Patent ID: 7525987

Claim:
A method of associating a subscriber of a service provider with a message from the subscriber sent over a communications network, comprising: receiving the message at a gateway of the communications network, the message including a first unique subscriber identifier associated with the subscriber and the communications network, wherein the first unique subscriber identifier comprises an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number or a Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI) number; distinguishing, at the gateway, the first unique subscriber identifier from the message; searching in storage, at the gateway, for a subscriber identifier pair, wherein the subscriber identifier pair comprises a correlation of the first unique subscriber identifier associated with the subscriber and the communications network and a second unique subscriber identifier associated with the subscriber and the service provider, wherein the second unique subscriber identifier comprises a Mobile Subscriber International ISDN (MSISDN) number; replacing, at the gateway, the first unique subscriber identifier in the message with the second unique subscriber identifier; and, sending the message from the gateway to a server of the service provider.