Multi-homed end system for increasing computers network bandwidth

A computer system designed to function as a multihomed end system on a computer network by transmitting messages out onto the network through network interfaces, said system comprising:

• a network protocol stack, including a network layer;
• a plurality of network interfaces each having a separate address at the network level of the protocol stack;
• software for transmitting outgoing messages, each having a corresponding network layer destination address identifying a destination computer to which the message is addressed, each of which destination addresses identifies a machine which has a connection to the network at a remote location, wherein said destination addresses correspond to multi-digit numbers defined by a plurality of digits, ranging from high to low order digits;
• and
• logic in the protocol stack for automatically distributing outgoing messages between said plurality of network interfaces independently of one or more of the highest order digits of the destination addresses of the messages so distributed and independently of the remote location of the machine identified by the destination address of each such message.

A computer system designed to function as a multihomed end system on a TCP/IP computer network by transmitting messages out onto computer networks through network interfaces, said system comprising:

• a TCP/IP network protocol stack, having a TCP transport layer and an IP network layer;
• a plurality of dial-up modems, each having elements for physically connecting to a dial-up communications line and each having a corresponding physical communication port to the computer system
• connection introduction elements:
• capable of causing each of said system's modems to make a dial-up connection to a separate modem which is not part of said system and which is connected to a TCP/IP network;
• for causing each of said system's connected modems to receive from the modem to which it is connected a dynamically allocated IP address;
• and
• for creating for each of said system's connected modem a corresponding network interface corresponding to the dynamically allocated IP address received by that modem;
• software elements in the TCP layer for transmitting outgoing messages, each specifying a source port, a destination port, and a destination address;
• and
• elements in the protocol stack for automatically distributing said outgoing messages between said plurality of network interfaces so as to enable message to flow though said plurality of interfaces at substantially the same time, including elements for assigning different ones of said dynamically allocated IP address as source addresses for different ones of said outgoing messages.

A computer system designed to function as a multihomed end system on a computer network by transmitting messages out onto computer networks through network interfaces, said system comprising:

• a network protocol stack, including a network layer;
• a plurality of network interfaces each having a separate address at the network level of the protocol stack;
• software elements for transmitting outgoing messages, each having a corresponding network destination address identifying a destination computer to which the message is addressed;
• and
• said network layer includes a routing table in which static routing entries can be entered, each associating a given range of one or more continuous destination network addresses with a given network interface of the computer system;
• and in which a plurality of static routing entries can be entered which have overlapping ranges of destination network addresses;
• and
• elements in the protocol stack for automatically distributing outgoing messages between said plurality of network interfaces, said elements including elements for responding to a plurality of static routing entries in said routing table which have overlapping ranges of destination network addresses by distributing outgoing messages whose destination address match the overlapping destination address ranges between the network interfaces associated with said plurality of overlapping static entries, so that messages can be traveling out through the network interfaces associated with said plurality of overlapping static entries at substantially the same time.

A computer system designed to function as a multihomed end system on a computer network by transmitting messages out onto computer networks through network interfaces, said system comprising:

• a network protocol stack, including a network layer;
• a plurality of network interfaces each having a separate address at the network level of the protocol stack;
• software elements for transmitting outgoing messages, each having a corresponding network destination address identifying the destination computer to which the message is addressed;
• and
• said network layer includes a routing table in which routing entries can be entered, each associating a given range of one or more continuous destination network addresses with a given network interface of the computer system;
• and in which a plurality of default entries can be entered, each associated with a different network interface with messages whose destination address does not match any of the given destination address ranges which may be in the table;
• and
• elements in the protocol stack for automatically distributing outgoing messages between said plurality of network interfaces, said elements including elements for responding to a plurality of default entries in said routing table by distributing outgoing messages whose destination address does not match any the destination address ranges in the routing table between the network interfaces associated with said plurality of default entries, so that messages can be traveling out through the network interfaces associated with said plurality of defaults at substantially the same time.

A computer system designed to function as a multihomed end system on a computer network by transmitting messages out onto the network through network interfaces, said system comprising:

• a network protocol stack, including a network layer;
• a plurality of dial-up physical interfaces, each having elements for physically connecting to the network, and each of which can either be disconnected or connected to the network at any given time;
• connection introduction elements for:
• enabling each of said physical interfaces to make a connection to the network;
• for creating for each such connected physical interface a corresponding active network interface corresponding with a corresponding network layer address;
• software elements for transmitting outgoing messages, each specifying a destination network layer address;
• and
• elements for detecting the traffic flow over those of said physical interfaces which are currently connected;
• elements for determining if all of said physical interfaces are currently connected;
• elements responding to a detection that the traffic flow over said connected physical interfaces is above a certain level, and that not all of said physical interfaces are currently connected, by causing said connection introduction elements to cause another of said physical interfaces to make said connection and to create a corresponding active network interface;
• and
• elements in the protocol stack for automatically distributing said outgoing messages to a plurality of active network interfaces, including those associated with physical interfaces connected to the network in response to said detection of traffic flow, so as to enable message to flow though said plurality of interfaces at substantially the same time.

