Patent ID: 7965830

Claim:
A network element for a telecommunication network, the network element comprising: a receiver configured to receive address information according to a network numbering plan of the telecommunication network; a memory with a data structure for representing, retrieving and modifying translation information, the translation information mapping address information according to the network numbering plan to service access codes or network element addresses, the data structure having a tree structure with nodes and leaves operatively chained together wherein at least one of the nodes holds information nominating which part of a search key will be used to determine the branching of the respective node, the information held by at least one of the nodes including a service type among multiple service types such that the nominating is at least based on the multiple service types; and a control unit configured to (i) extract a the search key from the received address information, and (ii) apply the search key on the data structure of the memory by searching the tree structure, extracting the part of the search key nominated by the respective node, and determining the branching of the node by means of the extracted part of the search key, wherein the leaves of the data structure store information about service access codes or network element addresses, if the respective leaf is attached to a node.