Alcatel

Antoine Totaro

Erick Flores

Jean Charpentier

Roland Thies

The present invention relates to a method of routing a call between a first terminal which is a mobile terminal (,) and a second terminal (,) in a global telecommunications network, it being possible for the call to be routed in the global network a)&mdash;at least in part through a satellite telecommunications network (,) using base stations (,) giving access to satellites, and b) &mdash;at least in part through a terrestrial telecommunications network (PSTN) connected to the base stations (,), each satellite (,) in the satellite telecommunications network defining an overall coverage area covering a plurality of base stations, the overall coverage area defining a plurality of coverage sub-areas, each of which is associated with a respective one of the base stations (,). The method is characterized in that it includes a location updating step in which the location of the first terminal (,) is updated as being in coverage sub-area associated with that one of the base stations (,) which is closest to the second terminal so as to minimize the routing distance over which the call travels through the terrestrial telecommunications network (PSTN).

Communication routing method by a satellite in a network

A method for enabling encrypted communication to be performed directly in a single hop or merely directly between two terminals of a mobile radio network by satellite and/or of the GSM/DCS type, after one of said terminals has called via a fixed radio station of the network. After a first encryption stage, performed in conventional manner, a cipher key is simultaneously generated by the identity card associated with the calling terminal and by the network control structure for encrypting/decrypting data transmitted over the radio link between said calling terminal and the station. This cipher key is then stored in a memory of the station so as to be transmitted to the called terminal when a radio link is set up between said station and said called terminal for the call requested by the calling terminal, and the key is used for the purpose of encrypting/decrypting the data interchanged between the calling and called terminals.

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Muret, France

Antoine Totaro