Patent ID: 8285848
Filing Date: 2012-10-09
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A home gateway server (HGS) of an Internet service provider (ISP) capable of communication with a network access server, said network access server (NAS) capable of communicating with a user, the home gateway server comprising: an IP address pool maintainer maintaining access to a pool of IP addresses; a user identification maintainer maintaining an identification of the user; an allocater for allocating an IP address to the user, said IP address allocated from the pool of IP addresses; an authenticator configured to receive user authentication information with a request for the IP address from the NAS and authenticate the received user authentication information; a memory for storing the IP address allocated to the user; a sender for sending the IP address, in response to the request for the IP address and authentication, to the NAS for relaying to the user; a keep-alive message receiver for receiving keep-alive messages, said keep-alive messages originating from the NAS and indicating that the user is using the IP address; a query sender for sending periodic queries to the NAS about a status of a connection of the user to the NAS; and a response-to-query message receiver for receiving response-to-query messages in response to the periodic queries, said response-to-query messages indicating that the user is using the IP address.