A computer system designed to transmit and receive messages on a computer network, said system comprising:

• a computer including:
• elements for storing an active socket memory structure containing a listing of one or more sockets which are currently active on said computer system, wherein:
• each socket represents a connection for the bi-directional transmission of messages between a computational processes on said computer system and a computational process on a given remote node located on said network;
• and
• the socket listing for a given socket contains at least four socket fields including:
• two port identifying fields, one identifying the socket's port on said computer system and one identifying the socket's port on said given remote node;
• and
• two network level address fields, a system network level address identifying one of a plurality of network level addresses associated with said computer system which represents the socket's associated network interface on said computer system and a remote network level address identifying the network level address of the socket's associated network interface on said given remote node;
• elements for receiving messages to be transmitted by said computer onto the network, each of which messages is received with values for a plurality of socket fields corresponding to fields of said socket listings;
• elements for detecting if the values of a set of one or more socket fields received with a given one of said messages match the values of a corresponding set of socket fields in any socket listing in the socket memory structure;
• elements for responding to the detection of such a match by selecting the value of the matching socket listing's system network level address field and using it as a system network level address for the given message;
• and
• elements for causing said given message to be transmitted out onto said network with a network level header which includes two network level addresses, a network level source address and a network level destination address, and which includes said message's system network level address as one of said header's two network level addresses.

A computerized method for use on a computer system designed to transmit and receive messages on a computer network, said method comprising the steps of:

• storing an active socket memory structure containing a listing of one or more sockets which are currently active on said computer system, wherein:
• each socket represents a connection for the bi-directional transmission of messages between a computational processes on said computer system and a computational process on a given remote node located on said network;
• and
• the socket listing for a given socket contains at least four socket fields including:
• two port identifying fields, one identifying the socket's port on said computer system and one identifying the socket's port on said given remote node;
• and
• two network level address fields, a system network level address identifying one of a plurality of network level addresses associated with said computer system which represents the socket's associated network interface on said computer system and a remote network level address identifying the network level address of the socket's associated network interface on said given remote node;
• receiving messages to be transmitted by said computer onto the network, each of which messages is received with values for a plurality of socket fields corresponding to fields of said socket listings;
• detecting if the values of a set of one or more socket fields received with a given one of said messages match the values of a corresponding set of socket fields in any socket listing in the socket memory structure;
• responding to the detection of such a match by selecting the value of the matching socket listing's system network level address field and using it as a system network level address for the given message;
• transmitting the given message out onto said network with a network level header which includes two network level addresses, a network level source address and a network level destination address, and which includes said message's system network level address as one of said header's two network level addresses.

A computerized method for use on a computer transmitting messages onto a TCP/IP computer network, each of which messages has been provided with a destination IP address out of a space of possible IP addresses, each of which destination addresses identifies a machine which has a connection to the network at a remote location, said method comprising:

• associating each of a plurality of network interfaces, each having a different IP address, with said computer so as to make said computer a multihomed computer;
• associating each of more than one of said network interfaces with a common region of said IP address space;
• and
• assigning each message to be transmitted by said computer to a given one of said network interfaces for transmission by that interface, including:
• assigning different messages whose destination IP address falls within said common region of said IP address space to different ones of said network interfaces associated with said common region of said IP address space independently of the remote location of the machine identified by the destination address of each such message;
• and
• causing all messages associated with a given TCP/IP socket to be assigned to the same network interface.

A computerized method for use on a network router which routes messages on a TCP/IP computer network, each of which messages identifies a source IP address, a source port, a destination IP address, which identifies a machine which has a connection to the network at a remote location, and a destination port, said method comprising:

• associating each of a plurality of network interfaces, each having a different IP address, with said router so as to make said router a multihomed computer;
• associating each of more than one of said network interfaces with a common region of an IP address space;
• and
• assigning each message to be transmitted by said computer to a given one of said network interfaces for transmission by that interface, including assigning different messages whose destination IP address falls within said common region of said IP address space to different ones of said network interfaces associated with said common region of said IP address space independently of the remote location of the machine identified by the destination address of each such message and as a function of one of the ports identified by such message.

