Systems and Methods of Detecting Non-Colocated Subscriber Devices

• US 20100011094A1
• Filed: 07/08/2008
• Published: 01/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Briggs, Peter G., Ver Steeg, William C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,577,998 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/604 Address structures or formats
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/668 Internet protocol [IP] address subnets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/107 wherein the security policies are location-dependent, e.g. entities privileges depend on current location or allowing specific operations only from locally connected terminals

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method comprises receiving address configuration information for each of a plurality of subscriber devices associated with the same customer account. The method also comprises identifying, using the address configuration information, any of the subscriber devices that are not colocated with the other subscriber devices associated with the same customer account.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving address configuration information for each of a plurality of subscriber devices associated with the same customer account; and

identifying, using the address configuration information, any of the subscriber devices that are not colocated with the other subscriber devices associated with the same customer account.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying further comprises:

determining a difference between an address within the address configuration information for a selected one of the subscriber devices, and an address within the address configuration information for the remaining ones of the subscriber devices.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

responsive to the difference, identifying the selected subscriber device as possibly not colocated with the other subscriber devices; and

setting a caution level associated with each identified subscriber device.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining whether the caution level associated with one of the subscriber devices is set;

responsive to the caution level determination, receiving second address configuration information for each of the subscriber devices associated with the same customer account; and

confirming, using the second address configuration information, that the selected subscriber device is not colocated with the other subscriber devices.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the address configuration information comprises an IP address of the corresponding subscriber device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the address configuration information comprises a network-address-translated IP address of the corresponding subscriber device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the address configuration information comprises an IP address of a first hop router for the corresponding subscriber device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the address configuration information comprises a MAC address of a first hop router for the corresponding subscriber device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the address configuration information comprises a hop list of IP addresses representing every hop between the corresponding subscriber device and a device performing the method.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein each subscriber device belongs to an IGMP group and the address configuration information comprises a MAC address of the corresponding subscriber device and a list of MAC addresses for other subscriber devices within the IGMP group.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving configuration information for each of the subscriber devices during a log-on by the corresponding subscriber device, and

wherein the identifying is performed responsive to receiving the configuration information.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

examining a routing table from a last hop router for each identified subscriber device to find a physical location for each identified subscriber device.

13. A digital network control system comprising:

a registration manager configured to receive address configuration information for each of a plurality of subscriber devices associated with the same customer account; and

a non-colocation detector configured to identify, using the address configuration information, any of the subscriber devices that are not colocated with the other subscriber devices associated with the same customer account.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the non-colocation detector is further configured to:

determine whether a first address within the address configuration information for a selected one of the subscriber devices is different from a second address within the address configuration information for the remaining ones of the subscriber devices.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the non-colocation detector is further configured to:

responsive to the determining of a difference between the first and second address, identify the selected subscriber device as possibly not colocated with the other subscriber device; and

set a caution level associated with each identified subscriber device.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein each subscriber device belongs to an IGMP group and the address configuration information comprises a MAC address of the corresponding subscriber device and a list of MAC addresses for other subscriber devices within the IGMP group.

17. A digital network control system comprising:

means for receiving address configuration information for each of a plurality of subscriber devices associated with the same customer account; and

means for identifying, using the address configuration information, any of the subscriber devices that are not colocated with the other subscriber devices associated with the same customer account.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the means for identifying further comprises:

means for determining whether an address within the address configuration information for a selected one of the subscriber devices is different from an address within the address configuration information for the remaining ones of the subscriber devices.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the means for identifying further comprises:

means for identifying the selected subscriber device as possibly not colocated with the other subscriber devices, responsive to the means for determining; and

means for setting a caution level associated with each identified subscriber device.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the means for identifying further comprises:

means for determining whether the caution level associated with one of the subscriber devices is set;

means for receiving second address configuration information for each of the subscriber devices associated with the same customer account, responsive to the means for determining whether the caution level associated with one of the subscriber devices is set; and

means for confirming, using the second address configuration information, that the selected subscriber device is not colocated with the other subscriber devices.