MONITORING AND REPORTING POLICY COMPLIANCE OF HOME NETWORKS

• US 20080066145A1
• Filed: 09/08/2006
• Published: 03/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Guest-tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
• Original Assignee: iBAHN General Holdings Corporation (Guest-tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.)
• Inventors: Norr, George B., Midani, Wael R., Welch, John Thomas, Ehlers, Richard L., Molen, Brett Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 8,522,304 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2814 Exchanging control software or macros for controlling appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving configuration of the network and network elements H04L41/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are described for monitoring and configuring home networks for a variety of purposes such as, for example, facilitating secure communications between the home network and a remote network, and facilitating provision of a service by a service provider such as, for example, a cellular carrier.

Claims

1. A computer program product comprising at least one computer-readable medium having computer program instructions stored therein which are operable to cause at least one computing device to monitor and configure a home network to facilitate secure communications between the home network and a remote network, the computer program instructions comprising:

first instructions for monitoring at least one security parameter associated with the home network;

second instructions for determining whether the at least one security parameter conforms to a policy associated with the remote network; and

third instructions for enabling automatic configuring of at least one device on the home network to facilitate compliance with the policy where the at least one security parameter does not conform to the policy.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the at least one device comprises one or more of a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a handheld computing device, a cellular phone, an email client, a gateway, a wired router, a wireless router, a cable modem, a DSL modem, a wireless access point, an Ethernet networking device, an optical networking device, a video encoding device, a media server, or a VoIP device.

3. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the first, second, and third instructions are deployed on the home network.

4. The computer program product of claim 3 wherein the first, second, and third instructions are embodied in any of software, firmware, or hardware.

5. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein first instructions are operable to determine whether a process specified by the policy is operating on the home network.

6. The computer program product of claim 5 wherein the specified process relates to one or more of encryption, authentication, firewall protection, virus protection, spyware protection, access point configuration, or data access.

7. The computer program product of claim 5 wherein the third instructions are operable to effect operation of the specified process on the home network.

8. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the first instructions are operable to detect at least one configuration parameter or operational parameter of the at least one device.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 wherein the third instructions are operable to modify the at least one configuration parameter or operational parameter of the at least one device.

10. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the first instructions are operable to detect access to the home network by an unauthorized device.

11. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein the third instructions are operable to configure the at least one device to inhibit transmission from the unauthorized device to the remote network or other devices on the home network.

12. The computer program product of claim 1 further comprising fourth instructions for generating a representation of the home network for presentation in a network operations center (NOC) interface associated with the remote network substantially in real time.

13. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the policy corresponds to an enterprise associated with the remote network and the home network corresponds to a residence of personnel associated with the enterprise.

14. A computer-implemented method for monitoring and configuring a home network to facilitate secure communications between the home network and a remote network, comprising:

monitoring at least one security parameter associated with the home network;

determining whether the at least one security parameter conforms to a policy associated with the remote network; and

where the at least one security parameter does not conform to the policy, enabling automatic configuring of at least one device on the home network to facilitate compliance with the policy.

15. A computer program product comprising at least one computer-readable medium having computer program instructions stored therein which are operable to cause at least one computing device to monitor and configure a home network to facilitate provision of a service by a service provider, the computer program instructions comprising:

first instructions for monitoring a state associated with the home network;

second instructions for determining whether the state of the home network conforms to a quality of service provision associated with the service provider; and

third instructions for enabling automatic configuring of at least one device on the home network to facilitate compliance with the quality of service provision where the state of the home network does not conform to the quality of service provision.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the at least one device comprises one or more of a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a handheld computing device, a cellular phone, an email client, a gateway, a wired router, a wireless router, a cable modem, a DSL modem, a wireless access point, an Ethernet networking device, an optical networking device, a video encoding device, a media server, or a VoIP device.

17. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the first, second, and third instructions are deployed on the home network.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 wherein the first, second, and third instructions are embodied in any of software, firmware, or hardware.

19. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the first instructions are operable to determine whether a process specified by the quality of service provision is operating on the home network.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein the third instructions are operable to effect operation of the specified process on the home network.

21. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the first instructions are operable to detect at least one configuration parameter or operational parameter of the at least one device.

22. The computer program product of claim 21 wherein the third instructions are operable to modify the at least one configuration parameter or operational parameter of the at least one device.

23. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the first instructions are operable to detect access to the home network by an unauthorized device.

24. The computer program product of claim 23 wherein the third instructions are operable to configure the at least one device to inhibit transmission from the unauthorized device to other devices on the home network.

25. (canceled)

26. A computer-implemented method for monitoring and configuring a home network to facilitate provision of a service by a service provider, comprising:

monitoring a state associated with the home network;

determining whether the state of the home network conforms to a quality of service provision associated with the service provider; and

where the state of the home network does not conform to the quality of service provision, enabling automatic configuring of at least one device on the home network to facilitate compliance with the quality of service provision.