Patent ID: 7009956

Claim:
A method of transmitting a message from a wireless radio-frequency short-range communication network via a gateway to a network external to the communication network, the method comprising: receiving a first message via a short-range radio link at the gateway from a terminal device of the short-range communication network, the first message being addressed to an element external to the short-range communication network, and the first message comprising a network address of the terminal device as a transmitter's address and a first port number as a source port number, the network address of the terminal device being a network address that is used inside the short-range communication network, wherein the method further comprises: allocating a second port number to the terminal device; replacing the network address of the terminal device in the first message with a network address of the gateway and the first port number with the second port number; generating a correlation between the network address of the terminal device, the first port number and the second port number and storing said correlation in a memory available to the gateway for identification of the terminal device; and transmitting the first message from the gateway to the element external to the short-range communication network, the first message having the network address of the gateway as a transmitter's address and said second port number as a source port number.