Patent ID: 8640188

Claim:
A method for providing group policy configuration in a communications network, the method comprising: at a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) node: obtaining, from a policy profile database, first policy profile information associated with a first subscriber identifier, wherein the first subscriber identifier is associated with a first subscriber; obtaining, from the policy profile database, group policy profile information associated with a group identifier, wherein the group identifier is associated in the policy profile database with a group of subscriber identifiers that includes the first subscriber identifier; determining whether the group policy profile information applies to the first subscriber identifier by performing a lookup using the first subscriber identifier; and in response to determining that the group policy profile information applies to the first subscriber identifier, applying at least a portion of the group policy profile information to the first subscriber, wherein the first policy profile information specifies an individual policy profile for the first subscriber, wherein the group policy profile information specifies a group policy profile for the group, and wherein applying at least a portion of the group policy profile to the first subscriber includes creating and storing in the PCRF a new policy profile for the subscriber that includes policy elements from the individual policy profile and the group policy profile.