Remote management of a bridge device

• US 20070025372A1
• Filed: 08/01/2005
• Published: 02/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: McRae, Matthew, Brenes, Manrique, Harrington, Kendra, Huotari, Allen
• Granted Patent: US 8,125,915 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/401
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/00 Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks

Abstract

A method and system for remotely managing a bridge device, such as a modem, are disclosed. Management traffic from a service provider can be communicated to a bridge device which lacks a public IP address by sending the management traffic through the bridge device to a router of a LAN. The router then sends the management traffic back to the bridge device. Thus, the service provider can perform management tasks such as troubleshooting, health monitoring, accounting, provisioning, security and firmware upgrades in a manner that is transparent to the user.

Claims

1. A method performed by a bridge device, the method comprising:

receiving management traffic from a remote location;

communicating the management traffic to a local area network; and

receiving the management traffic back from the local area network.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the management traffic is first received by a router and then forwarded to an IP address of the bridge device.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the management traffic is received from a service provider at the remote location.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the management traffic is received from a DSL service provider at the remote location.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the management traffic is received from an optical network service provider at the remote location.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the management traffic is received from the remote location via a wide area network.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the management traffic is received from the remote location via the Internet.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the bridge device communicates the management traffic to a router of the local area network.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the bridge device receives the management traffic back from the local area network using a private IP address of the bridge device.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the management traffic comprises at least one type of management traffic selected from the group consisting of:

troubleshooting;

health monitoring;

accounting;

provisioning;

security; and

firmware upgrades.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the bridge device comprises a modem.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the bridge device comprises an optical network terminal.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the bridge device lacks a public IP address.

14. A bridge device comprising:

means for receiving management traffic from a remote location;

means for communicating the management traffic to a local area network; and

means for receiving the management traffic back from the local area network using a private IP address of the bridge device.

15. A bridge device comprising:

a WAN port for receiving management traffic from a remote location;

a LAN port for communicating the management traffic to a local area network; and

wherein the LAN port is configured to receive the management traffic back from the local area network using a private IP address of the bridge modem.

16. The bridge device as recited in claim 15, wherein the management traffic is first received by a router and then forwarded to an IP address of the bridge device.

17. The bridge device as recited in claim 15, wherein the management traffic is received from a service provider at the remote location.

18. The bridge device as recited in claim 15, wherein the management traffic is received from a DSL service provider at the remote location.

19. The bridge device as recited in claim 15, wherein the management traffic is received from an optical network service provider at the remote location.

20. The bridge device as recited in claim 15, wherein the management traffic is received from the remote location via a wide area network.

21. The bridge device as recited in claim 15, wherein the management traffic is received from the remote location via the Internet.

22. The bridge device as recited in claim 15, wherein the bridge device communicates the management traffic to a router of the local area network.

23. The bridge device as recited in claim 15, wherein the bridge device receives the management traffic back from the local area network using a private IP address of the bridge device.

24. The bridge device as recited in claim 15, wherein the management traffic comprises at least one type of management traffic selected from the group consisting of:

troubleshooting;

health monitoring;

accounting;

provisioning;

security; and

firmware upgrades.

25. The bridge device as recited in claim 15, wherein the bridge device comprises a modem.

26. The bridge device as recited in claim 15, wherein the bridge device comprises an optical network terminal.

27. The bridge device as recited in claim 15, wherein the bridge device lacks a public IP address.

28. A method performed by a router, the method comprising:

receiving management traffic from a bridge device of a local area network of the router; and

communicating the management traffic back to the bridge device to facilitate use of the management traffic by the bridge device.

29. A method performed by a service provider, the method comprising communicating management traffic from the service provider to the bridge device using a private IP address of the bridge device.

30. A bridge device comprising a WAN port, a LAN port, and an address circuit configured to receive an IP address and to assign the IP address to the bridge device.

31. The bridge device as recited in claim 30, the address circuit comprises a DHCP client and a DHCP server.

32. A router comprising a WAN port, a LAN port, and a memory within which is stored a predetermined list of known private IP addresses for bridge devices.

33. A router, the router comprising:

a WAN port; and

a circuit configured to respond to a DHCP request received on the WAN port by providing an IP address via the WAN port.

34. A method for remotely managing a bridge device, the method comprising:

storing a predetermined private IP address in the bridge device;

configuring the bridge device as a short lease DHCP server; and

disabling the DHCP server automatically after a predetermined time or after an IP address has been assigned thereby to a router.

35. A method performed a router, the method comprising responding to a DHCP request received on a WAN port of the router by providing an IP address via the WAN port of the router.