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:
Feb. 19, 2008
Filed:
Oct. 09, 2002
Alan Ford, Chatswood, AU;
Gregory Mintel, Raleigh, NC (US);
Alan Ford, Chatswood, AU;
Gregory Mintel, Raleigh, NC (US);
Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
Methods and devices are provided for detecting or preventing unauthorized upgrades to a customer's quality of service in an access data network. Several aspects of the invention require customer nodes to properly perform an initialization procedure. For example, the initialization procedure may involve making a request to a server controlled by, or at least trusted by, the service provider. The initialization procedure may involve downloading a configuration file, such as a DOCSIS configuration file, from the trusted server. According to some such aspects of the invention, nodes that cannot properly perform the initialization procedure are prevented from coming online. According to other such aspects of the invention, nodes that cannot properly perform the initialization procedure are marked. A warning may be sent to marked nodes. A customer associated with a marked node may be charged a higher rate for service.