Methods and systems for handling online requests based on information known to a service provider

An apparatus, in an access network associated with a service provider, comprising:

• a network interface for receiving messages from a plurality of remote network nodes;
• and
• a processing unit coupled to said network interface and comprising a processor and a memory, said processing unit configured to:
• store in a profile database profile information of a user registering or activating network access through a service provider, including a location of a service point of the network access;
• assign a logical identifier to a communication apparatus connected to a port of a network element associated with the service point location, the logical identifier being used to route data through the communication apparatus over the communications network;
• determine an assigned logical identifier associated with the location service point of the profile information of the user using mappings between logical associated with ports of network elements and service point locations associated with the ports of the network elements;
• store the assigned logical identifier determined to be associated with the service point location in association with the profile information having the service point location;
• receive from a transaction validation server, a request message related to an online transaction initiated through the communication device, the request message comprising a transaction-specific logical identifier of the communication device associated with the online transaction;
• retrieve at least a portion of profile information associated with the transaction-specific logical identifier from the profile information database;
• and
• provide the retrieved portion of the profile information to the transaction validation server for use in validating the online transaction, wherein the retrieved portion of the profile information is used to validate the online transaction by determining whether the retrieved portion of the profile information corresponds to transaction-specific profile information received in association with the online transaction.

A system in a communications network comprising an access network, associated with a service provider, and a public packet-switched network, the system comprising:

• at least one server, managed by the service provider, configured to:
• store in a profile database profile information of a user registering or activating network access through a service provider, including a location of a service point of the network access;
• assign a logical identifier to a communication apparatus connected to a port of a network element associated with the service point location, the logical identifier being used to route data through the communication apparatus over the communications network;
• determine an assigned logical identifier associated with the location service point of the profile information of the user using mappings between logical associated with ports of network elements and service point locations associated with the ports of the network elements;
• and
• store the assigned logical identifier determined to be associated with the service point location in association with the profile information having the service point location;
• and
• a profile information server having access to the profile database, configured to:
• receive from a transaction validation server, a request message related to an online transaction initiated through the communication device, the request message comprising a transaction-specific logical identifier of the communication device associated with the online transaction;
• retrieve at least a portion of profile information associated with the transaction-specific logical identifier from the profile information database;
• and
• provide the retrieved portion of the profile information to the transaction validation server for use in validating the online transaction, wherein the retrieved portion of the profile information is used to validate the online transaction by determining whether the retrieved portion of the profile information corresponds to transaction-specific profile information received in association with the online transaction.