System and method for centralized lawful interception in a network

A method of providing centralized lawful interception in a network, said method comprising:

• generating, from an administration function (ADMF), a tracing request for tracing a target user equipment (UE);
• receiving, by a short message service function (SMSF), said generated tracing request, receiving, by said SMSF, a user activation signal along with at least one user equipment identifier from said target UE through a network function;
• storing, by said SMSF, said received tracing request, and said received at least one user equipment identifier in a database;
• receiving, by said SMSF, an event for each mobile originated (MO) message and mobile terminated (MT) message from said network function;
• forwarding, by said SMSF, said received tracing request and said received event to a centralized lawful interception function (CLIF);
• extracting, by said CLIF, a plurality of information from said received event;
• comparing, by said CLIF, said at least one user equipment identifier stored in said database corresponding to said tracing request with said extracted plurality of information and tracing all related details of said target UE and at least one UE communicating with said target UE to generate a provisioning information based on comparison;
• and
• transmitting, by said CLIF, said generated provisioning information to a law enforcement monitoring facility (LEMF), via an identified mediation and delivery function (MDF).

A centralized lawful interception function (CLIF) for providing centralized lawful interception in a network, said CLIF comprising a processing unit configured to:

• receive, from an administration function (ADMF), a request for tracing a target user equipment (UE);
• receive, via a short message service function (SMSF), an event for each mobile originated (MO) message and mobile terminated (MT) message from a network function;
• extract a plurality of information from said received event;
• compare, at least one user equipment identifier stored in a database corresponding to said tracing request with said extracted plurality of information and trace all related details of said target UE and at least one UE communicating with said target UE to generate a provisioning information based on comparison;
• and
• transmit said generated provisioning information to a law enforcement monitoring facility (LEMF), via an identified mediation and delivery function (MDF).

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to execute a method for providing centralized lawful interception in a network, said method comprising:

• generating, from an administration function (ADMF), a tracing request for tracing a target user equipment (UE);
• receiving, by a short message service function (SMSF), said generated tracing request, receiving, by said SMSF, a user activation signal along with at least one user equipment identifier from said target UE through a network function;
• storing, by said SMSF, said received tracing request, and said received at least one user equipment identifier in a database;
• receiving, by said SMSF, an event for each mobile originated (MO) message and mobile terminated (MT) message from said network function;
• forwarding, by said SMSF, said received tracing request and said received event to a centralized lawful interception function (CLIF);
• extracting, by said CLIF, a plurality of information from said received event;
• comparing, by said CLIF, said at least one user equipment identifier stored in said database corresponding to said tracing request with said extracted plurality of information and tracing all related details of said target UE and at least one UE communicating with said target UE to generate a provisioning information based on comparison;
• and
• transmitting, by said CLIF, said generated provisioning information to a law enforcement monitoring facility (LEMF), via an identified mediation and delivery function (MDF).