Location-independent packet routing and secure access in a short-range wireless networking environment

A method of enabling location-independent packet routing in a short-range wireless networking environment, comprising the steps of:

• providing one or more portable client devices, each of the client devices identified by a constant client address and equipped with a short-range wireless communications capability for communicating in the short-range wireless networking environment;
• providing one or more application servers, each of the application servers equipped for communicating with the client devices over the short-range wireless networking environment;
• transmitting a packet from a selected one of the application servers to a selected one of the client devices;
• receiving the transmitted packet at a Home Address Masquerader (HAM);
• accessing, by the HAM, a HAM translation record;
• applying, by the HAM, a network address translation to replace a masquerading address and port in the transmitted packet with a Foreign Address Masquerader (FAM) address and port retrieved by the step of accessing the HAM translation record, thereby creating a first modified packet;
• forwarding, by the HAM, the first modified packet to the FAM;
• receiving the forwarded packet at the FAM;
• accessing, by the FAM, a FAM translation record;
• applying, by the FAM, a network address translation to replace the FAM address and port in the forwarded packet with a client address and port retrieved by the step of accessing the FAM translation record, thereby creating a second modified packet;
• and
• forwarding, by the FAM, the second modified packet to the selected client device.

A method of enabling location-independent packet routing in a short-range wireless networking environment, comprising the steps of:

• providing one or more portable client devices, each of the client devices identified by a constant client address and equipped with a short-range wireless communications capability for communicating in the short-range wireless networking environment;
• providing one or more application servers, each of the application servers equipped for communicating with the client devices over the short-range wireless networking environment;
• transmitting a first packet from a selected one of the client devices to a selected one of the application servers, further comprising the steps of:
• transmitting the first packet from the selected client device using the constant client address and a client port as a packet source and an address and port of the selected application server as a packet destination;
• receiving the transmitted first packet at a Foreign Address Masquerader (FAM);
• accessing, by the FAM, a FAM translation record;
• applying, by the FAM, a network address translation to replace the constant client address and client port in the transmitted first packet with a masquerading address and port retrieved by the accessing step, thereby creating a first modified packet;
• and
• forwarding, by the FAM, the first modified packet to the selected application server;
• and
• transmitting a second packet from the selected application server to the selected client device, further comprising the steps of:
• transmitting the second packet from the selected application server using the address and port of the selected application server as the packet source and the masquerading address and port as the packet destination;
• receiving the transmitted second packet at a Home Address Masquerader (HAM);
• accessing, by the HAM, a HAM translation record;
• applying, by the HAM, the network address translation to replace the masquerading address and port in the transmitted second packet with a FAM address and port retrieved by the step of accessing the HAM translation record, thereby creating a second modified packet;
• forwarding, by the HAM, the second modified packet to either the FAM or a different dynamically-determined FAM which becomes the FAM;
• receiving the forwarded second modified packet at the FAM;
• again accessing, by the FAM, the FAM translation record;
• again applying, by the FAM, the network address translation to replace the FAM address and port in the forwarded second modified packet with the constant client address and the client port retrieved by the step of again accessing the FAM translation record, thereby creating a third modified packet;
• and
• forwarding, by the FAM, the third modified packet to the selected client device.

A method of enabling location-independent packet routing in a short-range wireless networking environment, comprising the steps of:

• establishing, by a client device, a first connection to a first application server;
• assigning the first connection to a first Home Address Masquerader (HAM);
• establishing, by the client device, a second connection to a second application server;
• and
• assigning the second connection to a second HAM, wherein the first HAM and the second HAM are distinct.

A system for enabling location-independent packet routing in a short-range wireless networking environment, comprising:

• one or more portable client devices, each of the client devices identified by a constant client address and equipped with a short-range wireless communications capability for communicating in the short-range wireless networking environment;
• one or more application servers, each of the application servers equipped for communicating with the client devices over the short-range wireless networking environment;
• means for transmitting a packet from a selected one of the client devices to a selected one of the application servers using a masquerading address and port for the selected client device instead of the constant client address by forwarding the packet through a Foreign Address Masquerader (FAM);
• and
• means for transmitting a response packet from the selected application server to the selected client device using the masquerading address and port by forwarding the response packet through a Home Address Masquerader (HAM) and either the FAM or a dynamically-determined different FAM which then becomes the FAM.

Computer program instructions embodied on one or more computer readable media, the computer program instructions adapted for enabling location-independent packet routing in a short-range wireless networking environment and comprising:

• computer program instructions for accessing one or more portable client devices, each of the client devices identified by a constant client address and equipped with a, short-range wireless communications capability for communicating in the short-range wireless networking environment;
• computer program instructions for accessing one or more application servers, each of the application servers equipped for communicating with the client devices over the short-range wireless networking environment;
• computer program instructions for transmitting a packet from a selected one of the client devices to a selected one of the application servers using a masquerading address and port for the selected client device instead of the constant client address by forwarding the packet through a Foreign Address Masquerader (FAM);
• and
• computer program instructions for transmitting a response packet from the selected application server to the selected client device using the masquerading address and port by forwarding the response packet through a Home Address Masquerader (HAM) and either the FAM or a different dynamically-determined FAM which then becomes the FAM.