Method and system for discovering user equipment in a network

Abstract

A system and method for discovering user equipment in a network is disclosed. According to one embodiment, a discovery proxy periodically scans an access router that serves a target user equipment and collects an address assignment record of the target user equipment via the access router. The discovery proxy passes the address assignment record to a discovery server, and the discovery server identifies a location of the target user equipment based on the address assignment record of the target user equipment.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 periodically scanning an access router that serves a target user equipment;   collecting an address assignment record of the target user equipment via the access router;   passing the address assignment record to a discovery server; and   identifying a location of the target user equipment at the discovery server based on the address assignment record of the target user equipment.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the network is an Internet service provider network. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising implementing a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) by the access router and assigning an IP address of the user equipment. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, at the discovery server, communicating with an access selection server at the discovery server and generating a targeting request to a target proxy. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising managing a life-cycle of the targeting request by the access selection server including activating and deactivating the targeting request. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising sending the targeting request by the target proxy to the access router that serves the target user equipment. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising establishing a connection by the access router to a delivery proxy. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising replicating packets associated with the target user equipment by the delivery proxy to a packet analysis server for analyzing the packets. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising sending a de-provisioning request by the access selection server to the target proxy. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising connecting the target proxy to the access router and de-provisioning the target user equipment. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising collecting one or more of user information of a user attached to the access router, connectivity information between the access router to the target proxy, and connectivity information between the access router to the delivery proxy. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the life-cycle of the targeting request comprises a series of monitoring activations and deactivation requests to a series of access routers. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a request for connectivity status of the target user equipment at a metadata selection server;   generating a data query request to the discover server;   sending connectivity information of the target user equipment to a metadata analysis server;   generating a response to the request for connectivity status at the metadata analysis server; and   providing the response via the metadata selection server.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the response is selected from a group comprising:
 history of IP addresses that a target user is connected from and a list of access routers that the target user is connected to, users who are connected to the target user equipment using an IP address of the target user equipment; history of connection requests for the access router; an outage report to a governing agency; and connectivity periods of the target user.   
     
     
         15 . A system comprising:
 a user equipment;   an access router that is configured to bind with the user equipment;   a discovery proxy configured to periodically scan the access router and collect an address assignment record of the user equipment via the access router,   a discovery server that is configured to receive the address assignment record from the discovery proxy and identify a location of the user equipment based on the address assignment record of the target user equipment.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the network is an Internet service provider network. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the access router implements a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) and assigns an IP address of the user equipment. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 15  further comprising an access selection server and a target proxy, wherein the discovery server communicates with the access selection server to generate a targeting request to the target proxy. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the access selection server manages a life-cycle of the targeting request and activates and deactivates the targeting request. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the target proxy sends the targeting request to the access router that serves the user equipment and manages provisioning connectivity to the access router. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 20  further comprises a delivery proxy, wherein at the request of the targeting request from the target proxy, the access router establishes a connection to the delivery proxy. 
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 21  further comprise a packet analysis server, wherein the delivery proxy replicates packets associated with the user equipment to the packet analysis server, and the packet analysis server analyzes the packets. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein the access selection server sends a de-provisioning request to the target proxy. 
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein the target proxy connects to the access router and de-provisions the user equipment. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein the access selection server sends a monitor request to the discovery server and receives from the discovery server one or more of user information of a user attached to the access router, connectivity information between the access router to the target proxy, and connectivity information between the access router to the delivery proxy. 
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the life-cycle of the targeting request comprises a series of monitoring activations and deactivation requests to a series of access routers. 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 a metadata selection server; and   a metadata analysis server,   wherein the metadata selection server receives a request for connectivity status of the target user equipment and generates a data query request to the discover server,   wherein the discover server sends connectivity information of the target user equipment to the metadata analysis server,   wherein the metadata analysis server generates a response to the request for connectivity status; and   wherein the metadata selection server provides the response.   
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 27 , wherein the response is selected from a group comprising:
 history of IP addresses that a target user is connected from and a list of access routers that the target user is connected to, users who are connected to the target user equipment using an IP address of the target user equipment; history of connection requests for the access router; an outage report to a governing agency; and connectivity periods of the target user.