Patent ID: 6882638

Claim:
A method of transmitting signalling information in a telecommunications network between a pair of application parts, the method comprising; generating said signalling information at a first of said application parts, including addressing information associated with the second of the application parts; passing the signalling information to a Signalling Connection control Part (SCCP) arranged to segment the signalling information if necessary, and to encapsulate the information in one or more SCCP messages; passing the encapsulated signalling information from the SCCP to an adaptation layer arranged to determine an IP address and port number associated with said addressing information; passing the signalling information and said IP address and port number to an Internet Protocol (IP) part and transmitting the signalling information over an IP network to said IP address in one or more IP datagrams; decapsulating said signalling information at the destination associated with the IP address and at an adaptation layer identified by said port number; and routing the decapsulated signalling information to the second user part.