Pin-hole firewall for communicating data packets on a packet network

• US 20080052401A1
• Filed: 05/31/2007
• Published: 02/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Embarq Holdings Company LLC A Delaware Limited Liability Company
• Inventors: Bugenhagen, Michael K., Wiley, William L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,015,294 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1403 Architecture for metering, charging or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0677 Localisation of faults
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0681 Configuration of triggering conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5051 Service on demand, e.g. definition and deployment of services in real time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5087 wherein the managed service relates to voice services management of VoIP services H04M7/0081
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/509 wherein the managed service relates to media content delivery, e.g. audio, video or TV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/20 the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/28 using route fault recovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/11 Identifying congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/22 Traffic shaping
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0062 Provisions for network management

Abstract

A pin-hole firewall network communications device that includes a first port configured to communicate data packets over a packet network and a first counter module in communication with the first port. A pin-hole firewall module may be in communication with the first counter module. A call control module may be in communication with the first counter module and the pin-hole firewall function. A second counter module may be in communication with the pin-hole firewall function and the call control module. A second port may in communication with the second counter module and the packet network and be configured to communicate data packets over a second node segment of the packet network.

Claims

1. A pin-hole firewall network communications device, comprising:

a first port configured to communicate data packets over a packet network;

a first counter module in communication with said first port;

a pin-hole firewall module in communication with said first counter module;

a call control module in communication with said first counter module and said pin-hole firewall function;

a second counter module in communication with said pin-hole firewall function and said call control module; and

a second port in communication with said second counter module and the packet network and configured to communicate data packets over a second node segment of the packet network.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein said first and second counter modules each include a counter to count total data packets communicated with said pin-hole firewall module via said first and second ports, respectively.

3. The device according to claim 2, wherein said first and second counter modules each further include a second counter to count data packets including real-time content communicated with said pin-hole firewall module via said first and second ports, respectively.

4. The device according to claim 3, wherein said first and second counter modules each further include a computation module to compute bandwidth of data packets including real-time content.

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein said first and second ports are Ethernet ports.

6. The device according to claim 5, further comprising Ethernet virtual circuits in communication with said respective first and second ports.

7. The device according to claim 1, wherein said call control module is configured to read values of said first and second counters and communicate the values over the packet network.

8. The device according to claim 7, wherein the values include total bandwidth and bandwidth of data packets including real-time content.

9. The device according to claim 1, further comprising a processing unit on which said first and second counter modules, said call control module, and said pin-hole firewall module execute.

10. The device according to claim 1, wherein said call control module is configured to alter communications of said pin-hole firewall module.

11. A method for providing communications over a packet network, comprising:

receiving data packet communications from a packet network via a first port;

counting data packets received via the first port;

receiving data packet communications from the packet network via a second port;

counting data packets received via the second port; and

performing a pin-hole firewall function on the data packets received via the first and second ports.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein counting data packets received via the first and second ports include counting total data packets received via the first and second ports, respectively.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising counting data packets including real-time content communicated with said pin-hole firewall module via said first and second ports, respectively.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising computing bandwidth of data packets including real-time content.

15. The method according to claim 11, further comprising communicating the data packets over Ethernet networks via the first and second ports.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising establishing Ethernet virtual circuits via the first and second ports.

17. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

reading values from the first and second counters; and

communicating the values over the packet network.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein reading the values includes reading total bandwidth and bandwidth of data packets including real-time content.

19. The method according to claim 11, further comprising altering communications of the pin-hole firewall function based on data packets counted by the first and second counters.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein altering communications of the pin-hole firewall function includes slowing down data packet communications with the packet networks.