General transport layer gateway for heterogeneous networks

• US 5,491,693 A
• Filed: 02/01/1994
• Issued: 02/13/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/1993
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dykeman, Harold D., Doeringer, Willibald, Mathew, Johny, Turner, Roger D., Chung, Tein-Yaw, Sarkar, Soumitra, Britton, Kathryn H., Pozefsky, Diane P., Edwards, Allan K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Wellington
• Application Number:
  US08/189,816
• Time in Patent Office: 742 Days
• Field of Search: 370/60, 370/60.1, 370/85.13, 370/85.14, 370/94.1, 370/94.2, 370/110.1
• US Class Current: 370/401
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4604 LAN interconnection over a backbone network, e.g. Internet, Frame Relay
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols

Abstract

A multiprotocol transport network (MPTN) gateway provides transparent interconnection of two or more SPTNs running different transport layer protocols to form an integrated heterogeneous MPTN. The MPTN gateway of the present invention has no dependencies on the particular transport protocols running on the SPTNs being interconnected as it utilizes a common transport provider (a Gateway Services Protocol Boundary (GSPB)) between the SPTN transport protocols and the gateway components. The MPTN gateway supports connections between end systems across multiple intermediate networks. The MPTN gateway provides automatic routing based on dynamic participation in the routing protocols of the interconnected SPTNs so that any number of gateways may be interconnected and in any topology desired. As the MPTN gateway has a general architecture and acquires routing information automatically, it supports not only other MPTN nodes and gateways but also non-MPTN nodes and gateways.

Claims

1. A gateway for being interconnected between a first single protocol transport network SPTN running a first transport provider protocol and a second SPTN running a second transport provider protocol, for receiving from a node connected to said first SPTN a basic link unit BLU having header information conforming to said first protocol, for processing said first protocol BLU to a BLU having header information conforming to said second protocol, and conveying said second protocol BLU to a node connected to said second SPTN, said gateway comprising:

a first SPTN transport provider having means for receiving said first protocol BLU and means for processing said first protocol header information into a general form;

a second SPTN transport provider having means for conveying said second protocol BLU to said second SPTN, and means for processing general form header information into header information conforming to said second protocol; and

an element for providing general gateway services for said first and second SPTN transport providers comprising means for receiving general form header information from said first SPTN transport provider, means for processing said received general form header information, means for creating new general form header information and means for building a multiprotocol transport network MPTN header and means for conveying to said second SPTN transport provider said new general form header information and said MPTN header.

2. The gateway defined in claim 1 wherein said first protocol BLU further has a first protocol BLU MPTN header and said general gateway services element further comprises means for receiving said first protocol BLU MPTN header from said first SPTN transport provider, means for processing said first protocol BLU MPTN header, and means for creating new general form header information based upon said received first protocol BLU MPTN header and means for conveying said new general form header information and said first protocol BLU MPTN header to said second SPTN transport provider.

3. The gateway defined in claim 2 wherein said first protocol BLU MPTN header processing means comprises a routing services element for determining the address of said node on said second SPTN based upon information in said first protocol BLU MPTN header.

4. The gateway defined in claim 2 wherein said first SPTN transport provider further has means for determining whether said first protocol BLU is an MPTN BLU.

5. The gateway defined in claim 1 wherein said first SPTN transport provider further comprises means for conveying said first protocol BLU to said first SPTN and said first protocol header information processing means comprises means for determining whether said first protocol BLU needs to be conveyed to another SPTN or needs to be conveyed to said first SPTN.

6. The gateway defined in claim 1 wherein said general gateway services element further comprises a routing services element for determining the address of said node on said second SPTN based upon said received general form header information.

7. The gateway defined in claim 1 further comprising, in addition to said first SPTN transport provider and said second SPTN transport provider, a plurality of unique SPTN transport providers, different from said first SPTN transport provider, from said second SPTN transport provider and from each other, each for providing an transport provider to an SPTN running a correspondingly unique transport protocol, each unique SPTN transport provider having means for receiving a BLU having header information conforming to said corresponding unique SPTN protocol, means for processing said unique SPTN protocol header information into general form header information, means for receiving from said general gateway services element and processing general form header information into unique protocol header information and means for conveying a unique protocol BLU to said unique SPTN.

8. The gateway defined in claim 1 wherein said general gateway services element further comprises a gateway services element for relaying datagrams from said first SPTN transport provider to said second SPTN transport provider.

9. The gateway defined in claim 8 wherein said gateway further comprises a relay and said gateway services element establishes connections between said first and second SPTN transport providers utilizing said relay.

10. In a gateway for being interconnected between a first SPTN running a first transport provider protocol and a second SPTN running a second protocol, said gateway comprising first and second transport providers for interfacing with said first and second SPTNs and further comprising a general gateway services element for providing gateway services to said first and second transport providers, a method of conveying a basic link unit BLU from said first SPTN to said second SPTN, said received BLU consisting of header information conforming to said first protocol, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving said BLU from said first SPTN in said first transport provider;

in said first transport provider, processing said header information into a general form understood by said general gateway services element;

conveying to said general gateway services element said general form header information;

in said general gateway services element, building a multiprotocol transport network MPTN header;

in said general gateway services element, creating new general form header information based upon said general form header information;

conveying to said second transport provider said MPTN header and said new general form header information; and

in said second transport provider, processing said new general form header information into a header information conforming to said second protocol; and

from said second transport provider, conveying, to said second SPTN, a second protocol BLU having said second protocol header information and said MPTN header.

