Network Connection Hand-off Using State Transformations

A method for handing-off a network connection, the method comprising:

• establishing a first network connection between a client and a first server, wherein establishing the first network connection comprises allocating a first set of state parameters for communicating over the first network connection;
• processing at the first server, a request for content that is received over the first network connection from the client, wherein processing the content request comprises selecting a second server from a plurality of servers to respond to said request;
• passing a connection hand-off request from the first server to the second server using a connectionless oriented protocol, wherein passing the connection hand-off request comprises passing the first set of state parameters and said request from the first server to the second server without establishing a connection between the first server and the second server;
• establishing a second network connection with a different second set of state parameters, the second network connection bridging the first network connection to a protocol stack of the second server;
• and
• responding to the request by transforming the second set of state parameters of packets comprising the content and passing over the second network connection to the first set of state parameters for passing to the client over the first network connection.