Method and system for efficient enrichment of upper layer protocol content in transmission control program (TCP) based sessions

• US 10,171,548 B2
• Filed: 08/26/2014
• Issued: 01/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mavenir Systems Incorporated (Mavenir Group Holdings Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Mavenir Systems Incorporated (Mavenir Group Holdings Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kant, Nishi
• Primary Examiner(s): Dalencourt, Yves
• Application Number:
  US14/469,049
• Publication Number:
  US 20160065644A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,589 Days
• Field of Search: 709206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/163 In-band adaptation of TCP data exchange; In-band control procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/06 Transport layer protocols, e.g. TCP [Transport Control Protocol] over wireless transmission control protocol/Internet protocol [TCP/IP] or user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/08 Upper layer protocols network arrangements or communication protocols for networked applications H04L67/00

Abstract

A gateway system employing a redirect mechanism at upper layer protocols over Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) in a packet network to circumvent problems related to alteration of TCP sequence number due to header enrichment. The gateway system increases the size of a redirect message by the size of the header enrichment and thereby brings TCP sequence number on both ends in sync despite adding the header enrichment information.

Claims

1. A network element for processing message flow of a network comprising:

an access network interface unit configured to send and receive communications from a mobile device; and

a processor with a memory associated with the network interface unit and adapted to;

receive as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP1 Request from a mobile device and identify if the HTTP Request needs to be enriched;

if so, create a Redirect uniform resource locator (URL) including;

i) an original requested URL; and

ii) a Substitution String following the original requested URL; and

send the Redirect URL back to the mobile device;

wherein the size of the Substitution String equals a predicted size of an Enriched Header if the network element were to enrich the HTTP Request.

2. The network element of claim 1, wherein the Substitution String includes a Marker.

3. The network element of claim 2, wherein the Substitution String further includes a header enrichment (HE) placeholder.

4. The network element of claim 2, wherein the processor is further adapted to:

identify an HTTP Request having the Substitution String;

replace the Substitution String in the HTTP Request with the Enriched Header; and

transmit the modified HTTP Request to a server.

5. The network element of claim 4, wherein the TCP sequence number of the modified HTTP request is the same as the TCP sequence number of the identified HTTP request.

6. The network element of claim 1, wherein the network element is a gateway general packet radio service support node (GGSN).

7. The network element of claim 1, wherein the network element is a PDN gateway (P-GW).

8. A method performed within a network element having an access network interface unit, a processor and memory, said network element configured to process network signaling of a packet core network, the method comprising:

receiving a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Request from a mobile device and identifying if the HTTP Request needs to be enriched;

if so, creating a Redirect uniform resource locator (URL) including;

i) an original requested URL; and

ii) a Substitution String following the original requested URL; and

sending the Redirect URL back to the mobile device;

wherein the size of the Substitution String equals a predicted size of an Enriched Header if the network element were to enrich the HTTP request.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the Substitution String includes a Marker.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the Substitution String further includes a header enrichment (HE) placeholder.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

identifying an HTTP Request having the Substitution String;

replacing the Substitution String in the HTTP Request with the Enriched Header; and

transmitting the modified HTTP Request to a server.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the TCP sequence number of the modified HTTP request is the same as the TCP sequence number of the identified HTTP request.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the network element is a_gateway general packet radio service support node (GGSN).

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the network element is a PDN gateway (P-GW).

15. A network element for processing message flow of a network comprising:

an access network interface unit configured to send and receive communications from a mobile device; and

a processor with a memory associated with the network interface unit and adapted to;

receive a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Request from a mobile device and identify if the HTTP Request needs to be enriched;

if so, create a Redirect uniform resource locator (URL) including;

i) an original requested URL; and

ii) a Substitution String following the original requested URL, wherein the size of the Substitution String equals a predicted size of an Enriched Header if the network element were to enrich the HTTP Request;

send the Redirect URL back to the mobile device;

identify an HTTP Request having the Substitution String;

replace the Substitution String in the HTTP Request with the Enriched Header; and

transmit the modified HTTP Request to a server.

16. The network element of claim 15, wherein the network element is a gateway general packet radio service support node (GGSN).

17. The network element of claim 15, wherein the network element is a PDN gateway (P-GW).

18. The network element of claim 15, wherein the Substitution String includes a Marker.

19. The network element of claim 18, wherein the Substitution String further includes a header enrichment (HE) placeholder.

20. The network element of claim 15, wherein the TCP sequence number of the modified HTTP request is the same as the TCP sequence number of the identified HTTP request.