Patent ID: 7765288

Claim:
A machine-implemented method, comprising: determining an address utilization state of a network, wherein the address utilization state is based on at least one of: a percentage of a certain address space allocated to a network service provider that is in use by at least one of a physical interface and a sub-interface of network access devices that couple subscribers of the network service provider to the network, over a total address space available to the network service provider; a percentage of address space that is in use at a physical interface over the total address space allocated by an internet service provider owner; or a percentage of address space in use at a physical interface over the amount of address space allocated to that interface and to a network service provider; and wherein the determining comprises at least one of: collecting address utilization data from all Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) servers allocated to the network service provider; and polling a broadband terminal directly to obtain the address utilization data therefrom; and performing a specified action on addresses from the certain address space in response to the determining the address utilization state wherein at least one attribute of the certain address space is changeable with the specified action; wherein the method is performed by one or more processors.