Method for establishing a multi-link access between a local network and a remote network, and corresponding appliance

• US 20090313690A1
• Filed: 11/02/2006
• Published: 12/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital CE Patent Holdings SAS (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Licensing (Vantiva SA)
• Inventors: Bichot, Gulillame, Legallais, Yvon
• Granted Patent: US 8,132,249 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• 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 45/245 Link aggregation, e.g. trunking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/34 ensuring sequence integrity, e.g. using sequence numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols

Abstract

The invention enables the different access links between a local network and a remote network to be used in a common and transparent manner. The invention is based on the use of various IP tunnels using the different access links between an appliance on the local network of the user and an appliance on the remote network. Said tunnels are embodied as a single link providing access to the remote network.

Claims

1. Method of establishing a multi-link connection between a local communication network through digital data packets and a remote network, wherein the method comprises the following steps:

opening of a first connection between a modem connected to the local network and the remote network via a first access network,

opening of at least one second connection between the said modem and the remote network via a second access network,

for each of the connections thus opened, establishment of a corresponding communication tunnel between the modem and an appliance connected to the remote network called gateway using the said connection, and

for each digital data packet exchanged between the local network and the remote network, both through the modem as well as the gateway, a choice of the tunnel used for routing the packet in a transparent manner for the applications using the multi-link connection.

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein it comprises furthermore of an allocation step of an address to the modem by the gateway.

3. Method according to claim 1, wherein it comprises furthermore of the opening of a control link between the modem and the gateway using one of the connections opened.

4. Method according to claim 1, wherein the choice step is carried out according to parameters specific to each tunnel.

5. Method according to claim 4, wherein the parameters specific to each tunnel used in the choice step include the instantaneous usage rate of each connection.

8. Appliance according to claim 1, wherein it furthermore comprises means for managing a control link between itself and the gateway using one of the connections opened.

6. Communication appliance between a local communication network through digital data packets and a remote network comprising a plurality of means of opening connections between the local network and the remote network, wherein it comprises:

means of opening a first connection between itself and the remote network via a first access network,

means of opening at least one second connection between itself and the remote network via a second access network,

for each of the connections thus opened, means of establishing a corresponding communication tunnel between itself and an appliance connected to the remote network called gateway using the said connection, and

for each digital data packet that it relays between the local network and the remote network, means of choice of the tunnel used for relaying the said packet.

7. Appliance according to claim 6, wherein it furthermore comprises means for managing an address on the network allocated by the said gateway.

9. Data packet relay appliance that can be connected to a communication network through digital data packets, wherein it comprises means for managing a plurality of tunnels between itself and a remote appliance on the network and for each data packet that it relays towards the remote appliance, means of choice of the tunnel used for relaying the said packet.

10. Appliance according to claim 9, wherein it furthermore comprises means for managing a control link between itself and the remote appliance.