Patent ID: 8755799

Claim:
A method comprising steps of: generating, for each of a plurality of user devices associated together under one user account for service through a communication network, a unique Private Identity (PRID) of a predetermined format, each PRID for a respective one of the devices comprising: (a) a group indicator identifying the PRID as associated with a group of devices subject to a common service profile for communication service through the communication network; (b) a Public Identity (PUID) string of characters assigned to uniquely identify the one user account in the communication network; and (c) a device identifier uniquely assigned to identify the respective device within the group under the one user account; and generating only one common PRID of the predetermined format for identifying the common service profile with respect to all of the devices of the group under the one user account, the common PRID comprising: (i) the group indicator; (ii) the PUID; and (iii) a wildcard in a field of the predetermined format for a device identifier.