Systems and Methods of Using an IP ID Field for Automatic WAN/LAN Detection
First Claim
1. A method of a first intermediary to detect an announcement of presence of a second intermediary, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) transmitting, via a first intermediary, a transport layer connection request, transmission of the transport layer connection request traversing a second intermediary;
(b) intercepting, by the first intermediary, a packet having an identification field of an internet protocol layer header encoded with a value by the second intermediary, the value encoded by performing a predetermined operation on an initial sequence number for the transport layer connection; and
(c) detecting, by the first intermediary, presence of the second intermediary by determining the value of the identification field of the internet protocol layer header of the intercepted packet comprises the initial sequence number for the transport layer connection encoded by the predetermined operation.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The solution of the present invention provides systems and methods for encoding information into an Internet Protocol identification field (IPID) of an IP layer header of a network packet in a manner acceptable to many or all of the network devices that encounter the encoded packet. In one embodiment, the solution described herein encodes the IP identification field of the IPID header with information to be communicated between devices. Appliances may use the encoded IP field as a signal or a means for a low-bandwidth subcarrier of data between the appliances that is transparent to any intervening network equipment. For example, the encoded field may be used to announce or probe the presence of a device, a functionality or capability of device or to indicate a type or speed of a network connection of a port on a device.
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Citations
81 Claims
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1. A method of a first intermediary to detect an announcement of presence of a second intermediary, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) transmitting, via a first intermediary, a transport layer connection request, transmission of the transport layer connection request traversing a second intermediary; (b) intercepting, by the first intermediary, a packet having an identification field of an internet protocol layer header encoded with a value by the second intermediary, the value encoded by performing a predetermined operation on an initial sequence number for the transport layer connection; and (c) detecting, by the first intermediary, presence of the second intermediary by determining the value of the identification field of the internet protocol layer header of the intercepted packet comprises the initial sequence number for the transport layer connection encoded by the predetermined operation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of a first appliance to detect an announcement of presence of a second appliance based on acknowledgement of a transport layer connection request, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) transmitting, via a first appliance, a transport layer connection request from a client to a server, transmission of the transport layer connection request traversing a second appliance; (b) intercepting, by the second appliance, a packet from the server acknowledging the transport layer connection request, the packet identifying an initial sequence number requested by the server; (c) establishing, by the second appliance, a value of an identification field of an internet protocol layer of the packet to comprise the initial sequence number adjusted by a predetermined operation; (d) intercepting, by the first appliance, the packet transmitted by the second appliance to the client; and (e) detecting, by the first appliance, presence of the second appliance by determining the identification field of the intercepted packet comprises the initial sequence number adjusted by the predetermined operation. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A method of a second appliance to detect an announcement of presence of a first appliance via a transport layer connection request, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) intercepting, by a first appliance, a transport layer connection request from a client to a server; (b) establishing, by the first appliance, a value of an identification field of an internet protocol layer of the transport layer connection request to comprise an initial sequence number adjusted by a predetermined operation; (c) transmitting, by the first appliance, the transport layer connection request to the server, transmission of the transport layer connection request traversing a second appliance; (d) intercepting, by a second appliance, the transport layer connection request; and (e) detecting, by the second appliance, presence of the first appliance by determining the identification field of the intercepted transport layer connection request comprises the initial sequence number adjusted by the predetermined operation. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A method of a client to detect an announcement of presence of an appliance based on acknowledgement of a transport layer connection request, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) transmitting, via a client agent, a transport layer connection request from a client to a server, transmission of the transport layer connection request traversing an appliance; (b) intercepting, by the appliance, a packet from the server acknowledging the transport layer connection request, the packet identifying an initial sequence number requested by the server; (c) establishing, by the appliance, a value of an identification field of an internet protocol layer of the packet to comprise the initial sequence number adjusted by a predetermined operation; (d) intercepting, by the client agent, the packet transmitted by the appliance to the client; and (e) detecting, by the client agent, presence of the appliance by determining the identification field of the intercepted packet comprises the initial sequence number adjusted by the predetermined operation. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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51. A method of an appliance to detect an announcement of presence of a client agent via a transport layer connection request, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) intercepting, by a client agent, a transport layer connection request from a client to a server; (b) establishing, by the client agent, a value of an identification field of an internet protocol layer of the transport layer connection request to comprise an initial sequence number adjusted by a predetermined operation; (c) transmitting, by the client agent, the transport layer connection request to the server, transmission of the transport layer connection request traversing an appliance; (d) intercepting, by the appliance, the transport layer connection request; and (e) detecting, by the appliance, presence of the client agent by determining the identification field of the intercepted transport layer connection request comprises the initial sequence number adjusted by the predetermined operation. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63)
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64. A system for detecting by a first intermediary an announcement of presence of a second intermediary, the system including:
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a first intermediary forwarding a transport layer connection request between a client to a server, the transport layer connection traversing one or more intermediaries, a second intermediary intercepting a packet of the transport layer connection and identifying an initial sequence number for the transport layer connection, the second intermediary comprising; a tagging engine to encode a value of an identification field of an internet protocol layer header of the packet to comprise the initial sequence number encoded by a predetermined operation; and wherein the first intermediary intercepts the encoded packet transmitted by the second intermediary and detects a presence of the second intermediary by determining the value of the identification field of the internet protocol layer header of the packet comprises the initial sequence number of the acknowledgement encoded by the predetermined operation. - View Dependent Claims (65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81)
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Specification