Patent ID: 8204502

Claim:
A method of performing a user equipment (UE) registration in a communication system comprising (1) a first communication system comprising a core network and a licensed radio access network and (2) a wireless second communication system comprising an access point that operates using licensed wireless frequencies covering a short-range distance and a network controller communicatively coupled to the access point through a generic Internet Protocol (IP) access network, the network controller for communicatively coupling the access point to the core network of the first communication system, the method comprising: intercepting at the access point a non-access stratum (NAS) message sent from the UE towards the core network; sending from the access point to the network controller a register request message comprising an identification of the UE, said sending the register request message being triggered by the interception of said NAS message, the register request message for the network controller to register the UE with the wireless second communication system; and forwarding the intercepted NAS message from the access point to the network controller by sending from the access point to the network controller a direct transfer message encapsulating the intercepted NAS message as a NAS protocol data unit (PDU), wherein the intercepted NAS message is for the network controller to forward to the core network of the first communication system.