Patent ID: 8260941

Claim:
A method for mediating access to a cable system by a cable modem comprising: receiving at a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server a DHCP request from a connecting cable modem (CM), wherein the DHCP request comprises a proffered CM version value and a MAC address of the connecting cable modem; comparing at the DHCP server the proffered CM version value to a most previously presented value stored in a record associated with the CM MAC address; determining by the DHCP server whether the proffered CM version value and the most previously presented value are different; taking an action by the DHCP server when the proffered CM version value and the most previously presented value are different, wherein the remedial action is selected from the group consisting of: allowing the connecting CM to access the cable system when the proffered CM version value matches the stored CM version value of the record; updating the stored CM version value with the proffered CM value and allowing the connecting CM to access the cable system when the proffered CM version value is greater than the stored CM version value of the record; taking a remedial response with respect to the connecting CM when the stored CM version value is greater than the proffered version value of the record; and storing the proffered CM version value in the CM version value field of the record and allowing the connecting cable modem to access the cable system when the record associated with the CM MAC address does not include a most previously presented value.