Patent ID: 8813168

Claim:
A method for providing nested policy configuration in a communications network, the method comprising: at a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) node: obtaining, from a policy profile database, a first policy record associated with a first identifier, wherein the first identifier is associated with a first subscriber and wherein the first policy record includes a second identifier nested within the first policy record, wherein obtaining the first policy record includes performing a first query to the policy profile database using the first identifier; obtaining, using the second identifier obtained from the first policy record and from the policy profile database, a second policy record associated with the second identifier, wherein the second identifier is different from the first identifier, wherein obtaining the second policy record includes performing a second query using the second identifier, wherein the second query is separate from the first query, and wherein the second policy record is separate from the first policy record; and applying a combined policy to the first subscriber, wherein the combined policy includes policy elements from the first and second policy records.