US 8,576,852 B2Granted

Inter-office communication methods and devices

AssigneeMushroom Networks, Inc.

InventorsMustafa Arisoylu, H. Cahit Akin, Rene L. Cruz, Rajesh Mishra

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Abstract

The system provides a low cost way of providing high speed point to point communications between two offices, as well as Internet access, which exploits the use of low cost access technologies, such as ADSL, in such a way that (a) no CO component is required to deploy the solution, (b) the two offices could have different types of communication technologies available, and (c) more than two offices can form an overlay network, whereby each pair of offices has a virtual single high throughput pipe available which is achieved through aggregation of Internet access services at each office. The proposed system allows intranet communication links or Internet connections to be aggregated, thereby enabling faster and more reliable communications.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method of communicating between a first office and a second office comprising:

identifying M access lines coupled at the first office;
identifying the N access lines at the second office;
configuring, via a first aggregation device at the first office and a second aggregation device at the second office, a tunnel service of access links between the first and second devices wherein the tunnel service of access links is comprised of MN concurrent paths and is configured to:
create multiple redundant access links between the first office and the second office;
bond communication resources over an access link at a level higher than the link layer such that terminating components at both sides of the access link are not required;
and
utilize, when the second office has a faster Internet connection than the first office, a capture all mode of communication between the first aggregation device configured as a client and the second aggregation device configured as a server, wherein the capture all mode routes/delivers all traffic to external destinations from the first aggregation device to the second aggregation device for delivery to the external destinations via the faster Internet connection associated with the second office;
identifying a Flow ID of the traffic;
transmitting traffic between the offices using the tunnel service dependent on the Flow ID;
reordering packets to deliver the packets in order to a remote endpoint of the packets;
wherein the first aggregation device and the second aggregation device are configured as a local aggregation device and a recipient aggregation device, configured to:
utilize a capture all mode of communication between the local aggregation device configured as a client and the recipient aggregation device configured as a server, wherein the capture all mode routes/delivers all traffic to external destinations from the local aggregation device to the recipient aggregation device for delivery to the external destinations via the recipient aggregation device;
route HTTP traffic via the HTTP proxy process when the local aggregation device is not utilizing the capture all mode of communication;
and
route HTTP traffic via a tunnel process when the local aggregation device is utilizing the capture all mode of communication.

12 more elements

A method for performing a local interface processing routine associated with a packet received on a local interface by a local aggregation device involving delivery to a recipient aggregation device, the method comprising performing subroutines for:

determining if at least one received packet belongs to a flow on at least one flow table;
creating an entry in the flow table if the at least one received packet does not belong to a flow on the at least one flow table;
updating a respective entry in the flow table if the at least one received packet does belong to a flow on the at least one flow table;
examining the created entry or the updated entry in the flow table;
in response to the examination, executing a pass through subroutine, a tunnel subroutine, and/or an HTTP proxy subroutine, wherein the pass through subroutine comprises modifying a packet header and forwarding the packet on a marked WAN interface as indicated in the flow table, the tunnel subroutine comprises forwarding the packet to one or more tunnel process(es) identified in the flow table, and the HTTP proxy subroutine comprises forwarding the packet to an HTTP proxy process or other process identified in the flow table;
and
bonding communication resources over an access link to the recipient aggregation device at a level higher than the link layer such that terminating components at both sides of the access link are not required;
wherein the local aggregation device is configured to:
utilize a capture all mode of communication between the local aggregation device configured as a client and the recipient aggregation device configured as a server, wherein the capture all mode routes/delivers all traffic to external destinations from the local aggregation device to the recipient aggregation device for delivery to the external destinations via the recipient aggregation device;
route HTTP traffic via the HTTP proxy process when the local aggregation device is not utilizing the capture all mode of communication;
and
route HTTP traffic via a tunnel process when the local aggregation device is utilizing the capture all mode of communication.

9 more elements

A system that performs a local interface processing routine associated with a packet received on a local interface by a local aggregation device involving delivery to a recipient aggregation device, the system comprising one or more processing devices and/or aggregation devices configured to perform subroutines for:

determining if at least one received packet belongs to a flow on at least one flow table;
creating an entry in the flow table if the at least one received packet does not belong to a flow on the at least one flow table;
updating a respective entry in the flow table if the at least one received packet does belong to a flow on the at least one flow table;
examining the created entry or the updated entry in the flow table;
in response to the examination, executing a pass through subroutine, a tunnel subroutine, and/or an HTTP proxy subroutine, wherein the pass through subroutine comprises modifying a packet header and forwarding the packet on a marked WAN interface as indicated in the flow table, the tunnel subroutine comprises forwarding the packet to one or more tunnel process(es) identified in the flow table, and the HTTP proxy subroutine comprises forwarding the packet to an HTTP proxy process or other process identified in the flow table;
and
bonding communication resources over an access link to the recipient aggregation device at a level higher than the link layer such that terminating components at both sides of the access link are not required;
wherein the local aggregation device is configured to:
utilize a capture all mode of communication between the local aggregation device configured as a client and the recipient aggregation device configured as a server, wherein the capture all mode routes/delivers all traffic to external destinations from the local aggregation device to the recipient aggregation device for delivery to the external destinations via the recipient aggregation device;
route HTTP traffic via the HTTP proxy process when the local aggregation device is not utilizing the capture all mode of communication;
and
route HTTP traffic via a tunnel process when the local aggregation device is utilizing the capture all mode of communication.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 12/491,202Filed 24 Jun 2009 · us provisional application
Priority: 24 Jun 2008
Published: US 2009/0323554 A131 Dec 2009
Granted: 5 Nov 2013
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification6 codes

H04L 12/5692
Access to open networks; Ingress point selection, e.g. ISP selection: selection among different networks
H04L 61/2535
Translation architectures other than single NAT servers: multiple local networks, e.g. resolving potential IP address conflicts
H04L 43/026
Capturing of monitoring data: using flow identification
Y02D 30/50
Reducing energy consumption in communication networks: in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate