METHOD AND APPARATUS PERTAINING TO UPDATING A HIGH-BANDWIDTH HARDWARE-BASED PACKET-PROCESSING PLATFORM LOCAL SESSION CONTEXT STATE DATABASE

摘要

These various embodiments comprise or are suitable for implementation by a high-bandwidth hardware-based packet-processing platform that is configured to be installed at a traffic-aggregation point for a communications network having a plurality of attachment points at its edge. These teachings provide for receiving (via, for example, a packet-receiving interface) at least substantially all data packets as pass through the traffic-aggregation point and then extracting session context state data from at least a majority of these data packets. By one approach, this session context state data comprises, at least in part, information pertaining to a location as pertains to a calling party (such as the point of network attachment for that calling party). This session context state data is then used to update a local session context state database.