INTERNET PROTOCOL (IP) ADDRESS TRANSLATION

• US 20130111065A1
• Filed: 11/03/2011
• Published: 05/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cable Television Laboratories Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Cable Television Laboratories Incorporated
• Inventors: Donley, Christopher J., Grundemann, Christopher, Sarawat, Vikas
• Granted Patent: US 8,719,450 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/245
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/668 Internet protocol [IP] address subnets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/251 between different IP versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2557 Translation policies or rules
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/167 Adaptation for transition between two IP versions, e.g. between IPv4 and IPv6 translation of Internet protocol [IP] addresses H04L61/2503
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers

Abstract

Translation of Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) addresses is contemplated, such as for use in allowing IPv4 devices to connect with IPv6 device without requiring the IPv4 devices to specify the IPv6 address of the connected-to IPv6 device. The IPv6 addresses may be translated to IPv4 addresses suitable for use with the IPv4 devices in a manner that sufficiently compresses the IPv6 for use with the more bit limited nomenclature of an IPv4 address.

Claims

1. A method of electronically translating an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) address to an Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) address comprising:

compressing an entirety of the IPv6 address into a compressed expression, the IPv6 address comprising a first number of binary bits and the compressed expression comprising a second number of binary bits, the second number being less than the first number;

selecting an available IPv4 address prefix; and

adding the selected IPv4 address prefix to the compresses expression to form the IPv4 address, the IPv4 address being valid for IP-based communications.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising compressing the entirety of the IPv6 address using a hashing algorithm that compresses each of 128 binary bits comprising the IPv6 address such that the compressed expression is comprised of 32 binary bits or less.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising selecting the selected IPv4 address prefix to be comprised of 31 binary bits or less.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising generating the compressed expression to be 16 bits and the IPv4 address prefix to be 16 binary bits, and adding the 16 binary bits of the compressed expression to the 16 binary bits of the IPv4 prefix such that the IPv4 address comprises 32 binary bits.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising selecting the available IPv4 address prefix from a plurality of unused IPv4 address prefixes, the unused IPv4 address prefixes being selected from a mapping table of a translator configured to translate the IPv6 address to the IPv4 address.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising selecting the available IPv4 prefix from the mapping table when at least one of the plurality of unused IPv4 address prefixes is used in another mapping table of a different translator.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising selecting the available IPv4 address prefix from a prefix of a randomly selected IPv4 address cleared through a reversive DNS query.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing the IPv4 address and the IPv6 address within a mapping table, the mapping table being sufficient to identify the IPv6 address from the IPv4 address.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the mapping table includes a plurality of assigned IPv4 addresses mapped to a corresponding plurality of assigned IPv6 addresses, and wherein combining the compressed expression and the available IPv4 address prefix to form the IPv4 address includes executing a collision detection process to ensure the IPv4 address does not collide with one of the plurality of assigned IPv4 addresses already stored in the mapping table.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein, in the event the one of the assigned IPv4 addresses collides with the IPv4 address, the collision detection process includes altering at least one parameter of the IPv6 address and thereafter compressing the altered IPv6 address into the compressed expression combined to form the IPv4 address.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein altering the at least one parameter of the IPv6 address includes flipping at least one value of the IPv6 address.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein altering the at least one parameter of the IPv6 address includes adding at least one stuffing bit to the IPv6 address.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising combining the compressed expression and the selected IPv4 address prefix to form the IPv4 address such that the selected IPv4 address prefix occupies a first and second word portion of the IPv4 address and the and the compressed expression occupies a third and fourth word portion of the IPv4 address.

21. The method of claim 1 identifying the IPv6 address from within a header of a message, the header being used to facilitate addressing a payload of the message, and subsequently using the IPv4 address to address the payload for further transport.

22. The method of claim 1 further comprising compressing the IPv6 address without loss of data such that the entirety of the IPv6 address is subsequently recoverable with decompression of the compressed expression, including compressing the IPv6 address with a hashing key to generate the compressed expression and thereafter decompressing the compressed expression with the hashing key to generate the IPv6 address.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising selecting the hashing key to be at least one of time-varying and based on a rolling variable.

14. A method of translating Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) and Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) addresses to facilitate connecting an IPv4 device with an IPv6 device, the method comprising:

determining a plurality of IPv6 address for a plurality of IPv6 devices;

mapping each of the plurality of IPv6 addresses (mapped-from IPv6 addresses) to a corresponding one of a plurality of IPv4 addresses (mapped-to IPv4 addresses), the mapped-to IPv4 addresses being determined by combining a compressed expression of the mapped-from IPv6 address with an IPv4 prefix, the mapped-to IPv4 addresses being sufficient to address messages according to Internet Protocol (IP), the compressed expression being an algorithmic reduction of the corresponding mapped-from IPv6 address; and

upon receiving a request message from the IPv4 device to connect with a first one the plurality of IPv6 devices, the request message identifying the first one of the plurality of IPv6 devices according to the corresponding one of the mapped-to IPv4 addresses, translating the mapped-to IPv4 address identified within the request message to the corresponding one of the mapped-from IPv6 addresses prior to facilitating communication of the request message to the IPv6 device.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising altering a parameter of a colliding one of the plurality of IPv6 addresses prior to combining the corresponding compressed expression with the IPv4 prefix in order to prevent mapping the collided one of the plurality IPv6 addresses to an IPv4 address previously mapped to another IPv6 address.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising determining the compressed expression for each of the plurality of IPv6 addresses by compressing the corresponding IPv6 address from 128 bits to 32 or less bits and such that the corresponding IPv6 address is recoverable by decompressing the compressed expression.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising assigning the same IPv4 prefix to at least a plurality of the mapped-to IPv4 addresses.

25. The method of claim 14 further comprising the IPv6 address comprising a first number of binary bits and generating the compressed expression to comprise a second number of binary bits, the second number being less than the first number.

18. A computer-readable medium having non-transitory instructions stored therein that when operated with a processor facilitate mapping Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) addresses, the computer-readable medium comprising non-transitory instructions for:

generating a compressed expression for each of the IPv6 addresses, the compressed expression representing the corresponding IPv6 address with fewer machine-readable bits than the IPv6 address; and

combining the compressed expression of each of the IPv6 addresses with an IPv4 address parameter to form an IPv4 address for each of the IPv6 addresses, each IPv4 address being sufficient for addressing message headers according to Internet protocol (IP).

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 24 further comprising non-transitory instructions for varying the parameter by flipping at least one bit of the second one of the IPv6 addresses.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 24 further comprising non-transitory instructions for varying the parameter by adding at least one stuffing bit to the second one of the IPv6 addresses.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 further comprising non-transitory instructions for, in the event the compressed expression of a first one of the IPv6 addresses matches the compressed expression of a second one of the IPv6 addresses, varying a parameter of the second one of the IPv6 addresses prior to combining the corresponding compressed expression with the IPv4 address parameter