System and Method for Assigning a Service Flow Classifier to a Device

1. A method for assigning a service flow classifier to a device comprising: receiving at a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server a DHCP discover message from the device, wherein the DHCP discover message comprises a MAC address of the device; generating at the DHCP server: an attributes record key for the device, wherein the attributes record key uniquely identifies a record for the device stored on the DHCP server; and a device file name for the device, wherein the device file name comprises an IP address of the DHCP server and the attributes record key of the device; sending the device file name and an IP address of a Dynamic Trivial File Transfer Protocol (DTFTP) server to the device; sending from the device the device file name to the DTFTP server in a boot file request message; accessing from the DTFTP server an attribute record of the device stored on the DHCP server using the IP address of the DHCP server and the attributes record key for the device; generating at the DTFTP server a boot file for the device, wherein the boot file comprises one or more service flow classifiers and sending the boot file to the device; receiving at the device the boot file; and configuring the device with the one or more service flow classifiers.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein one of the one or more service flow classifiers classifies an incoming downstream packet into a service flow identified by the MAC address of the device.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the device is selected from the group consisting of a cable modem and a multi-subscriber gateway.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the device is a cable modem, wherein one of the one or more service flow classifiers classifies an incoming downstream packet into a service flow identified by the MAC address of the cable modem, and wherein the method further comprises: receiving a downstream packet at a cable modem termination system (CMTS), wherein the CMTS comprises a datastore that relates the IP address of the device to the MAC address of the device; acquiring a destination IP address from the downstream packet; determining from the datastore whether the destination IP address is associated with the MAC address of the device; queuing the downstream packet on the service flow identified by the MAC address of the device when the destination IP address is associated with the MAC address of the device; and queuing the downstream packet on another one or more service flows when the destination IP address is not associated with the MAC address of the device.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising associating the device and another device with a subscriber and wherein the one or more service flows comprise a first service flow for packets that are destined to the device and a second service flow for packets that are destined for the other device.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising: queuing a packet destined for the device on the first service flow; queuing a packet destined for the other device on the second service flow; counting the packets queued on the second service flow during a time interval; and associating the count with the subscriber.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising billing the subscriber based on the count.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising applying a policy to the subscriber based on the count.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the policy is selected from the group consisting of reducing bandwidth accessible to the subscriber, changing a priority of packets originating from the other device, and blocking packets originating from the other device.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the attributes record key comprises the MAC address of the device and an IP address assigned to the device by the DHCP server.

11. A system for assigning a service flow classifier to a device comprising: a network a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server connected to the network and comprising a first processor, wherein the first processor is configured with software executable instructions to cause the DHCP server to perform operations comprising: receiving a DHCP discover message from the device, wherein the DHCP discover message comprises a MAC address of the device; generating an attributes record key for the device, wherein the attributes record key uniquely identifies a record for the device stored on the DHCP server; and generating a device file name for the device, wherein the device file name comprises an IP address of the DHCP server and the attributes record key of the device; sending the device file name and an IP address of a Dynamic Trivial File Transfer Protocol (DTFTP) server to the device; the device, wherein the device comprises a second processor and wherein the second processor is configured with software executable instructions to cause the device to perform operations comprising sending the device file name to the DTFTP server in a boot file request message; the DTFTP server, wherein the DTFTP server comprises a third processor and wherein the third processor is configured with software executable instructions to cause the DTFTP server to perform operations comprising: accessing an attribute record of the device stored on the DHCP server using the IP address of the DHCP server and the attributes record key for the device; and generating a boot file for the device, wherein the boot file comprises one or more service flow classifiers and sending the boot file to the device, wherein the second processor is further configured with software executable instructions to cause the device to perform operations comprising: receiving the boot file; and configuring the device with the one or more service flow classifiers.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein one of the one or more service flow classifiers classifies an incoming downstream packet into a service flow identified by the MAC address of the device.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the device is selected from the group consisting of a cable modem and a multi-subscriber gateway.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the device is a cable modem, wherein one of the one or more service flow classifiers classifies an incoming downstream packet into a service flow identified by the MAC address of the cable modem, wherein the system further comprises a cable modem termination system (CMTS) and wherein the CMTS comprises a datastore that relates the IP address of the device to the MAC address of the device and a fourth processor, and wherein the fourth processor is configured with software executable instructions to cause the CMTS to perform operations comprising: receiving a downstream packet; acquiring a destination IP address from the downstream packet; determining from the datastore whether the destination IP address is associated with the MAC address of the device; queuing the downstream packet on the service flow identified by the MAC address of the device when the destination IP address is associated with the MAC address of the device; and queuing the downstream packet on another one or more service flows when the destination IP address is not associated with the MAC address of the device.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the device and another device are associated with a subscriber and wherein, the one or more service flows comprise a first service flow for packets that are destined to the device and a second service flow for packets that destined for the other device.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the fourth processor is further configured with software executable instructions to cause the CMTS to perform operations comprising: queuing a packet destined for the device on the first service flow; queuing a packet destined for the other device on the second service flow; counting the packets queued on the second service flow during a time interval; and associating the count with the subscriber.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the fourth processor is further configured with software executable instructions to cause the CMTS to perform operations comprising referring the count to a billing system and wherein the billing system is configured for billing the subscriber based on the count.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the fourth processor is further configured with software executable instructions to cause the CMTS to perform operations comprising referring the count to an enforcement system and wherein the enforcement system is configured for applying a policy to the subscriber based on the count.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the policy is selected from the group consisting of reducing bandwidth accessible to the subscriber, changing a priority of packets originating from the other device, and blocking packets originating from the other device.

20. The system of claim 11 , wherein the attributes record key comprises the MAC address of the device and an IP address assigned to the device by the DHCP server.