US Patent 11792172 Privacy indicators for controlling authentication requests

Techniques for providing privacy features in communication systems are provided. For example, a message may be provided from user equipment to an element or function in a communication network that comprises one or more privacy indicators, where privacy features for processing the message are determined based on the privacy indicators. The message may comprise an attach request comprising a subscription identifier for a subscriber associated with the user equipment, with the privacy indicators comprising a flag indicating whether the subscription identifier in the attach request is privacy-protected. As another example, the element of function in the communication network may determine privacy features supported by the communication network and generate and send a message to user equipment comprising one or more privacy indicators selected based on the determined privacy features. The privacy indicators may comprise an indication of whether the communication network is configured for handling privacy-protected subscription identifiers.