Network communications intermediate interface
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system for transferring data packets between a network entry point and a plurality of workstations, comprising:
- a single input/output port connected to the network entry point;
a plurality of input/output ports each connected to one of the workstations, each input/output port having an input/output port address for uniquely identifying each of the connected workstations; and
redirection means connected to all of the input/output ports for routing data packets received through the entry point input/output port to a workstation input/output port address corresponding to a session identified in a header of the packet, and for routing data packets received from a workstation input/output port address to the entry point input/output port;
wherein, for a session initiated through the entry point, such session is identified by both the entry point and the workstation with a single session identifier, and for a session initiated by a workstation, such session is identified by the entry point and the workstation with session identifiers which are different from each other;
and wherein, for any received data packet, if such packet belongs to a session which is identified by the entry point and the workstation with different identifiers, said redirection means further changes a session identifier in the packet header to the identifier used by the device connected to the input/output port to which the packet is routed.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A highly efficient and cost effective system, which may be physically located locally to a group of workstations, performs communications rerouting at the network session level. The intermediate system changes data packet headers as necessary to make such rerouting transparent to the devices which are connected to it. Data packets are otherwise unaltered. The intermediate system can be used to connect to a plurality of workstations and to a network in such a manner that each workstation appears to be directly connected to the network.
-
Citations
23 Claims
-
1. A system for transferring data packets between a network entry point and a plurality of workstations, comprising:
-
a single input/output port connected to the network entry point; a plurality of input/output ports each connected to one of the workstations, each input/output port having an input/output port address for uniquely identifying each of the connected workstations; and redirection means connected to all of the input/output ports for routing data packets received through the entry point input/output port to a workstation input/output port address corresponding to a session identified in a header of the packet, and for routing data packets received from a workstation input/output port address to the entry point input/output port; wherein, for a session initiated through the entry point, such session is identified by both the entry point and the workstation with a single session identifier, and for a session initiated by a workstation, such session is identified by the entry point and the workstation with session identifiers which are different from each other; and wherein, for any received data packet, if such packet belongs to a session which is identified by the entry point and the workstation with different identifiers, said redirection means further changes a session identifier in the packet header to the identifier used by the device connected to the input/output port to which the packet is routed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
-
-
6. A system for communicating data packets between a target system and a plurality of workstations, each packet corresponding to a single communications session, comprising:
-
a network; a target system connected to said network; an entry point connected to said network; a plurality of workstations; an intermediate controller connected to said entry point by a single data link, and to each workstation by a data link, wherein each workstation is uniquely identified and separately addressable; redirection means within said intermediate controller for routing data packets received through the entry point data link to a workstation data link corresponding to a session identified in a header of the packet, and for routing data packets received from a workstation data link to the entry point data link; wherein, for a session initiated by the target system, such session is identified by both the entry point and the workstation with a single session identifier, and wherein, for a session initiated by a workstation, said redirection means identifies such session to the entry point and to the workstation with different session identifiers; and further wherein, for any received data packet, if such packet belongs to a session which is identified by the entry point and the workstation with different identifiers, said redirection means changes a session identifier in the packet header to the identifier used by the device connected to the data link to which the packet is routed. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. A method for transmitting packets corresponding to a communications session between a network entry point and a workstation, comprising the steps of:
-
sending packets from the entry point to an intermediate controller, such packets having a header including a session identifier; sending packets from the workstation to the intermediate controller, such packets having a header including a session identifier; within the intermediate controller, forwarding packets received from the entry point to the workstation; within the intermediate controller, forwarding packets received from the workstation to the entry point; within the intermediate controller, assigning session identifiers to sessions when the sessions are initiated, wherein a single session identifier is used for sessions initiated from the target system, and two different session identifiers are used for sessions initiated from the workstation, for packets received from the workstation, if the workstation and the entry point refer to the session using different identifiers, changing the identifier in the packet header to that used by the entry point before sending the packet, otherwise unchanged, to the entry point; and for packets received from the entry point, if the workstation and the entry point refer to the session using different identifiers, changing the identifier in the packet header to that used by the workstation before sending the packet, otherwise unchanged, to the workstation. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A method for transmitting packets, corresponding to a communications session, between an input/output port connected to a network entry point and an input/output port connected to a workstation, comprising the steps of:
-
receiving packets from the entry point input/output port in an intermediate controller, such packets having a header including a session identifier; receiving packets from the workstation input/output port in the intermediate controller, such packets having a header including a session identifier; within the intermediate controller, forwarding packets received from the entry point input/output port to the workstation; within the intermediate controller, forwarding packets received from the workstation input/output port to the entry point input/output port; within the intermediate controller, assigning session identifiers to sessions when the sessions are initiated, wherein a single session identifier is used for sessions initiated from the target system, and two different session identifiers are used for sessions initiated from the workstation, for packets received from the workstation input/output port, if the session identifier is different from that used in packets received from the entry point input/output port for the same session, changing the identifier in the packet header to that used in such received packets before sending the packet, otherwise unchanged, to the entry point input/output port; and for packets received from the entry point input/output port, if the session identifier is different from that used in packets received from the workstation input/output port for the same session, changing the identifier in the packet header to that used in such receiving packets before sending the packet, otherwise unchanged, to the workstation input/output port. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
-
Specification