A computerized method for use on a given computer transmitting messages onto a computer network, each of which messages has been provided with a network-level destination address from a set of possible network addresses, each of which destination addresses identifies a computer which has a connection to the network at a remote location, said method comprising:

• transmitting outgoing messages including:
• establishing a plurality of two-way network connections, each for transferring messages in each direction between a given computational entity on the given computer and a given computational entity on another, external, computer connected to the network, each of said connections being defined in said computer by a source computational entity identifier, a source network address, a destination computational entity identifier, and a destination network address;
• and
• logic for transmitting said outgoing messages with the source computational entity identifier, the destination computational entity identifier, and the destination network address;
• and
• associating each of a plurality of network interfaces, each having a different network address, with said given computer so as to make said given computer a multihomed computer;
• associating each of more than one of said network interfaces with a common portion of said address set;
• and
• assigning each transmitted message to a given network interface for transmission, including assigning different messages whose destination address falls within said common portion of said address set to different ones of said network interfaces associated with said common portion independently of the remote location of the computer identified by the destination address of each such message;
• wherein said assigning of each message to a given network interface distributes the outgoing messages between said plurality of network interfaces in such a manner that all the messages associated with a given connection, as defined by source computational entity identifier, are assigned to the same network interface for transmission.

A computerized method for use on a computer transmitting messages onto a computer network, each of which messages has been provided with a network-level destination address from a set of possible network addresses, each of which destination addresses identifies a machine which has a connection to the network at a remote location and is defined by a plurality of network address digits, said method comprising:

• associating each of a plurality of network interfaces, each having a different network address, with said computer so as to make said computer a multihomed computer;
• associating each of more than one of said network interfaces with a common portion of said address set;
• and
• assigning each message to be transmitted to a given network interface, including assigning different messages whose destination address falls within said common portion of said address set to different ones of said network interfaces associated with said common portion independently of the remote location of the machine identified by the destination address of each such message;
• wherein said assigning of each message to a given network interface distributes the outgoing messages between said plurality of network interfaces independently of the value of any of the address digits of the destination addresses of the outgoing messages so distributed.

A computerized method for use on a computer transmitting messages onto a computer network, each of which messages has been provided with a network-level destination address from a set of possible network addresses, each of which destination addresses identifies a machine which has a connection to the network at a remote location and is defined by a plurality of ordered network address digits, said method comprising:

• associating each of a plurality of network interfaces, each having a different network address, with said computer so as to make said computer a multihomed computer;
• associating each of more than one of said network interfaces with a common portion of said address set;
• and
• assigning each message to be transmitted to a given network interface, including assigning different messages whose destination address falls within said common portion of said address set to different ones of said network interfaces associated with said common portion independently of the remote location of the machine identified by the destination address of each such message,
• wherein:
• said common portion of said address set includes a range of one or more continuous network addresses having a specific value for each of the N one or more highest order network address digits;
• and
• said assigning of each message to a given network interface distributes the outgoing messages between said plurality of network interfaces independently of one or more of the next highest order address digits after said N highest order address digits of the destination addresses of the outgoing messages so distributed.

A computerized method for use on a computer transmitting messages onto a computer network, each of which messages has been provided with a network-level destination address from a set of possible network addresses, each of which destination addresses identifies a machine which has a connection to the network at a remote location, said method comprising:

• associating each of a plurality of network interfaces, each having a different network address, with said computer so as to make said computer a multihomed computer;
• using a routing data structure to:
• associate each of one or more specified network address ranges, each representing one or more continuous network addresses, with a corresponding single one of said network interfaces;
• and
• associate network addresses which do not fall within any one of said specified network address ranges with a corresponding plurality of said network interfaces;
• and
• assigning each message to be transmitted to a given network interface for transmission by that interface, including:
• assigning each such message having a destination address falling within one of said specified network address ranges to the single network interface corresponding with that address range;
• and
• assigning each such messages whose destination address do not fall within any one of said specified network address ranges to one of said corresponding plurality of network interfaces, including assigning different ones of such messages to different ones of said corresponding plurality of network interfaces independently of the remote location of the machine identified by the destination address of each such message.

A computerized method for use on a computer transmitting messages onto a computer network using a TCP/IP protocol stack, each of which messages has been provided with a destination IP address from a set of possible IP addresses, each of which destination addresses identifies a machine which has a connection to the network at a remote location, and wherein at least some of said messages have a TCP socket number, said method comprising:

• associating each of a plurality of network interfaces, each having a different IP address, with said computer so as to make said computer a multihomed computer;
• associating each of more than one of said network interfaces with a common portion of said IP address set;
• and
• assigning each message to be transmitted to a given network interface, including assigning different messages whose destination IP address falls within said common portion of said IP address set to different ones of said network interfaces associated with said common portion independently of the remote location of the machine identified by the destination address of each such message;
• storing an association between the TCP socket number of a message and the network interfaces to which it has been assigned;
• wherein, said assigning of different messages to different network interfaces includes determining if an outgoing message has a TCP socket number associated with a given one of said network interfaces and responding to a determination that the message's socket number has such an association by causing said message to be assigned to the network interface associated with the message's socket number, so messages having the same socket will be assigned to the same network interface.