Time or Condition-Based Reestablishment of a Secure Connection

• US 20110122774A1
• Filed: 01/22/2010
• Published: 05/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Hodroj, Samir M., Hassan, Omar
• Application Number:
  US12/692,551
• Publication Number:
  US 20110122774A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/242
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2834 Switching of information between an external network and a home network access arrangements H04L12/2856
• 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 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1073 Registration or de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

A home router configured to determine that a secure connection between the home router and a remote server has failed is disclosed herein. The home router is also configured to attempt to reestablish the secure connection after a pre-determined time or upon determining that a network condition has been met.

Claims

1. A method implemented in a home router, the method comprising:

determining that a secure connection between the home router and a remote server has failed; and

attempting to reestablish the secure connection after a pre-determined time or upon determining that a network condition has been met.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the secure connection is a virtual private network (VPN) connection and the VPN connection includes a network tunnel between the home router and remote server.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising utilizing the network tunnel to register a device that is connected to the home router or to enable the remote server to remotely manage the home router.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining that the secure connection has failed further comprises determining that a network outage has occurred, that a network connecting the home router and remote server is congested, or that the remote server is unreachable.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the determining that the network outage has occurred further comprises at least one of checking a status of a physical link, checking whether an Internet Protocol (IP) address is a valid IP address, or performing a name server lookup.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a time since the secure connection failed and comparing the determined time to a threshold, the threshold corresponding to the pre-determined time.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring network conditions, the monitored network conditions including at least one of network connectivity, network congestion, or remote server reachability.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing the attempting based on a binary exponential back-off algorithm.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the attempting further comprises sending a VPN request from the home router to the remote server.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising establishing a VPN connection between the home router and the remote server.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the attempting further comprises attempting to reestablish the secure connection at pre-determined time intervals for a time period and then attempting to reestablish the secure connection based on monitored network conditions.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the attempting further comprises attempting to reestablish the secure connection with a second remote server if the remote server is determined to be unreachable.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the attempting is performed in response to an activation of a control associated with the home router.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the attempting is performed in response to receiving a message instructing the home register to perform the attempting.

15. An article of manufacture comprising:

a storage medium; and

computer-readable instructions stored on the stored medium and configured to program a home router to perform operations including;

determining that a virtual private network (VPN) connection between the home router and a remote server has failed; and

attempting to reestablish the VPN connection after a pre-determined time or upon determining that a network condition has been met.

16. The article of claim 15, wherein the determining that the VPN connection has failed further comprises determining that a network outage has occurred, that a network connecting the home router and remote server is congested, or that the remote server is unreachable.

17. The article of claim 15, wherein the operations further include determining a time since the VPN connection failed and comparing the determined time to a threshold, the threshold corresponding to the pre-determined time.

18. The article of claim 15, wherein the operations further include monitoring network conditions, the monitored network conditions including at least one of network connectivity, network congestion, or remote server reachability.

19. A home router comprising:

a processor; and

a plurality of executable instructions configured to be operated by the processor to perform operations including;

determining that a virtual private network (VPN) connection between the home router and a remote server has failed by determining that a network outage has occurred, that a network connecting the home router and remote server is congested, or that the remote server is unreachable; and

attempting to reestablish the VPN connection after a pre-determined time or upon determining that a network condition has been met, the attempting including sending a VPN request from the home router to the remote server.

20. The home router of claim 19, wherein the plurality of executable instructions are further configured to perform one or both of:

determining a time since the VPN connection failed and comparing the determined time to a threshold, the threshold corresponding to the pre-determined time;

or

monitoring network conditions, the monitored network conditions including at least one of network connectivity, network congestion, or remote server reachability.