Processing medium access control (MAC) address in customer-premises equipment (CPE)

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

after a data packet containing an active medium access control (MAC) address of a connected device enters a customer-premises equipment (CPE), replacing the active MAC address contained in the data packet with an earlier MAC address of the connected device that was previously stored by the CPE;

providing, by the CPE, the data packet to a service executing in the CPE for processing; and

subsequent to providing the data packet to the service and before the data packet exits the CPE, replacing the earlier MAC address contained in the data packet with the active MAC address.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein replacing the active MAC address with the earlier MAC address of the connected device further comprises:

seizing the data packet containing the active MAC address;

obtaining the active MAC address from the data packet;

retrieving the earlier MAC address of the connected device from a mapping between the active MAC address and the earlier MAC address;

replacing the active MAC address with the earlier MAC address in the data packet; and

releasing the data packet containing the earlier MAC address for a transmission in the CPE.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein replacing the earlier MAC address with the active MAC address further comprises:

seizing the data packet containing the earlier MAC address;

obtaining the earlier MAC address from the data packet;

retrieving the active MAC address from a mapping between the active MAC address and the earlier MAC address;

replacing the earlier MAC address with the active MAC address in the data packet; and

releasing the data packet containing the active MAC address for a transmission exiting the CPE.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the CPE is configured to implement a local area network (LAN) for a data communication of the connected device, and an access for the data communication to a wide area network (WAN).

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the CPE is configured to implement a platform for services, and at least one service is configured to register the connected device with the earlier MAC address.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the active MAC address comprises a randomized MAC address of the connected device.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the randomized MAC address is different from the earlier MAC address used for an initial registration to at least one service in the CPE.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the earlier MAC address comprises one of a vendor-embedded MAC address, or a randomized MAC address used for an initial registration to at least one service in the CPE.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein internal routing tables of the CPE are configured to operate using the earlier MAC address.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein replacing the active MAC address with the earlier MAC address of the connected device further comprises:

setting the earlier MAC address of the connected device in an Ethernet frame of the data packet for a transmission in the CPE.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data packet originates from the connected device, and the active MAC address is in a source MAC address of the data packet.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein replacing the earlier MAC address with the active MAC address further comprises:

in response to bridging the data packet, setting the active MAC address in the source MAC address of the data packet; or

in response to routing the data packet, setting a MAC address of the CPE in the source MAC address of the data packet.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the MAC address of the CPE comprises a MAC address of a wide area network (WAN) interface of the CPE.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein a response data packet is addressed to the connected device in response to the data packet.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

after the response data packet containing a MAC address of a wide area network (WAN) interface of the CPE enters the CPE from a WAN, replacing the MAC address of the WAN interface of the CPE with the earlier MAC address in a destination MAC address of the response data packet; and

before the response data packet with the earlier MAC address exits the CPE to a local area network (LAN), replacing the earlier MAC address with the active MAC address in the destination MAC address of the response data packet.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

prior to receiving the data packet containing the active MAC address, receiving, by the CPE, a previous data packet originating from the connected device, the previous data packet containing the earlier MAC address;

extracting, by the CPE, the earlier MAC address from the previous data packet; and

storing, by the CPE, the earlier MAC address in a data structure.

17. A customer-premises equipment (CPE) comprising:

one or more memories; and

one or more processor devices coupled to the one or more memories configured to:

after a data packet containing an active medium access control (MAC) address of a connected device enters the CPE, replace the active MAC address contained in the data packet with an earlier MAC address of the connected device that was previously stored by the CPE;

provide the data packet to a service executing in the CPE for processing; and

subsequent to providing the data packet to the service and before the data packet exits the CPE, replace the earlier MAC address contained in the data packet with the active MAC address.

18. The CPE of claim 17 , wherein the active MAC address comprises a randomized MAC address of the connected device, and wherein the randomized MAC address is different from the earlier MAC address used for an initial registration to at least one service in the CPE.

19. The CPE of claim 17 , wherein the earlier MAC address comprises one of a vendor-embedded MAC address, or a randomized MAC address used for an initial registration to at least one service in the CPE.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising a computer program with instructions which, when executed by a customer-premises equipment (CPE), cause the CPE to:

after a data packet containing an active medium access control (MAC) address of a connected device enters the CPE, replace the active MAC address contained in the data packet with an earlier MAC address of the connected device that was previously stored by the CPE;

provide, by the CPE, the data packet to a service executing in the CPE for processing; and

subsequent to providing the data packet to the service and before the data packet exits the CPE, replace the earlier MAC address contained in the data packet with the active MAC address.