Patent ID: 7885284

Claim:
A method of communicating information between an intermediate element and a source element in a message-based communications system wherein a request message is sent from the source element to a destination element and in response a corresponding response message is sent from the destination element to the source element, the request and response messages being sent via the intermediate element configured to forward the messages to an appropriate element, the method comprising, at the intermediate element: receiving the request message; prior to forwarding the request message: determining a presence, in the request message, of an indication of information to be communicated and where present, adding a temporary identifier associated with the intermediate element to the request message such that the temporary identifier is included in the corresponding response message, and avoiding storage of message related context information associated with the request message; receiving the response message that is responsive to the request message; and prior to forwarding the response message: determining a presence of the temporary identifier associated with the intermediate element in the response message and, where present, replacing the temporary identifier with information to be communicated to the source element, wherein the replacing is performed without accessing any stored message related context information associated with the request message.