Hardware TCP accelerator

A method of performing TCP spoofing comprising:

• receiving, from a satellite communication system into a reception data buffer of a hardware TCP accelerator, a first packet from a source connected to a wide area network, which is further connected to the satellite communication system;
• forwarding, at line speed, the first packet to a destination connected to a local area network;
• fetching, by a hardware TCP filter of the hardware TCP accelerator, first information from the first packet in the reception data buffer;
• determining, by the hardware TCP filter, whether the first packet is a TCP data packet based on the first information;
• when a TCP acknowledgment generator is included in the hardware TCP accelerator, performing:
• receiving, by the TCP acknowledgment generator included in an application processing device, the first packet from the reception data buffer and a TCP flag from the hardware TCP filter of the hardware TCP accelerator,
• providing, from the TCP acknowledgment generator to a transmission data buffer of the hardware TCP accelerator, TCP information in a second packet, the TCP information being provided from the TCP acknowledgment generator when the hardware TCP filter provides a set TCP flag to the TCP acknowledgement generator in the application processing device indicating that the received first packet is the TCP data packet, and
• transmitting the second packet from the transmission data buffer, the transmitting causing a TCP acknowledgment packet to be transmitted to the source via the satellite communication system and the wide area network;
• and
• when the TCP acknowledgment generator is included in a satellite modem that further communicates with the wide area network via the satellite communication system, performing:
• providing the first packet to the hardware TCP filter of the hardware TCP accelerator,
• mirroring the TCP data packet to the transmission data buffer for transmission to the satellite modem when the hardware TCP filter determines that the first packet is the TCP data packet, and
• generating, by the TCP acknowledgment generator in the satellite modem upon receiving the mirrored TCP data packet, the TCP acknowledgment packet which is transmitted by the satellite modem via the satellite communication system and the wide area network to the source.

An apparatus for use in a satellite communication system, comprising:

• a reception data buffer to receive a first packet from a source via the satellite communication system;
• a transmission data buffer to store a second packet for transmission;
• and
• a hardware TCP filter to:
• forward, at line speed, the first packet to a destination in a local area network,
• fetch first information from the first packet in the reception data buffer, and
• determine whether the first packet is a TCP data packet based, at least partially, on the first information, wherein:
• either a TCP acknowledgment generator is included in the apparatus or the TCP acknowledgment generator is included in a satellite modem for communicating with a wide area network via the satellite communication system and for communicating with the local area network via the apparatus,
• when the TCP acknowledgement generator is included in the apparatus:
• the TCP acknowledgment generator is arranged to receive incoming information from the reception data buffer and a TCP flag from the hardware TCP filter and is further arranged to provide TCP information in the second packet to the transmission data buffer to be transmitted to the satellite modem, the TCP information in the second packet is provided to the transmission data buffer from the TCP acknowledgment generator when the hardware TCP filter provides a set TCP flag to the TCP acknowledgment generator indicating that the received first packet is the TCP data packet, transmission of the second packet causing a TCP acknowledgment packet to be transmitted to the source of the first packet via the satellite communication system;
• and
• when the TCP acknowledgment generator is included in the satellite modem,
• when the hardware TCP filter determines that the first packet is the TCP data packet, the TCP data packet is mirrored to the transmission data buffer for transmission to the satellite modem, and
• upon receiving the mirrored TCP data packet, the TCP acknowledgment generator included in the satellite modem generates the TCP acknowledgment packet which is transmitted by the satellite modem via the satellite communication system and the wide area network to the source;
• and wherein:
• the hardware TCP filter is an item selected from a group of items consisting of a complex programmable logic device, a field programmable gate array, and an application specific integrated circuit.