access domain that does not initially provide the SAI to the service level network, the method comprising: from the PS access domain, initially providing only a Cell Global Identity (CGI) for said cell to the mobile station without providing the SAI to said mobile station, wherein the SAI is different from the CGI but can be determined from the CGI; determining the SAI from the CGI using one of the following approaches: converting the CGI into the SAI using a Mobility Management Entity (MME), translating the CGI into the SAI using a translation function entity in the service level network, and converting the CGI into the SAI using a Mobile Switching Centre; sending the SAI to the mobile station in response to receiving a request therefor from the mobile station, wherein the request comprises the CGI but not the SAI; and providing the determined SAI to said service level network so as to facilitate provision of circuit-switched Service Area-dependent services to the mobile station despite initial non-provision of the SAI to the mobile station as well as the service level network.