Apparatus and method for peer to peer network connectivty

• US 20040148439A1
• Filed: 01/14/2003
• Published: 07/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Harvey, George, Maurer, Patrick, Lin, Ying-Leh
• Application Number:
  US10/341,681
• Publication Number:
  US 20040148439A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/249
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2832 Interconnection of the control functionalities between home networks single bridge functionality H04L12/4625
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2212/00 Encapsulation of packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2514 between local and global IP addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2535 Multiple local networks, e.g. resolving potential IP address conflicts
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/164 at the network layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

A system and method for creating a peer to peer network by interconnecting private networks via publicly addressable residential gateways. A tunnel between a gateway of a first private network and a gateway of a second private network is established and the address of a device in one of the private networks is mapped into the other private network for enabling the device in one of the private networks to communicate with the other private network. Interconnection between private networks is enabled where the private networks and connected devices are able to communicate among themselves without changes to the host system or a need for a centralized server in the public network. Security is provided through the use of Internet Protocol Security (IPsec).

Claims

1. A method for interconnecting multiple private networks in a publicly accessible network, comprising the steps of:

establishing a tunnel between a gateway of a first private network and a gateway of a second private network; and

mapping the address of a device in said first private network into the address space of said second private network at said second private network gateway for enabling the device in said first private network to communicate with said second private network.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of enabling the device in the private network to communicate with a device in the other private network.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of creating an entry in a name server local to the private network, the entry identifying a name of a device in the remote private network and assigning an IP address local to the private network.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of creating an entry in a name server application layer gateway local to the private network, the entry indicating the identity of the tunnel through which peer packets are to be transmitted.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of redirecting a public network configured query to the established tunnel.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of determining that a response to the query arrived through the tunnel.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of the name server returning the local address in response to the query.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a packet is encapsulated using a predetermined format for enabling the packet to travel through the tunnel.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the encapsulated packet comprises inner and outer headers.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the outer header indicates the public network routing of the packet.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the inner header indicates the private network routing of the packet.

12. A method for interconnecting multiple private networks, comprising the steps of:

assigning a fully qualified domain name to a gateway of each private network for enabling public access to the gateway;

assigning a local IP address to each device connected to the gateways, wherein each device is located in the private network;

establishing a tunnel between two or more of the private networks; and

creating a gateway address entry in each of the gateways for mapping the address of the devices for enabling each of the mapped devices in each of the networks to communicate with other mapped devices.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of encoding and decoding communications packets to enable the packets to be routed through the tunnel between the two or more private networks.

14. A gateway for interconnecting multiple private networks in a peer to peer networking relationship, comprising:

a name server for each private network for matching domain names to private IP addresses for devices connected in the private network;

a host configuration protocol server for administering IP addresses in the name server; and

an address translator for mapping an address space of the first private network into an address space of the second private network using the matched domain names for enabling mapped devices in each of the private networks to communicate with other mapped devices.

15. The gateway of claim 14 further comprising a firewall for preventing access to a mapped device from outside the network in which the mapped device is connected.

16. The gateway of claim 14 further comprising a tunnel through which data packets travel between the multiple private networks when the data packets are connected in a peer to peer configuration.

17. The gateway of claim 16 further comprising an application layer gateway for enabling the address translator to set up mapping corresponding to the identity of the tunnel for enabling data packets to travel through the tunnel.

18. The gateway of claim 17 further comprising an application layer gateway for preventing access to a mapped device from outside the network in which the mapped device is connected.

19. In a local gateway, a method for establishing a peer to peer connection with a remote peer gateway, the method comprising the steps of:

establishing a tunnel with the remote peer gateway;

mapping address space of the remote peer into the local address space of the local gateway;

providing mapped addresses on look-ups; and

routing a peer packet to the tunnel.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the routing step further comprises the steps of:

coding the peer packet to enable the packet to be routed over the public network to the appropriate private network; and

decoding the peer packet to enable the packet to be routed to its destination within the private network.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the decoding step comprises the step of replacing an original source address of the peer packet with a local source address.

22. The method of claim 19 wherein the peers have overlapping local address spaces.

23. The method of claim 19 wherein the mapping is uniquely routable within the joint network formed as the union of the two peer networks.

24. The method of claim 19 wherein the mapping maps addresses in the local address space to a unique pairing of an address routable on the remote network and a label corresponding to the tunnel over which packets travel.

25. The method of claim 19 wherein the tunnel is secure.

26. A method for interconnecting multiple private networks in a publicly accessible network, comprising the steps of:

establishing a tunnel between a gateway of a first private network and a gateway of a second private network;

establishing a tunnel between the gateway of the second private network and a gateway of third private network; and

configuring a name server in each of the private networks for enabling devices in each of the networks to access each other.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising the step of selectively preventing a device in one of the networks from being accessed by a device in any of the other networks.

28. The method of claim 26, further comprising the step of selectively preventing a device in one of the networks from being accessed by any of the other networks.

29. The method of claim 26, further comprising the step of selectively preventing a device in one of the networks from being seen by any entity outside the network in which the device is located.

30. The method of claim 26, further comprising the step of establishing additional tunnels between additional private networks.

31. The method of claim 26, further comprising the step of selectively preventing a device in one of the networks from being seen by networks not authorized by the network containing the device.