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:
Aug. 04, 2009
Filed:
Jan. 10, 2006
Steven R. Ocepek, Austin, TX (US);
Steven R. Ocepek, Austin, TX (US);
TW Acquisition, Inc., Chicago, IL (US);
Abstract
A method, system, apparatus, and computer-readable medium to determine whether a device having access to a network is wireless. A method for determining whether a device is wireless includes sending a specially-constructed packet to the device via a network. The packet is constructed so that the source address for the packet is a physical address on the network for the device. If the device does not send a response to the packet, a determination is made that the device is wireless. If the device sends a response to the packet, a determination is made that the device is wired. In one embodiment of the invention, the physical address for the device is a Media Access Control (MAC) address. The initial packet may, for example, request the physical address for the device and may be sent in response to detecting a communication to or from the suspect device.