Patent ID: 8238352

Claim:
A method for tracking movement of an IP telephone in a communications network, comprising: detecting a connection of an IP phone to a port of a switch within a network; determining an address of the detected IP phone; determining, with reference to an access list and the determined address, that the detected phone has previously been connected to and then actually disconnected from a different port within the network, the access list including a connection status of the detected phone, the connection status including an identification of actual disconnection of the detected phone from said different port, and the connection status indicating whether the detected phone is currently connected to said different port; identifying the detected phone as a moved phone; updating the access list to reflect information about the detected phone including current port connection information; generating a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) query including a request for the IP phone to provide a Media Access Control (MAC) address associated with the IP phone; checking the MAC address of the IP phone against the access list; issuing an SNMP command to block the switch port to which the IP phone is currently connected, wherein the MAC address of the IP phone is not included in the access list; and reactivating the switch port after a passage of time.