Patent · US Expired

Tracking dynamic addresses on a network

US6862286B1 · kind B1 · utility

76Cited by
14References
25Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 8, 2000
Grant dateMar 1, 2005
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 8, 2020

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L43/12
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

In a computer network of devices, at least some of the devices (i.e. the DCHP devices) have a static (e.g. MAC) address which does not change over time and a dynamic (e.g. IP) address which may change over time. There is disclosed a method and computer program for mapping the static address and dynamic address for the devices comprising polling said devices using said IP addresses and during said polling determining the MAC addresses of the devices, and providing a set of mapped static and dynamic addresses, said method including repeating the steps of the method at intervals.Using the method of the invention, it is possible, when entering a particular conversation in a database, to access the IP addresses, to determine which is the current DHCP device that address maps to, and assign the conversation to that device and store it in the database assigned to that device. Therefore, for each DHCP device, one can store a history of the conversations or traffic involved in that device.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.