Differentiating unique systems sharing a common address

A system for provisioning services to each device of a plurality of devices sharing a common address, the system comprising:

• means for receiving a designation of each device of the plurality of devices and a specification of a corresponding device specific service to be provisioned;
• means for causing each of the plurality of devices to provide a unique identifier with each communication originated by the device, the unique identifier uniquely identifying each device from at least the other devices of the plurality of devices independent of the common address, wherein the unique identifier is associated with the device specific service to be provisioned;
• means for intercepting a communication having the common address from an originating device of the plurality of devices and determining the unique identifier provided with the communication, the communication otherwise not uniquely identifying the originating device from others of the plurality of devices;
• means for determining the associated device specific service to be provisioned based on at least the unique identifier;
• and
• means for handling the communication in accordance with the associated device specific service to be provisioned,
• wherein the communication comprises a destination, the means for handling comprising means for allowing the communication to continue to the destination, and
• wherein the system further comprises a means for intercepting a response sent by the destination to the originating device based on the communication and a means for handling the response in accordance with the associated device specific service to be provisioned.

A system for provisioning a device specific service for each device of a plurality of devices sharing a common address, the system comprising:

• an interface operative to receive a designation of each device of the plurality of devices and a specification of a corresponding device specific service to be provisioned;
• a device identifier coupled with the interface and operative to cause each of the plurality of devices to provide a unique identifier with each communication originated by the device, the unique identifier uniquely identifying each device from at least the other devices of the plurality of devices independent of the common address, the device identifier being further operative to store the unique identifier and the specification of the associated device specific service to be provisioned in a memory;
• a communication interceptor operative to intercept a communication having the common address from an originating device of the plurality of devices and determine the unique identifier provided therewith, the communication otherwise not uniquely identifying the originating device from others of the plurality of devices;
• and
• a communication processor coupled with the memory and the communication interceptor and operative to determine the associated device specific service to be provisioned based on at least the unique identifier and process the communication in accordance with the associated device specific service to be provisioned,
• wherein the communication comprises a destination, the communication processor being further operative to allow the communication to continue to the destination, and
• wherein the communication interceptor is further operative to intercept a response sent by the destination to the originating device based on the communication, and the communication processor is further operative to process the response in accordance with the associated device specific service to be provisioned.

A method for provisioning services to users, the method comprising:

• receiving a designation of a device and a specification of a corresponding device specific service to be provisioned, wherein the specification specifies a service that should be provided to the device;
• modifying a communication generated by the device to enable identification of the device via the communication;
• intercepting a communication associated with a service from the device;
• processing the communication to identify the communicating device;
• determining whether the service comprises the device specific service to be provisioned;
• and
• allowing the service to be provisioned to the device if the service comprises the device specific service to be provisioned, otherwise preventing the service from being provisioned to the device,
• wherein the communication comprises a destination, the allowing of the service to be provisioned comprising allowing the communication to continue to the destination, and
• wherein the method further comprises intercepting a response sent by the destination to the communicating device based on the communication and processing the response in accordance with the device specific service to be provisioned.

A method of provisioning a service to each user of a plurality of users on a network, the method comprising:

• receiving a designation of each device of a plurality of devices sharing a common address on a network and a specification of a corresponding device specific configuration parameter, wherein the configuration parameter, for each device of the plurality of devices, specifies a service that should be provided to the device and a domain associated therewith;
• modifying data on each device so that each device is identifiable through processing a communication from the device independent of the common address;
• providing a monitoring device, wherein the monitoring device monitors a plurality of communications from the plurality of devices on the network;
• storing, in a data store, a characteristic for each domain of a plurality of domains, wherein the characteristic describes the associated domain;
• identifying, via the monitoring device, a communication from one of the plurality of devices directed to one of the plurality of domains, wherein the communication has the common address;
• processing the communication to identify the designation associated with a device of the plurality of devices from which the communication originated, the communication otherwise being unable to uniquely identify the originating device from the others of the plurality of devices;
• retrieving the configuration parameter of the device;
• processing the communication to identify the domain to which the communication is directed;
• retrieving a characteristic of the identified domain from the data store;
• determining whether the characteristic of the domain describes a domain specified by the configuration parameter of the device;
• and
• providing the service to the device if the characteristic of the domain describes the domain specified by the configuration parameter of the device, otherwise not providing the service to the device,
• wherein the providing of the service comprises allowing the communication to continue to the domain,
• wherein the method further comprises identifying, via the monitoring device, a response sent from the domain to the originating device based on the communication, and
• wherein the providing of the service comprises processing the response in accordance with the service.