VARIOUS METHODS AND APPARATUSES FOR ACCESSING NETWORKED DEVICES WITHOUT ACCESSIBLE ADDRESSES VIA VIRTUAL IP ADDRESSES
First Claim
1. An apparatus, comprising:
- a first Distributed Services Controller (DSC) having a first conduit manager to create a first outgoing TCP/IP stream connection associated with a first virtual IP address to a device service manager (DSM), which in turn relays communication traffic from the first outgoing TCP/IP stream connection to a second DSC, which has a second conduit manager to create a second direct outgoing TCP/IP stream connection associated with a second virtual IP address to the DSM, where the first DSC resides in a first local network and the second DSC resides in a second local network distinct from the first local network and the DSM resides in a wide area network external to both the first and second DSC, wherein both the first and second DSCs establish the outgoing TCP/IP stream connections to the DSM by periodically authenticating itself to the DSM and then keeping that connection open for future bi-directional communication on the outgoing TCP/IP stream connection, and wherein an IP redirector in the DSM receives communication traffic from the first established TCP/IP stream connection from the first DSC and then routes the communication traffic down the second established TCP/IP stream connection to the second DSC based on Virtual IP address mapping occurring in the registry of the DSM.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method, apparatus, and system are described for accessing networked devices without accessible network addresses via Virtual IP (VIP) addresses. The system consists of a first Device Services Controller (DSC), featuring a Host Controller component that can make available a virtual network interface and corresponding virtual IP address (VIP) and having a first conduit manager to create a first outgoing TCP/IP conduit connection to a device service manager (DSM). When networking traffic arrives at the virtual networking interface with the associated VIP, the Host Controller component automatically processes and forwards that traffic to the DSM. The DSM processes and relays traffic from the first outgoing TCP/IP conduitconnection to a second DSC, which has a Device Controller component and a second conduit manager to create a second direct outgoing TCP/IP conduit connection to the DSM. An IP redirector in the DSM receives communication traffic from the first established TCP/IP conduit connection from the first DSC and then routes the communication traffic down the second established TCP/IP conduit connection to the second DSC based on a Virtual IP address to real IP address mapping stored in the registry of the DSM. The Host Controller component processes and delivers the network traffic from the DSM to the appropriate local networked device and if appropriate send back any return traffic back to the DSM, which will return it to the first DSC for delivery to the originating network device, Using this mechanism, it is possible for two networked devices on separate networks to communicate even if there does not exist a route to the network address of the target device.
63 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An apparatus, comprising:
a first Distributed Services Controller (DSC) having a first conduit manager to create a first outgoing TCP/IP stream connection associated with a first virtual IP address to a device service manager (DSM), which in turn relays communication traffic from the first outgoing TCP/IP stream connection to a second DSC, which has a second conduit manager to create a second direct outgoing TCP/IP stream connection associated with a second virtual IP address to the DSM, where the first DSC resides in a first local network and the second DSC resides in a second local network distinct from the first local network and the DSM resides in a wide area network external to both the first and second DSC, wherein both the first and second DSCs establish the outgoing TCP/IP stream connections to the DSM by periodically authenticating itself to the DSM and then keeping that connection open for future bi-directional communication on the outgoing TCP/IP stream connection, and wherein an IP redirector in the DSM receives communication traffic from the first established TCP/IP stream connection from the first DSC and then routes the communication traffic down the second established TCP/IP stream connection to the second DSC based on Virtual IP address mapping occurring in the registry of the DSM. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method, comprising:
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establishing a first outgoing TCP/IP stream connection to a central device from a local device; establishing a second outgoing TCP/IP stream connection to the central device from a remote device, where the local device resides in a first local network, the remote device resides in a second local network distinct from the first local network, and the central device resides in a wide area network external to both the local and remote device, where both the local and remote device create their own outgoing TCP/IP stream connection to the central device by periodically authenticating themselves to the central device and then keeping that connection open for future bi-directional communication on the outgoing TCP/IP stream connection; assigning a first virtual IP address to the local device and a second virtual IP address to the remote device; receiving communication traffic from the first established TCP/IP stream connection from the local device associated with the first virtual IP address and then routing the communication traffic down the second established TCP/IP stream connection to the remote device associated with the second virtual IP address based on virtual IP address mapping occurring in a registry of the central device; and decoding the communication traffic and forwarding the communication traffic to a network device on the second local network from the remote device. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. An system, comprising:
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a first and a second DSC that each have a conduit manager to create a direct communication tunnel to a DSM, where the first DSC resides in a first local network and the second DSC resides in a second local network distinct from the first local network and the DSM resides in a wide area network external to both the first and second DSC, wherein both the first and second DSC each creates its own direct communication tunnel to the DSM by periodically authenticating itself to the DSM and establishing an outgoing TCP/IP stream connection to the DSM and then keeps that connection open for future bi-directional communication on the outgoing TCP/IP stream connection; and an IP redirector in the DSM receives communication traffic from a first established TCP/IP stream connection from the first DSC and then routes the communication traffic down a second established TCP/IP stream connection to the second DSC based on Virtual IP address mapping occurring in the registry of the DSM, wherein the second DSC decodes the communication traffic and forwards the communication traffic to a network device on the second local network. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification