PROVIDING DESIRED SERVICE POLICIES TO SUBSCRIBERS ACCESSING INTERNET

摘要

An internet service node (ISN) enabling the provision of desired service policies to each subscriber. The ISN may contain multiple processor groups, with each subscriber being assigned to a processor group. The assigned processor group may be configured with the processing rules which provide the service policies desired by a subscriber. A port may determine the specific processor group to which received data is to be forwarded. A content addressable memory (CAM) with masks for individual locations may be implemented to quickly determine the processor group to which received data is to be assigned to. Due to the features of the present invention, an ISN may be able to serve a large number of subscribers efficiently. The ISN may be used at the edge of an access network.