Method of identifying a home gateway using network traffic sniffing and apparatus employing the same

A customer premises equipment (CPE) apparatus, comprising:

• means for receiving an inbound message packet from a first communications channel, the inbound packet including a destination address;
• means for sending an outbound message packet on a second communications channel;
• means for generating the outbound packet from the inbound packet, the outbound packet being modified to include a CPE device identifier if the destination address matches a predetermined registration server address;
• and
• a memory means for storing and retrieving information including the device identifier, the registration server address, and a registration server flag associated with the registration server address,
• wherein the registration server flag has a value that indicates whether the CPE device identifier was sent in a previous outbound packet to the registration server, the outbound packet being modified to include a CPE device identifier if the registration server flag value indicates the destination address did not match the registration server address for a previously sent outbound packet.

A method of providing identifying information from a first network device to second network device, the method comprising the operations of:

• receiving an inbound message packet from a first communications channel, the inbound packet including a destination address;
• generating an outbound message packet based on the inbound packet;
• comparing the destination address to a predetermined registration server address;
• modifying the outbound message to include a CPE device identifier if the destination address matches the predetermined registration server address, wherein the CPE device identifier is sent to the registration server as a part of a service provider provisioning process;
• sending the modified outbound message on a second communications channel;
• and
• setting a registration server flag corresponding to the registration server address, the registration server flag indicating whether the CPE device identifier was previously sent to the registration server.