Patent ID: 8595368

Claim:
A method implemented by a policy server which determines access and conditions of service to be provided to subscribers on a plurality of networks, said method comprising: at a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) module implemented on the policy server and configured to evaluate network access requests based on network resources and stored policies and to instruct a policy control and enforcement function (PCEF) to enforce the policies: receiving, from an intercept server on one network, a request to forward a data collection rule associated with an identified subscriber to the PCEF, wherein the data collection rule specifies a type of information regarding the online activities of the identified subscriber for gathering by the PCEF; storing the request; in response to receiving the request, pushing the data collection rule to the PCEF, wherein the data collection rule instructs the PCEF to collect data associated with online activities of the identified subscriber and to send the collected data to the PCRF module; after receiving the request, continuing to manage access and conditions of service for a plurality of subscribers on the network; while continuing to manage access and conditions of service for the plurality of subscribers on the network, receiving the collected data from the PCEF; and in response to receiving the collected data, sending the collected data to the intercept server.