Enabling IPV6 Mobility with NAT64

A network element for maintaining connectivity between a mobile node and corresponding nodes when the mobile node is currently connected to a foreign network, wherein the network element is a part of a home network in which a home address was associated with the mobile node when the mobile node was within the home network, wherein the network element functions as a home agent for the mobile node and manages data traffic for the home address when the mobile node is in foreign networks, wherein the foreign networks and the home network are Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) networks, but the corresponding nodes are Internet protocol version 4 (IPv4) nodes, the network element comprising:

• a mobility management module configured to receive data traffic from the mobile node and forward that data traffic to a home network address translation 64 (NAT64) node, wherein the mobility management module is further configured to forward data traffic from the home NAT64 node to the mobile node, wherein a NAT64 translates data traffic between IPv4 and IPv6;
• and
• a bindings management module coupled to the mobility management module, the binding management module configured to receive binding update messages from the mobile node when the mobile node connects to foreign networks, each of the binding update messages including an IPv6 care-of address provided by the mobile node, wherein the binding management module is further configured to send a binding request message, responsive to each of the binding update messages, to the home NAT64 node to bind the mobile node's home address with a prefix of a foreign NAT64 node in that foreign network;
• and
• a prefix management module coupled to the bindings management module, wherein the prefix management module is configured to determine the foreign network which assigned the IPv6 care-of addresses to the mobile node, as well as the prefix used by that foreign network's foreign NAT64 node to generate virtual IPv6 addresses from IPv4 addresses of any IPv4 nodes in communication with that foreign network,
• whereby the network element provides with each of the binding request messages the binding information, including the foreign NAT64 node's prefix, to the home NAT64 node that enables the home NAT64 node to translate between IPv4 and IPv6 formatted data packets, which are sent between the mobile node and the corresponding nodes, through concatenation of that foreign NAT64 node's prefix to the corresponding nodes' IPv4 addresses found in the source address field of those of the data packets traveling toward the mobile node, and through removal of that foreign NAT64 node's prefix from the corresponding nodes' virtual IPv6 addresses found in the destination address field of those of the data packets traveling toward the corresponding nodes.

A method for maintaining connectivity between a mobile node and a corresponding node when the mobile node is currently connected to a foreign network, wherein a home address was associated with the mobile node and a home agent node when the mobile node was within the home network, wherein the foreign network and the home network are Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) networks but the corresponding node is an Internet protocol version 4 (IPv4) node, the method comprising:

• receiving a prefix binding request message from the home agent node, wherein the prefix binding request message includes the home address of the mobile node and a prefix utilized by a foreign network address translation 64 (NAT64) node within the foreign network to append to IPv4 addresses to generate virtual IPv6 addresses for any IPv4 nodes communicating with the mobile node while on the foreign network, wherein a NAT64 translates data traffic between IPv4 and IPv6;
• storing the foreign NAT64 node's prefix and the mobile node's home address in an entry of a translation table that is maintained by the network element to perform NAT64 translation within the home network, thereby binding the foreign NAT's prefix and the home address of the mobile node;
• sending a prefix binding acknowledgement message to the home agent node to confirm that the translation table has been updated to bind the foreign NAT's prefix to the home address of the mobile node;
• and
• translating a first data packet received from the home agent node, which was sent by the mobile node to the corresponding node, from IPv6 to IPv4 format through detection and removal of the foreign NAT's prefix from the first data packet's destination address field, wherein the first packet's destination address field contained a virtual IPv6 address and the foreign NAT's prefix's removal there from leaves the IPv4 address of the corresponding node;
• and
• translating a second data packet, which was received from the corresponding node and was sent by the corresponding node to the mobile, from IPv4 to IPv6 format through appending the foreign NAT's prefix to the second data packet's source address responsive to the second data packet's destination address field containing the mobile node's home address, wherein the second packet's source address field contained the corresponding node's IPv4 address and the foreign NAT's prefix's concatenation thereto yields the corresponding node's virtual IPv6 address,
• whereby the mobile node can maintain connectivity with the corresponding node transparent to the corresponding node and the foreign NAT64.

A network element for maintaining connectivity between a mobile node and corresponding nodes when the mobile node is currently connected to a foreign network, wherein the network element is a part of a home network in which a home address was associated with the mobile node when the mobile node was within the home network, wherein the network element performs network address translation 64 (NAT64) for the home network, wherein a NAT64 translates data traffic between IPv4 and IPv6, wherein the foreign networks and the home network are Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) networks, but the corresponding nodes are Internet protocol version 4 (IPv4) nodes, the network element comprising:

• a binding management module configured to process binding request messages received from a home agent node and reply with binding acknowledgement messages sent to the home agent node, wherein each of the binding request messages includes both the mobile node's home address and a prefix used by a foreign NAT64 node in the foreign network to which to the mobile node is currently connected, wherein the binding management module is further configured to maintain a translation table that has an entry that stores a binding of the mobile node's home address and the foreign NAT64 node's prefix of the most recent of the binding request messages;
• and
• a translation module coupled to the binding management module, the translation module configured to translate outbound data packets sent by the mobile node to corresponding nodes from IPv6 to IPv4 format, the translation including detection and removal of the foreign NAT64 node's prefix from outbound data packets' destination address field, wherein the outbound data packets' destination address field contain virtual IPv6 addresses and the foreign NAT64 node's prefix's removal there from leaves the IPv4 address of the corresponding nodes, and wherein the translation module is further configured to use the current binding to translate inbound data packets received from the corresponding nodes from IPv4 to IPv6 format through appending the foreign NAT64 node's prefix to the inbound data packets' source address responsive to detecting that the inbound data packets' destination address is the mobile node's home address, wherein the inbound data packets' source address field contains the corresponding nodes' IPv4 addresses and the foreign NAT64 nodes' prefix's concatenation thereto yields the corresponding nodes' virtual IPv6 addresses,
• whereby the mobile node can maintain connectivity with corresponding nodes transparent to the corresponding nodes and the foreign NAT64 node.