Patent ID: 8514845

Claim:
A method implemented in a network element, the method comprising: establishing a plurality of subscriber connections for a plurality of subscribers, wherein the establishing of each of the plurality of subscriber connections includes: receiving a connection request message from a subscriber that includes physical layer information identifying a physical access connection on which the connection request message was received, and assigning a unique physical layer identifier for the subscriber connection that uniquely identifies the subscriber connection, the physical layer identifier being based on the physical layer information, receiving a first signaling message over a first one of the plurality of established subscriber connections, the first signaling message including a subscriber identifier of a first one of the plurality of subscribers; associating the subscriber identifier of the first one of the plurality of subscribers with the physical layer identifier for the first one of the plurality of subscriber connections; and upon receiving subsequent messages having the subscriber identifier of the first one of the plurality of subscribers, each of the received messages being associated with one of the plurality of physical layer identifiers, processing those messages that are associated with the physical layer identifier for the first one of the plurality of subscriber connections.