11. The method defined in claim 10 further comprising, before said MPTN header building step, the step of examining said general form destination address and determining an intermediary address and further wherein, in said building step, said MPTN header is based upon said intermediary address.

12. The method defined in claim 11 wherein said BLU received by said first transport provider further consists of a first transport provider MPTN header of a form understood by said general gateway services element and said building step comprises the steps of examining said received first transport provider MPTN header, determining an intermediary address based upon said first transport provider MPTN header, and creating said new general form header information based on said intermediary address.

13. The method defined in claim 10 wherein said gateway further comprises a relay for establishing a connection through said gateway between said first SPTN and said second SPTN and said received BLU further has a command field conforming to said first protocol, said method further comprising the step, after said destination address processing step, of processing said command field into a general form understood by said general services element, and, before said building step, the step of examining said general form command field and, where said command is a CONNECT command, said building step comprises building a different header MPTN header having an MPTN CONNECT command.

14. The method defined in claim 10 wherein said MPTN header building step comprises the step of determining the address of said node on said second SPTN based upon information in said MPTN header.

15. A gateway for being interconnected between a first single protocol transport network SPTN running a first transport provider protocol and a second SPTN running a second transport provider protocol, for receiving from a multiprotocol transport MPTN node connected to said first SPTN a basic link unit BLU having header information conforming to said first protocol and further having MPTN header information, for processing said first protocol BLU to a BLU having header information conforming to said second protocol, and conveying said second protocol BLU to a native node connected to said second SPTN, said gateway comprising:

a first SPTN transport provider having means for receiving said first protocol BLU and means for processing said first protocol header information into a general form;

a second SPTN transport provider having means for conveying said second protocol BLU to said second SPTN, and means for processing general form header information into header information conforming to said second protocol; and

an element for providing general gateway services for said first and second SPTN transport providers comprising means for receiving general form header information and said MPTN header information from said first SPTN transport provider, means for processing said received general form header information and said MPTN header information, means for creating new general form header information and means for conveying to said second SPTN transport provider said new general form header information.

16. The gateway defined in claim 15 wherein said general gateway services element further comprises means for conveying to said second SPTN transport provider said MPTN header information.

17. The gateway defined in claim 15 wherein said MPTN header processing means comprises a routing services element for determining the address of said node on said second SPTN based upon information in said MPTN header.

18. The gateway defined in claim 15 wherein said first SPTN transport provider further has means for determining whether said first protocol BLU is an MPTN BLU.

19. The gateway defined in claim 15 wherein said first SPTN transport provider further comprises means for conveying said first protocol BLU to said first SPTN and said first protocol header information processing means comprises means for determining whether said first protocol BLU needs to be conveyed to another SPTN or needs to be conveyed to said first SPTN.

20. The gateway defined in claim 15 wherein said general gateway services element further comprises a routing services element for determining the address of said node on said second SPTN based upon said received general form header information.

21. The gateway defined in claim 15 further comprising, in addition to said first SPTN transport provider and said second SPTN transport provider, a plurality of unique SPTN transport providers, different from said first SPTN transport provider, from said second SPTN transport provider and from each other, each for providing an transport provider to an SPTN running a correspondingly unique transport protocol, each unique SPTN transport provider having means for receiving a BLU having header information conforming to said corresponding unique SPTN protocol, means for processing said unique SPTN protocol header information into general form header information, means for receiving from said general gateway services element and processing general form header information into unique protocol header information and means for conveying a unique protocol BLU to said unique SPTN.

22. The gateway defined in claim 15 wherein said general gateway services element further comprises a gateway services element for relaying datagrams from said first SPTN transport provider to said second SPTN transport provider.

23. The gateway defined in claim 22 wherein said gateway further comprises a relay and said gateway services element establishes connections between said first and second SPTN transport providers utilizing said relay.

24. In a gateway for being interconnected between a first single protocol transport network SPTN running a first transport provider protocol and a second SPTN running a second protocol, said gateway comprising first and second transport providers for interfacing with said first and second SPTNs and further comprising a general gateway services element for providing gateway services to said first and second transport providers, a method of conveying a basic link unit BLU from said first SPTN to said second SPTN, said received BLU consisting of header information conforming to said first protocol and further consisting of multiprotocol transport network MPTN header information, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving said BLU from said first SPTN in said first transport provider;

in said first transport provider, processing said header information into a general form understood by said general gateway services element;

conveying to said general gateway services element said general form header information and said MPTN header information;

in said general gateway services element, processing said MPTN header information;

in said general gateway services element, creating new general form header information based upon said general form header information;

conveying to said second transport provider said new general form header information; and

in said second transport provider, processing said new general form header information into a header information conforming to said second protocol; and

from said second transport provider, conveying, to said second SPTN, a second protocol BLU having said second protocol header information.

25. The method defined in claim 24 wherein said MPTN header information processing step comprises the steps of examining said received MPTN header, determining an intermediary address based upon said MPTN header, and creating said new general form header information based upon said intermediary address.

26. The method defined in claim 24 wherein said gateway further comprises a relay for establishing a connection through said gateway between said first SPTN and said second SPTN and said MPTN header information further has an MPTN command field, said MPTN header information processing step further comprising the step of examining said MPTN command field and, where said command is an MPTN CONNECT command, said method further comprising the step of building a general form command field having a general form CONNECT command.

27. The method defined in claim 24 wherein said MPTN header processing step comprises the step of determining the address of said node on said second SPTN based upon information in said MPTN header.