NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS OF APPLICATION RUNNING ON DEVICE UTILIZING VIRTUAL NETWORK CONNECTION AND ROUTING PROTOCOL BASED ON APPLICATION CONNECTION CRITERIA

• US 20120016955A1
• Filed: 09/23/2011
• Published: 01/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dispersive Holdings Incorporated (Dispersive Networks, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Robert W. Twitchell Jr
• Inventors: TWITCHELL, Robert W. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 8,341,291 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/56 Packet switching systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/586 of virtual routers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/17 Interaction among intermediate nodes, e.g. hop by hop
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/06 Message adaptation to terminal or network requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/32 Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/325 in the network layer [OSI layer 3], e.g. X.25 H04L69/16 takes precedence

Abstract

A method of providing network communications using virtualization includes steps of creating a virtual machine instance that runs on a device and that virtualizes network capabilities of the device such that a virtual network connection is provided, detecting a request for a network connection from an application running on the device, determining application-specific information associated with the application, using the application-specific information associated with the application, selecting a routing protocol from among a plurality of available routing protocols for communicating data from the application over a network using the virtual network connection, and, using the selected routing protocol, communicating data from the application over the network to a device using the virtual network connection of the virtual machine instance.

Claims

1. A method of providing network communications using virtualization, comprising the steps of:

(a) creating a virtual machine instance that runs on a device and that virtualizes network capabilities of the device such that a virtual network connection is provided;

(b) detecting a request for a network connection from an application miming on the device;

(c) determining application-specific information associated with the application;

(d) using the application-specific information associated with the application, selecting a routing protocol from among a plurality of available routing protocols for communicating data from the application over a network using the virtual network connection; and

(e) using the selected routing protocol of said step (d), communicating data from the application over the network to a device using the virtual network connection of the virtual machine instance.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the application runs outside of the virtual machine instance.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual machine instance is created by a monitor in response to a controller configured to interrupt messages sent to a network adapter.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual machine instance is created before the application-specific information associated with the application is determined

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual machine instance is created after the application-specific information associated with the application is determined

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual machine instance is created in response to the request for a network connection from the application running on the device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) of creating a virtual machine instance that runs on the device and that virtualizes network capabilities of the device such that a virtual network connection is provided comprises further providing a second virtual network connection of the virtual machine instance;

and wherein the method further includes the steps of;

(f) selecting a routing protocol from among the plurality of available routing protocols for communicating data from the application using the second virtual network connection of the virtual machine instance; and

(g) using the selected routing protocol of said step (f), communicating data from the application over the network to a device using the second virtual network connection of the virtual machine instance.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) of creating a virtual machine instance that runs on the device and that virtualizes network capabilities of the device such that a virtual network connection is provided comprises further providing a second virtual network connection of the virtual machine instance;

and, wherein the method further includes the steps of;

(f) determining application-specific information associated with a second application;

(g) using the application-specific information associated with the second application, selecting a routing protocol from among a plurality of available routing protocols for communicating data from the second application over a network using the second virtual network connection of the virtual machine instance; and

(h) using the selected routing protocol of said step (g), communicating data from the second application over the network to a device using the second virtual network connection of the virtual machine instance.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further includes the steps of:

(f) creating a second virtual machine instance that runs on the device and that virtualizes network capabilities of the device such that a virtual network connection of the second virtual machine is provided;

(g) selecting a routing protocol from among the plurality of available routing protocols for communicating data from the application over the network using the virtual network connection of the second virtual network connection; and

(h) using the selected routing protocol of said step (g), communicating data from the application over the network to a device using the virtual network connection of the second virtual network connection.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

(f) creating a second virtual machine instance that runs on the device and that virtualizes network capabilities of the device such that a virtual network connection of the second virtual machine is provided;

(g) detecting a request for a network connection from a second application running on the device;

(h) determining application-specific information associated with the second application;

(i) using the application-specific information associated with the second application, selecting a routing protocol from among the plurality of available routing protocols for communicating data over the network using the virtual network connection of the second virtual machine instance; and

(j) using the routing protocol selected in said step (i), communicating data from the second application over the network to a device using the virtual network connection of the second virtual machine instance.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual machine instance encapsulates a single hardware network interface of the device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual machine instance encapsulates a plurality of hardware network interfaces of the device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of available routing protocols includes the Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP), the Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), and the Constrained Shortest Path First (CSPF) protocol.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the device includes a plurality of processing cores.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the application is a video game.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the device is a personal computer.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the device is a handheld mobile device.

18. A computer, comprising:

(a) a processor;

(b) a network adapter; and

(c) one or more computer readable media containing computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, perform a method comprising the steps of,

(i) detecting a request for a network connection from an application running on the computer,

(ii) virtualizing the network adapter,

(iii) determining application-specific information associated with the application,

(iv) using the application-specific information, selecting a routing protocol from among a plurality of available routing protocols for communicating data over the network using the virtualized network adapter, and

(v) using the selected routing protocol, communicating data from the application over the network to another device using the virtualized network adapter.

19. A method of providing network communications of a computer using virtualization, comprising the steps of:

(a) intercepting, by a controller loaded on the computer, a message for the network adapter, the message being associated with an application running on the computer;

(b) spawning a virtual machine for a network connection that virtualizes network capabilities of a network adapter of the computer;

(c) determining application-specific information associated with the application;

(d) using the application-specific information, selecting a routing protocol from among a plurality of available routing protocols for communicating data over the network using the virtualized network capabilities; and

(e) using the selected routing protocol, communicating data from the application over the network to a device by way of the virtualized network capabilities.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the virtual machine is spawned in response to the intercepting of a message for the network adapter by the controller.