The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 02, 2002
Filed:
Feb. 05, 1998
Vipin K. Jain, Santa Clara, CA (US);
3Com Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A dedicated link between the intermediate system or other network device and the end system is detected prior to exchanging the authentication/identification information of the user, thereby ensuring that the information is seen only by the network device and the end system and by no one else. The method determines whether a network device has a direct connection to an end station using a test of a physical layer link active signaling mechanism. The method includes sending a message via the network from the network device to the end station indicating initiation of a test of the physical layer link active signaling mechanism. The network device then determines whether the end station participates in the test prior to proceeding with the authentication/identification processes.