Patent ID: 7408942

Claim:
A network element, comprising: a first interface configured to communicate with a first internet protocol based network using an internet protocol to receive signals from and send signals to the first network, said first internet protocol based network being a private computer based network comprising wireless capabilities, said first interface being configured such that internet protocol traffic intended for a wireless user equipment within said first internet protocol based network from another user equipment within said first network can occur without any signaling occurring externally of said first network; and a second interface configured to communicate with a second external packet data network via an internet protocol based connection to receive signals from and send signals to the second packet data network, said wireless user equipment being usable with said second network, wherein the network element is located between the first internet protocol based network and the second external packet data network, and wherein said network element is configured to determine whether a particular wireless user equipment is a subscriber of the first network and when said particular wireless user equipment is not a subscriber of the first network to make a query to a home location register in said second network.