Patent ID: 7933275

Claim:
A telecommunication system, comprising: a first station comprising one of a base station, a mobile station, a mobile switching center, a packet data serving node, and a packet control function, the first station having first communication software for generating and transmitting messages; and a second station comprising one of a base station, a mobile station, a mobile switching center, a packet data serving node, and a packet control function, the second station having second communication software for receiving and processing the messages; wherein the messages are transmitted between the first and second stations via an Ax interface and wherein: at least one of the messages comprises a format for communicating generic information elements each defining a task to be performed by the second station, each generic information element comprising: a generic element identifier field which identifies the generic information element as a generic information element and also identifies one of a plurality of tasks to be performed by the second station; data fields which comprise task data required for a task; a variable length indicator which indicates a quantity of the task data contained in the generic information element; and a multi-use data type identifier which identifies which of a plurality of types of task data populates the task data fields.