WIDE AREA NETWORK USING INTERNET WITH HIGH QUALITY OF SERVICE

• US 20080219254A1
• Filed: 11/19/2007
• Published: 09/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AlterWAN, Inc.
• Original Assignee: AlterWAN, Inc.
• Inventors: Haney, Richard D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,595,478 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/04 Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/12 Shortest path evaluation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/20 Hop count for routing purposes, e.g. TTL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/308 Route determination based on user's profile, e.g. premium users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/12 Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/726 Reserving resources in multiple paths to be used simultaneously by balancing the load H04L47/125
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/354 for supporting virtual local area networks [VLAN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0209 Architectural arrangements, e.g. perimeter networks or demilitarized zones

Abstract

A wide area network using the internet as a backbone utilizing specially selected ISX/ISP providers whose routers route packets of said wide area network along private tunnels through the internet comprised of high bandwidth, low hop-count data paths. Firewalls are provided at each end of each private tunnel which recognize IP packets addressed to devices at the other end of the tunnel and encapsulate these packets in other IP packets which have a header which includes as the destination address, the IP address of the untrusted side of the firewall at the other end of the tunnel. The payload sections of these packets are the original IP packets and are encrypted and decrypted at both ends of the private tunnel using the same encryption algorithm using the same key or keys.

Claims

1-28. -28. (canceled)

29. A method comprising:

providing, in a router that is part of a wide area network, priority routing of data packets that are within a selected group of addresses relative to data packets that are not within the selected group of addresses, wherein providing priority routing comprises;

receiving data packets on an input port of the router; and

performing the following operations, in response to a determination that an address of a source device or an address of a destination device of the data packets is within a selected group of addresses;

performing a look-up into a routing table that is applicable to the selected group of addresses; and

routing the data packets based on the look-up into the routing table at a non-blocking bandwidth.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein receiving the data packets comprises receiving data packets having an encrypted payload.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein the data packets are Internet Protocol data packets.

32. The method of claim 29, wherein the wide area network is the Internet.

33. The method of claim 29, wherein the data packets includes at least one of audio data and video data.

34. A machine-readable medium including instructions which when executed by a machine causes the machine to perform operations comprising:

establishing a path for transmitting at least one of selected data over a network between a source and a destination, the path to provide a level of latency and bandwidth for the selected data, wherein the establishing comprises,

selecting at least one router along the route, wherein the at least one router is to provide priority routing of the selected data, wherein the priority routing comprises a non-blocking bandwidth and a reduced latency for the selected data relative to other data being routed by the at least one router; and

defining a route that includes the at least one router along the path.

35. The machine-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the at least one router is controlled by at least one participating service provider.

36. The machine-readable medium of claim 34, wherein selecting the at least one router comprises selecting a router of at least one participating service provider that is not a geographically closest router of the at least one participating service provider.

37. The machine-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the at least one router is to route data other than the data between the source and the destination.

38. The machine-readable medium of claim 34, wherein selecting the at least one router comprises selecting a fault tolerant router.

39. A method comprising:

altering a path for transmitting selected data over a public network between a source and a destination, wherein altering the path comprises,

selecting at least one router of at least one participating service provider, wherein the at least one participating service provider is to give priority routing to the selected data relative to other data being routed by the at least one router, wherein the priority routing comprises guaranteeing non-blocking bandwidth for the selected data; and

defining a path that includes the at least one router.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein selecting the at least one router comprises selecting the at least one router of the at least one participating service provider along the route based on a number of hops in the path.

41. The method of claim 39, wherein the data is video data.

42. The method of claim 39, wherein the public network is the Internet.

43. The method of claim 39, wherein the public network is a wide area network.

44. The method of claim 39, wherein selecting the at least one router comprises selecting a router of at least one participating service provider that is not a geographically closest router of the at least one participating service provider.

45. The method of claim 39, wherein the at least one router is to route data other than the data between the source and the destination.

46. A system comprising:

a first router coupled to route selected data packets from a source device for transmission to a destination device; and

a second router coupled to route the selected data packets from the source device for transmission to the destination device, wherein a path is established from the source device to the destination device through the first router and the second router to route the selected data packets, wherein the first router and the second router provide priority routing for the selected data packets over other data packets being routed and wherein the first router and the second router guarantee non-blocking bandwidth for the selected data packets.

47. The system of claim 46, wherein at least one of the first router and the second router is controlled by at least one participating service provider.

48. The system of claim 46, wherein the first router and the second router are part of a public wide area network.

49. The system of claim 46, wherein the selected data packets are routed from the source device to the destination device through a path that is established based on a minimization of hop counts.

50. The system of claim 49, wherein the path comprises a private tunnel.

51. The system of claim 46, further comprising:

a source firewall circuit coupled to receive the selected data packets from the source device and to encrypt a payload of the selected data packets; and

a source router coupled to receive the selected data packets from the source firewall circuit and coupled to the first router through a dedicated line.