Method and System for Local Peer-to-Peer Traffic
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method providing for the flow of peer-to-peer traffic between end users within an access network without requiring the traffic to pass through a network gateway such as a Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS). End user devices connect through access nodes to an aggregation network and a gateway. An Upstream Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) proxy and a Downstream ARP proxy are implemented in each access node. The Upstream ARP proxy receives an Upstream ARP request and forwards the request upstream only if peer-to-peer communications are allowed. Otherwise, a reply is sent with the MAC address of the BRAS. The Downstream ARP proxy intercepts a Downstream ARP request for a target device and determines whether the target device is in an ARP Cache in the access node. If so, the proxy sends an ARP reply giving the MAC address of the target device. If not, no ARP reply is sent.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1-20. -20. (canceled)
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21. A method for peer-to-peer communication in an aggregation network. said aggregation network having a plurality of end user devices, said end user devices being capable of acting as a source device and/or a target device, wherein each end user device is connected to said aggregation network through one of a plurality of access nodes, and a gateway provides for communication outside of the aggregation network, said method comprising the steps of:
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implementing a Downstream Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) proxy and a respective ARP Cache in the access nodes, said ARP Cache storing address pairs for end user devices in the aggregation network; intercepting by the Downstream ARP proxy in one of the access nodes, a Downstream ARP request from a requester for a target end user device; determining by the Downstream ARP proxy, whether an address pair for the target end user device is stored in the ARP Cache; sending by the Downstream ARP proxy, an ARP reply to the requester if an address pair for the target end user device is stored in the ARP Cache, said ARP reply including a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the target device; and if an address pair for the target end user device is not stored in the ARP Cache, sending no reply by the Downstream ARP proxy. - View Dependent Claims (22)
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23. A method for peer-to-peer communication in an aggregation network, said aggregation network having a plurality of end user devices. said end user devices being capable of acting as a source device and/or a target device, wherein each end user device is connected to said aggregation network through one of a plurality of access nodes, and a gateway provides for communication outside of the aggregation network, said method comprising the steps of:
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implementing an Upstream Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) proxy in an access node; receiving by the Upstream ARP proxy, an Upstream ARP request from a source end user device; determining by the Upstream ARP proxy, whether peer-to-peer communication is allowed for the source end user device; forwarding the request upstream by the Upstream ARP proxy if peer-to-peer communication is allowed for the source end user device; and if peer-to-peer communication is not allowed for the source end user device, sending an ARP reply to the source end user device, said ARP reply including a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the aggregation network gateway. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method for peer-to-peer communication in an aggregation network, said aggregation network having a plurality of end user devices, said end user devices being capable of acting as a source device and/or a target device, wherein each end user device is connected to said aggregation network through one of a plurality of access nodes, and a gateway provides for communication outside of the aggregation network, said method comprising the steps of:
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implementing an Upstream Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) proxy, a Downstream ARP proxy, and an ARP Cache in each access node; intercepting by the Upstream ARP proxy in a first access node, an ARP request from a source device requesting the Media Access Control (MAC) address of a target device; determining by the Upstream ARP proxy whether peer-to-peer communication is allowed for the source device, and whether the source device and target device belong to the same IP-subnet; if so, forwarding by the Upstream ARP proxy. the ARP request upstream onto the aggregation network; intercepting the ARP request by all of the Downstream ARP proxies in the access nodes of the same IP-subnet; determining by the Downstream ARP proxy in the access node serving the target device, whether an address pair for the target end user device is stored in the access node'"'"'s ARP Cache, and whether peer-to-peer communication is allowed with the target device; if so, sending an ARP reply from the Downstream ARP proxy to the source device, said ARP reply including a MAC address of the target device; storing an association between the source and target devices in the Downstream ARP proxy in the access node serving the target device; snooping the ARP reply by the access node serving the source device; storing an association between the source and target devices in the Downstream ARP proxy in the access node serving the source device; forwarding the ARP reply to the source device; and establishing communication between the source and target devices.
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31. A system for peer-to-peer communication in an aggregation network, said aggregation network having a plurality of end user devices, said end user devices being capable of acting as a source device and/or a target device, wherein each end user device is connected to said aggregation network through one of a plurality of access nodes, and a gateway provides for communication outside of the aggregation network, said system comprising:
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an Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) Cache in each of the access nodes, said ARP Cache storing address pairs for end user devices in the aggregation network; a Downstream ARP proxy in each of the access nodes, said Downstream ARP proxy including; means for intercepting a Downstream ARP request from a requester for a target end user device; means for determining whether an address pair for the target end user device is stored in the ARP Cache; communication means for sending an ARP reply to the requester if an address pair for the target end user device is stored in the ARP Cache, said ARP reply including a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the target device; and means responsive to a determination that an address pair for the target end user device is not stored in the ARP Cache, for sending no reply by the Downstream ARP proxy. - View Dependent Claims (32)
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33. A system for peer-to-peer communication in an aggregation network, said aggregation network having a plurality of end user devices, said end user devices being capable of acting as a source device and/or a target device, wherein each end user device is connected to said aggregation network through one of a plurality of access nodes, and a gateway provides for communication outside of the aggregation network, said system comprising:
an Upstream Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) proxy in each of the access nodes, wherein the Upstream ARP proxy includes; communication means for receiving an Upstream ARP request from a source end user device; means for determining whether peer-to-peer communication is allowed for the source end user device; means for forwarding the request upstream if peer-to-peer communication is allowed for the source end user device; and means responsive to a determination that peer-to-peer communication is not allowed for the source end user device, for sending an ARP reply to the source end user device, said ARP reply including a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the aggregation network gateway. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A system for peer-to-peer communication between end user devices within an aggregation network, said system providing peer-to-peer communication without requiring traffic to pass through a network gateway, wherein end user devices connect through access nodes to the aggregation network. said system comprising:
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an Upstream Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) proxy and a Downstream ARP proxy in each access node; means within each Upstream ARP proxy for receiving an Upstream ARP request from an source end user device and forwarding the request upstream only if peer-to-peer communications are allowed with the source device; and means within each Downstream ARP proxy for intercepting a Downstream ARP request for a target device and sending an ARP reply providing a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the target device only if the target device is in an ARP Cache in the access node and peer-to-peer communication is allowed with the target device.
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Specification