Patent ID: 8374088
Filing Date: 2013-02-12
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A computer-implemented method comprising: defining each of a plurality of service contexts available to a plurality of subscribers of a broadband service provider in terms of one or more profile identifiers of a plurality of profile identifiers each of which is representative of a particular subscriber service supported by a broadband subscriber access environment provided by the broadband service provider; maintaining, within a virtual router (VR) configured within a telecommunications system of the broadband service provider, a scalable subscriber profile database in which a memory requirement for the scalable subscriber profile database is dependent upon a number of available service contexts by hierarchically organizing the plurality of profile identifiers as intermediate profile identifiers and leaf profile identifiers, wherein the leaf profile identifiers explicitly define subscriber services that are available during a connection to the broadband service provider and the intermediate profile identifiers indirectly represent sets of one or more subscriber services, which are defined by way of the intermediate profile identifiers' associations with one or more lower-level identifiers including zero or more of the leaf profile identifiers and zero or more of the intermediate profile identifiers; receiving, by a profile manager of the VR, an intermediate profile identifier of a subscriber of the plurality of subscribers; determining, by the profile manager, whether a profile cache maintained by the profile manager includes an entry for the intermediate profile identifier; and if the profile cache includes an entry for the intermediate profile identifier, retrieving, by the profile manager, profile information and one or more lower-level profile identifiers associated with the intermediate profile identifier from the entry; and if the profile cache does not include the entry, performing the following, by the profile manager: