Patent ID: 7870601

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a first interface configured to receive requests to attach to a network operator, the requests originating from user equipment and being received in accordance with a plurality of different wireless access technologies comprising least a first type of wireless access technology and a second type of wireless access technology different from the first type of wireless access technology; a network attachment functionality component connected with the first interface and configured to provide a common point of network operator access authentication and authorization for the user equipment for each of the plurality of different wireless access technologies; a service authorization functionality component connected with the network attachment functionality component via a communication channel and configured to provide service authentication to a plurality of different types of services for user equipment granted access authentication and authorization by the network attachment functionality component; and a second interface connected with the service authorization functionality component and configured to connect with a plurality of service application servers, said second interface further configured to receive a request from a particular service application server for access information, that is specific to the particular service application server, for a user equipment that has been authenticated to use the particular service application server, and to respond to the request with the access-specific information obtained by said service authorization functionality component, via said communication channel, from said network attachment functionality component.