Patent ID: 6847649

Claim:
A method of accessing an embedded web server of a broadband access terminal, comprising the steps of: monitoring communications on at least one of a wide area network connection and a local area network connection of the broadband access terminal so as to determine at least one of a domain name server and a network gateway associated with the wide area network connection and accessed by a user terminal using the broadband access terminal, said step of monitoring comprising the steps of: identifying a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) packet destined for the user terminal; extracting an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the user terminal from the identified DHCP packet; extracting a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the user terminal from the identified DHCP packet; extracting an IP address of the at least one of the domain name server and the network gateway from the identified DHCP packet; determining a MAC address of the at least one of the domain name server and the network gateway based on the IP address of at least one of the domain name server and the network gateway; and associating the IP address of the user terminal the MAC address of the user terminal, the IP address of the at least one of the domain name server and the network gateway and the MAC address of the at least one of the domain name server and the network gateway; detecting that the wide area network connection of the broadband access terminal is unavailable; and responding to communications from the user terminal to the at least one of the domain name server and the network gateway as if the at least one of the domain name server and the network gateway are accessible over the wide area network if the wide area network connection is unavailable.