Method of determining a unique subscriber from an arbitrary set of subscriber attributes

1. A method performed by a Subscriber Profile Repository (SPR) for determining a unique subscriber record from a set of subscription identifiers, the method comprising:

receiving a message including at least one subscription identifier; for each subscription identifier of the at least one subscription identifier;

determining whether the subscription identifier matches a subscriber record; and

determining that the subscriber record is the unique subscriber record when each subscription identifier that matches the subscriber record matches an identical subscriber record.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining whether the subscription identifier matches the subscriber record further comprises:

querying a subscriber record cache for the subscription identifier;

if the subscription identifier matches the subscriber record in the subscriber record cache, adding the matching subscriber record to a list of subscriber records; and

if the subscription identifier does not match the subscriber record in the subscriber record cache, maintaining the subscription identifier in a list of unfound subscription identifiers.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one subscription identifier matches the subscriber record in the subscriber record cache, and the step of determining whether the subscription identifier matches the subscriber record further comprises:

for each subscription identifier in the list of unfound subscription identifiers,

querying a subscriber record database;

if the subscription identifier matches the subscriber record in the subscriber record database, adding the matching subscriber record to the subscriber record cache; and

returning an error message.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the subscriber record cache does not include the subscriber record matching any subscription identifier, the method further comprising:

for each subscription identifier:

querying a subscriber record database, and

if the subscriber record database contains the subscriber record matching the subscription identifier, adding the matching record to the subscriber record cache.

5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

clearing the subscriber record cache when there is a change to the subscriber record database.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

returning an error message when the subscription identifiers do not match any subscriber record.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

returning an error message when the subscription identifiers match more than one subscriber record.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of subscription identifiers comprises at least one of:

an International Mobile Subscriber Identification (IMSI);

a Mobile Station International Subscriber Directory Number (MSISDN);

a Session Initiation Protocol Uniform Resource Indicator (SIP URI); and

a Network Access Identifier (NAI).

9. A subscriber profile repository for determining a subscriber associated with a set of subscription identifiers, the subscriber profile repository comprising:

an interface which receives a subscriber profile request, the subscriber profile request comprising at least one subscription identifier;

a subscriber record database that contains records of subscribers, each subscriber record comprising a set of subscription identifiers;

a subscriber record cache that includes a subset of the subscriber records contained in the subscriber record database;

a search manager that queries the subscriber record cache using each subscription identifier and queries the subscriber record database when the subscriber record cache does not contain a subscriber record matching a subscription identifier.

10. The subscriber profile repository of claim 9 , further comprising:

a results manager that determines whether subscriber records are identical and returns the subscriber record via the interface when all query results are identical subscriber records.

11. The subscriber profile repository of claim 10 , wherein the results manager updates the subscriber record cache when the subscriber record database produces a matching subscriber record.

12. The subscriber profile repository of claim 9 , further comprising:

a network interface that transmits queries to a network subscriber database via a packet data network and receives query results from the network subscriber database.

13. The subscriber profile repository of claim 9 , wherein the subscriber record comprises at least one of:

an International Mobile Subscriber Identification (IMSI);

a Mobile Station International Subscriber Directory Number (MSISDN);

a Session Initiation Protocol Uniform Resource Indicator (SIP URI); and

a Network Access Identifier (NAI).

14. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions for a Subscriber Profile Repository (SPR) to determine a unique subscriber record from a set of subscription identifiers, the machine-readable medium comprising:

instructions for receiving a message containing at least one subscription identifier;

instructions for determining, for each subscription identifier of the at least one subscription identifier, whether the subscription identifier matches a subscriber record; and

instructions for determining that the subscriber record is the unique subscriber record when each subscription identifier that matches the subscriber record matches an identical subscriber record.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the instructions for determining whether the subscription identifier matches the subscriber record further comprise:

instructions for querying a subscriber record cache for the subscription identifier;

instructions for adding the matching subscriber record to a list of subscriber records if the subscription identifier matches the subscriber record in the subscriber record cache; and

instructions for adding the subscription identifier to a list of unfound subscription identifiers if the subscription identifier does not match the subscriber record in the subscriber record cache.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein at least one subscription identifier matches the subscriber record in the subscriber record cache, and the instructions for determining whether the subscription identifier matches the subscriber record further comprise:

instructions for querying a subscriber record database for each subscription identifier in the list of unfound subscription identifiers to determine whether the subscription identifier matches the subscriber record in the subscriber database; and

instructions for adding the matching subscriber record to the subscriber record cache and returning an error message if the subscription identifier matches the subscriber record in the subscriber record database.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16 , further comprising:

instructions for clearing the subscriber record cache when there is a change to the subscriber record database.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the subscriber record cache contains no subscriber records matching any subscription identifier, the machine-readable storage medium further comprising:

instructions for querying a subscriber record database for each subscription identifier; and

instructions for adding a matching record to the subscriber record cache if the subscriber record database contains the subscriber record matching the subscription identifier.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14 , further comprising:

instructions for returning an error message when the subscription identifiers do not match any subscriber record.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14 , further comprising:

returning an error message when the subscription identifiers match more than one subscriber record.

21. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the set of subscriber identifiers comprises at least one of:

an International Mobile Subscriber Identification (IMSI);

a Mobile Station International Subscriber Directory Number (MSISDN);

a Session Initiation Protocol Uniform Resource Indicator (SIP URI); and

a Network Access Identifier (NAI).