Stateless Protocol Translation

• US 20130235871A1
• Filed: 03/12/2012
• Published: 09/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Brzozowski, John Jason, Pryszlak, Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 9,008,093 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/392
• 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 45/741 Routing in networks with a plurality of addressing schemes, e.g. with both IPv4 and IPv6
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/745 Address table lookup; Address filtering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/3009 Header conversion, routing tables or routing tags
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/251 between different IP versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2557 Translation policies or rules
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2575 using address mapping retrieval, e.g. simple traversal of user datagram protocol through session traversal utilities for NAT [STUN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5076 Update or notification mechanisms, e.g. DynDNS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols

Abstract

Some aspects of the methods and systems presented relate to performing stateless address translation between IPv4 capable devices to IPv6 capable networks and devices. Stateless address translation may form a new IPv6 addresses by combining the IPv4 address of a device with an IPv6 prefix address assigned to the translator. The translation may also combine the IPv4 destination address and UDP port information with the new IPv6 address. Existing Domain Name Systems (DNSs) may be leveraged for resolving the IPv4 and IPv6 addresses across different networks.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

one or more memories storing machine executable instructions, that when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to;

receive from a network a first Internet Protocol packet that includes a first Internet Protocol source address, first Internet Protocol destination address, and a data payload,

retrieve a second Internet Protocol prefix address uniquely identifying the apparatus on the network,

generate a second Internet Protocol source address that includes the second Internet Protocol prefix address and the first Internet Protocol source address,

retrieve a second Internet Protocol destination address based on the first Internet Protocol destination address received in the first Internet Protocol packet, and

generate a second Internet Protocol packet that comprises the second Internet Protocol source address, second Internet Protocol destination address, and the data payload received in the first Internet Protocol packet.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the first Internet Protocol packet includes a User Datagram Protocol source port and destination port; and

the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to generate the second Internet Protocol packet to include the UDP source port and destination port received in the first Internet Protocol packet.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, to retrieve the second Internet Protocol destination address, the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to:

transmit a first query to a server based on the first Internet Protocol destination address;

receive an identifier from the server in response to the first query;

transmit a second query to the server based on the identifier; and

receive the second Internet Protocol destination address in response to the second query.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the first query to the server is an IPv4 reverse lookup to a domain name system, and the second query is an IPv6 forward lookup to the domain name system.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to transmit the second Internet Protocol packet to the network.

6. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

one or more memories storing machine executable instructions, that when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to;

receive, from a network, a second Internet Protocol packet that includes a second Internet Protocol source address, a second Internet Protocol destination address, and a data payload,

extract a first Internet Protocol destination address from the second Internet Protocol destination address,

retrieve a first Internet Protocol source address based on the second Internet Protocol destination address received in the second Internet Protocol packet, and

generate a first Internet Protocol packet that includes the first Internet Protocol source address, the first Internet Protocol destination address, and the data payload received in the second Internet Protocol packet.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein:

the second Internet Protocol packet includes a User Datagram Protocol source port and destination port; and

the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to generate the first Internet Protocol packet to include the UDP source port and destination port received in the second Internet Protocol packet.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein, to retrieve the first Internet Protocol source address, the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to:

transmit a first query to a server based on the second Internet Protocol source address;

receive an identifier from the server in response to the first query;

transmit a second query to the server based on the identifier; and

receive the first Internet Protocol source address in response to the second query.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first query to the server is an IPv6 reverse lookup to a domain name system, and the second query is an IPv4 forward lookup to the domain name system.

10. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to transmit the first Internet Protocol packet to the network.

11. A method comprising:

receiving, at a network address translator device, a first Internet Protocol packet that includes a first Internet Protocol source address, a first Internet Protocol destination address, and a data payload;

retrieving a second Internet Protocol prefix address uniquely identifying the network address translator device on a network;

generating a second Internet Protocol source address that includes the second Internet Protocol prefix address and the first Internet Protocol source address;

retrieving a second Internet Protocol destination address based on the first Internet Protocol destination address received in the first Internet Protocol packet; and

generating a second Internet Protocol packet that includes the second Internet Protocol source address, second Internet Protocol destination address, and the data payload received in the first Internet Protocol packet.

12. The method of claim 11, the method further comprising generating the second Internet Protocol packet to include a User Datagram Protocol source port and destination port received in the first Internet Protocol packet.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the retrieving of the second Internet Protocol destination address includes:

transmitting a first query to a server based on the first Internet Protocol destination address;

receiving an identifier from the server in response to the first query;

transmitting a second query to the server based on the identifier; and

receiving the second Internet Protocol destination address from the server in response to the second query.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first query to the server is a reverse IPv4 lookup to a domain name system, and the second query is an IPv6 forward lookup to the domain name system.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising transmitting over the network the second Internet Protocol packet.

16. A non-transitory computer readable memory storing a second Internet Protocol packet data structure, wherein a processor, when in communication with the memory, is configured to statelessly translate the second Internet Protocol packet data structure to a first Internet Protocol packet data structure, wherein the second Internet Protocol data structure comprises a second Internet Protocol address including:

a second Internet Protocol prefix address uniquely identifying the processor within a second Internet Protocol network; and

a first Internet Protocol address of a first Internet Protocol compatible device within a first Internet Protocol network.

17. The computer readable memory of claim 16, wherein the second Internet Protocol address is a second Internet Protocol source address.

18. The computer readable memory of claim 17, wherein the second Internet Protocol data structure further comprises a User Datagram Protocol source port identifying a User Datagram Protocol port of the first Internet Protocol compatible device.

19. The computer readable memory of claim 16, wherein the second Internet Protocol address further includes a value indicating whether the second Internet Protocol data structure is an original message or a reply message.