OPTIMIZED TUNNELING METHODS IN A NETWORK

• US 20080037498A1
• Filed: 08/10/2006
• Published: 02/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: POPOVICH, GEORGE, NARAYANAN, VIDYA, VENKITARAMAN, NARAYANAN, BEKIARES, TYRONE D., KELLER, MATTHEW C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,068,499 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/342
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]

Abstract

A method for minimizing tunnels in a network, apparatus and computer-readable storage medium having computer readable code stored thereon for programming a computer to perform the method. The method includes the steps of: obtaining state information associated with a first node connected to a mobile network behind a mobile node; receiving a first message sent between the first node and a correspondent node, wherein a first header was removed from the first message prior to sending the first message; recreating, in one of the mobile node and a mobility agent, the first header using the state information; and sending the first message with the first header.

Claims

1. A method for minimizing tunnels in a network, the method comprising the steps of:

obtaining state information associated with a first node connected to a mobile network behind a mobile node;

receiving a first message sent between the first node and a correspondent node, wherein a first header was removed from the first message prior to the first message being sent;

recreating, in one of the mobile node and a mobility agent, the first header using the state information; and

sending the first message with the first header.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

receiving a second message sent between the first node and the correspondent node, the second message comprising a second header;

removing the second header; and

sending the second message without the second header to one of the mobile node and the mobility agent.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

determining whether the second message is associated with a security tunnel;

if the second message is associated with a security tunnel, sending the second message using the security tunnel; and

if the second message is not associated with a security tunnel, creating a security tunnel and sending the second message using the created security tunnel.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the security tunnels are created using IPSec Protocol.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first message is sent in accordance with one of Internet Protocol version 4 and Internet Protocol version 6.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of removing the second header comprises one of:

updating a plurality of fields in the second header to generate a third header; and

replacing the second header with a fourth header.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the state information is obtained from at least one of:

a registration request message sent by the first node;

a registration reply message received by the first node;

a message exchange between the mobile node and the first node;

a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol option;

the first message; and

an Internet Key Exchange message.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the state information comprises at least one of:

a home address for the first node;

a care-of address for the first node;

an Internet Protocol (IP) address for a mobility agent serving the first node;

an IP address for a Virtual Private Network entity; and

Security Parameter Index (SPI).

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first header is associated with at least one of a mobility management tunnel and a security tunnel.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the mobility management tunnel is in accordance with Mobile Internet Protocol (MIP).

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of detecting that the first header was removed, the detecting comprising at least one of:

detecting a predefined Internet Protocol (IP) option included in an outermost header included in the first message;

receiving an indication in a different message from the first message; and

detecting a modification in an IP header included in the first message.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining state information is performed after the step of receiving the first message.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the state information is obtained from a sender of the first message.

14. Apparatus for minimizing tunnels in a network, the apparatus comprising:

a memory element storing state information associated with a first node connected to a mobile network behind a mobile node;

an interface receiving a first message sent between the first node and a correspondent node, wherein a first header was removed from the first message prior to the first message being sent;

a processing device coupled to the memory element and interface and recreating, in one of the mobile node and a mobility agent, the first header using the state information, wherein the first message with the first header is sent using the interface.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the apparatus comprises one of a mobile router, a home agent and a foreign agent.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processing device comprises at least one of:

a microprocessor executing code, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) and a state machine.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein

the interface further receiving a second message sent between the first node and the correspondent node, the second message comprising a second header;

the processing device further removing the second header, determining whether the second message is already associated with a security tunnel and creating the security tunnel if the second message is not already associated with a security tunnel, wherein the second message is sent using the security tunnel to one of the mobile node and the mobility agent.

18. A computer-readable storage element having computer readable code stored thereon for programming a computer to perform a method for minimizing tunnels in a network, the method comprising the steps of:

obtaining state information associated with a first node connected to a mobile network behind a mobile node;

receiving a first message sent between the first node and a correspondent node, wherein a first header was removed from the first message prior to the first message being sent;

recreating, in one of the mobile node and a mobility agent, the first header using the state information; and

sending the first message with the first header.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the computer readable storage medium comprises at least one of a hard disk, a CD-ROM, an optical storage device and a magnetic storage device.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the computer readable code further for programming the computer to perform the steps of:

receiving a second message sent between the first node and the correspondent node, the second message comprising a second header;

removing the second header;

determining whether the second message is associated with a security tunnel;

if the second message is associated with a security tunnel, sending the second message using the security tunnel; and

if the second message is not associated with a security tunnel, creating a security tunnel and sending the second message using the created security tunnel, wherein the second message is sent to one of the mobile node and the mobility agent.