Hierarchical cable modem clone detection
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method, comprising:
- detecting if a cable modem seeking connection (CM-SC) to a first cable modem termination system (CMTS) has the same media access control (MAC) address as any cable modems previously registered (PR-CM) on said first CMTS,if said CM-SC has the same MAC address as a PR-CM, determining if the location of the CM-SC is the same as a last-known location of the PR-CM, wherein the location of the CM-SC is specified by the cable interface on which the CM-SC appears and at least one of the US port on the interface that services the CM-SC, the DS port on the interface that services the CM-SC, the Fiber Node (FN) serving the CM-SC, and the Load Balancing (LB) group descriptor of the CM-SC on the CMTS, andif said locations differ, sending a ping to the last-known location of said PR-CM, wherebyif said PR-CM responds to said ping, it is determined that said CM-SC is a clone based on two different cable modems, the CM-SC and the PR-CM, having the same MAC address but existing in two different physical locations simultaneously, andif said PR-CM does not respond to said ping, it is determined that said CM-SC is in fact said PR-CM at a new location.
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Abstract
A hierarchical cable modem clone detection system: A cable modem clone detection system uses a cable modem media access control (MAC) address and physical location information such as information relating to a cable interface, upstream and downstream port numbers, fiber node information, and load balancing group descriptors to determine if a cable modem is a clone. The hierarchical approach first make a clone determination at a cable modem termination system, then at a regional operations center and finally at a network operations center.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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detecting if a cable modem seeking connection (CM-SC) to a first cable modem termination system (CMTS) has the same media access control (MAC) address as any cable modems previously registered (PR-CM) on said first CMTS, if said CM-SC has the same MAC address as a PR-CM, determining if the location of the CM-SC is the same as a last-known location of the PR-CM, wherein the location of the CM-SC is specified by the cable interface on which the CM-SC appears and at least one of the US port on the interface that services the CM-SC, the DS port on the interface that services the CM-SC, the Fiber Node (FN) serving the CM-SC, and the Load Balancing (LB) group descriptor of the CM-SC on the CMTS, and if said locations differ, sending a ping to the last-known location of said PR-CM, whereby if said PR-CM responds to said ping, it is determined that said CM-SC is a clone based on two different cable modems, the CM-SC and the PR-CM, having the same MAC address but existing in two different physical locations simultaneously, and if said PR-CM does not respond to said ping, it is determined that said CM-SC is in fact said PR-CM at a new location. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method, comprising:
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storing in a memory associated with a cable modem termination system (CMTS) a media access control (MAC) address and a last-known location of cable modems previously registered (PR-CMs) on said CMTS system, determining a current MAC address and a current location of a cable modem that attempts to connect to said CMTS system, wherein the current location is specified by at least one of a port on an interface that services the cable modem, a Fiber Node (FN) serving the cable modem, and a Load Balancing (LB) group descriptor on said CMTS system, determining if any of said previously registered cable modems had said current MAC address, retrieving from said memory the last-known location of the previously registered cable modems that had said current MAC address, and comparing the last-known location of a previously registered cable modem that had said current MAC address to said current location and, if said compared addresses differ, sending a ping to the last-known location of said previously registered cable modem and determining whether a load balancing flag is set to determine if two different modems with said current MAC address are simultaneously connected to said CMTS or if said PR-CM has moved to a new location. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11)
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12. A method to detect a cloned cable modem, comprising:
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establishing a connection from a particular cable modem to a cable modem termination system (CMTS), said CMTS storing media access control (MAC) addresses of modems to which connections are established and associated last-known physical location of modems whose MAC address is stored; checking if a MAC address for said particular cable modem is stored in said CMTS; and if said MAC address is stored in said CMTS, determining if an associated physical location of said particular cable modem is the same as a last-known physical location of a modem having the same MAC address stored in said CMTS, wherein the associated physical location is specified by a cable interface and at least one of an upstream port on the interface, a downstream port on the interface, a fiber node serving the cable modem, and a load balancing group descriptor on the cable modem termination s stem and, responsive to determining that the associated physical location of said particular cable modem is the same as the last-known physical location of the modem having the same MAC address stored in said CMTS, sending a ping to the last-known physical location of the modem having the same MAC address stored in said CMTS, whereby a determination can be made as to whether or not said particular cable modem may be a clone based at least in part on at least one of the sending and a determination as to whether a load balancing flag is set. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
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16. A method of detecting whether a cable modem seeking connection (CM-SC) to a cable modem termination system (CMTS) is a clone, comprising:
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storing in said CMTS a MAC address and a last-known location for each of a plurality of cable modems previously registered with said CMTS (PR-CM), determining a MAC address and a location of said CM-SC, wherein the location of the CM-SC is specified by the cable interface on which the CM-SC appears and at least one of the US port on the interface that services the CM-SC, the DS port on the interface that services the CM-SC, the Fiber Node (FN) serving the CM-SC, and the Load Balancing (LB) group descriptor of the CM-SC on the CMTS, comparing the location of said CM-SC to the last-known location of any PR-CM having the same MAC address as said CM-SC, and if said locations differ, sending a ping to the last-known location of said PR-CM, whereby if said PR-CM responds to said ping, it is determined that said CM-SC is a clone based on two different cable modems, the CM-SC and the PR-CM, having the same MAC address but existing in two different physical locations simultaneously, and whereby if said PR-CM does not respond to said ping, it is determined that said CM-SC is in fact said PR-CM at a new location. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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18. A system, comprising:
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a cable modem termination system (CMTS) that includes a memory to store the MAC address and last-known location of cable modems previously registered (PR-CM) on said CMTS, and a processor to (a) determine a MAC address and location of a cable modem seeking connection (CM-SC) to said CMTS, wherein the location of the CM-SC is specified by a cable interface and at least one of a US port on the interface, a DS port on the interface, a Fiber Node (FN) serving the cable modem, and a Load Balancing (LB) group descriptor on the CMTS, (b) compare the location of said CM-SC to the last-known location of any PR-CM having the same MAC address as said CM-SC, and (c) if said locations differ, sending a ping to the last-known location of said PR-CM, whereby, if said PR-CM responds to said ping and if a load balancing flag is set, it is determined that said CM-SC is a clone and, if said PR-CM does not respond to said ping, it is determined that said CM-SC is in fact said PR-CM at a new location. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification