Patent ID: 8010678

Claim:
A network device comprising: a processor to: receive a request, using common open policy service for policy provisioning (COPS-PR), for a network service related to an interface handle associated with a network interface created for a subscriber device, determine that a particular network policy, of a plurality of network policies corresponding to a plurality of attachments defined in a policy information base (PIB), corresponds to the subscriber service, and send, using COPS-PR, a provisioning instance (PRI) including a first attachment, of the plurality of attachments, to implement the particular network policy to the interface handle; a network interface to apply the particular network policy to data packets associated with the interface handle; a policy management module to maintain a shared configuration context, in which the particular network policy is contained, between the network interface and at least one other network interface created for another subscriber device; and a service activation engine interface module to communicate with a service activation engine (SAE).