Patent ID: 8196169

Claim:
A method, comprising: identifying a first plurality of coordinates of a set top box; storing at the set top box, the first plurality of coordinates as an authorized source of communication; transmitting to a remote server, the first plurality of coordinates stored as the authorized source of communication; identifying a second plurality of coordinates of the set top box as an actual source of communication; and enforcing a policy associated with usage of the set top box utilizing the first plurality of coordinates transmitted to the remote server, the enforcing the policy including: determining that the first plurality of coordinates stored at the set top box as the authorized source of communication are no longer stored at the set top box, receiving at the set top box, in response to the determination that the first plurality of coordinates stored at the set top box are no longer stored at the set top box, replacement coordinates from the remote server, the replacement coordinates being a copy of the first plurality of coordinates transmitted to the remote server, comparing the replacement coordinates received from the remote server to the coordinates of the actual source of communication, and conditionally displaying an interface if the comparison indicates that the coordinates of the actual source of the communication reside within the replacement coordinates received from the remote server, the interface permitting the authorized source of communication to be updated; wherein multiple set top boxes exist, and coordinates of the multiple set top boxes are compared to each other; wherein the multiple set top boxes include a master set top box and at least one slave set top box, and a relative distance of the master set top box and each slave set top box is calculated based on a comparison of coordinates of the master set top box and coordinates of the at least one slave set top box, such that the coordinate-based relative distance calculation of the master set top box and each slave set top box is used for policy enforcement.