Device, system, method and computer readable medium for fast recovery of IP address change

• US 7,016,334 B2
• Filed: 05/09/2003
• Issued: 03/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: FCO V CLO Transferor LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: IXI Mobile (R&D) Ltd. (IXI Mobile, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cohen, Alon, Haller, Amit, Fornell, Peter, Itzchak, Avraham, Haparnas, Ziv
• Primary Examiner(s): Hsu, Alpus H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Philpott, Justin M.
• Application Number:
  US10/435,098
• Publication Number:
  US 20040008653A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,047 Days
• Field of Search: 370/338, 370/395.2, 455/426, 455/556, 455/557
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44526 Plug-ins; Add-ons
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/56 Packet switching systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2514 between local and global IP addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5084 Providing for device mobility network addressing or numbering for mobility support in wireless networks H04W8/26; mobile IP H04W80/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/02 for separating internal from external traffic, e.g. firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/14 using intermediate storage
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/02 Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/245 from a network towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/02 : Inter-networking arrangements

Abstract

A device, method, system and computer readable medium allows for a fast recovery of a communication connection in response to a newly assigned Wide Area Network (“WAN”) Internet protocol (“IP”) source address. In an embodiment of the present invention, a device provides communication between a WAN and a short distance wireless network. The device comprises a memory to store a first and a second WAN address for the device and a router software component. The processor and router software component transfers a first plurality of packets between the device and the wide area network using the first wide area network address. The processor and router software component discontinues the transfer of the first plurality of packets responsive to receiving the second wide area network address and transfers a second plurality of packets between the device and the wide area network using the second wide area network address. The second newly assigned WAN address may have been assigned by the WAN after a disconnection of communication between the device and a server in the WAN. In an embodiment of the present invention, the router software includes a plurality of private IP addresses for respective terminals, in the short distance wireless network, associated with the WAN IP address. In an embodiment of the present invention, a Point-to-Point (“PPP”) connection or Transfer Control Protocol (“TCP”) connection is discontinued and then initiated in response to a newly assigned WAN IP address in order to quickly recover a communication connection between terminals in the short distance wireless network and the WAN.

Claims

1. A device to provide communication between a wide area network and a short distance wireless network, comprising:

a memory to store a first wide area network address, a second wide area network address and a router software component;

a processor coupled to the memory; and

,

wherein the processor and the router software component transfers a first plurality of packets between the device and the wide area network using the first wide area network address, and wherein the processor and the router software component discontinues the transfer of the first plurality of packets responsive to receiving the second wide area network address and transferring a second plurality of packets between the device and the wide area network using the second wide area network address,

wherein the first and second wide area network addresses are provided by the wide area network,

wherein the second wide area network address is received after a temporary disconnection between the wide area network and the device.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the wide area network includes a cellular network.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the device transfers the plurality of packets between the device and the wide area network using a Point-to-Point Protocol (“

PPP”

) connection.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein the transfer discontinues by terminating the PPP connection.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the device transfers the plurality of packets between the device and the wide area network using a Transmission Control Protocol (“

TCP”

) connection.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein the transfer discontinues by terminating the TCP connection.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the router software component includes a network address translator (“

NAT”

) component to translate between the first wide area network address and the short distance wireless network address.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the transfer of the first plurality of packets includes providing a TCP connection and the discontinue transfer of the plurality of packets includes disconnecting the TCP connection.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the router software component includes a network address port translation (“

NAPT”

) component to translate between the first wide area network address and the short distance wireless network address.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the wide area network includes a plurality of public IP addresses including the first and second wide area network addresses and the short distance wireless network includes a plurality of private IP addresses, and wherein the router software component translates a first IP address in the plurality of public IP addresses to a second IP address in the plurality of private IP addresses.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the device further includes a Bluetooth™

processor and a 2.4 GHZ transceiver.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein the short distance wireless network is a Bluetooth™

wireless local area network.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein the short distance wireless network is an 802.11 wireless local area network.

14. A method for transferring information between a wide area network and a short distance wireless network, comprising the steps of:

obtaining a first wide area network address from the wide area network for a first device in the short distance wireless network;

storing the first wide area network address in the first device;

transferring a first plurality of packets, using the first wide area network address, between the first device and the wide area network;

obtaining a second wide area network address from the wide area network for the first device, wherein the second wide area network address is obtained after a temporary disconnection between the first device and the wide area network;

storing the second wide area network address in the first device;

discontinuing the transferring of the first plurality of packets in response to the step of obtaining the second wide area network address; and

,

transferring a second plurality of packets, using the second wide area network address, between the first device and the wide area network.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of transferring the first plurality of packets includes a step of providing a PPP connection.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of transferring the first plurality of packets includes the step of providing a TCP connection.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the first and second wide area network addresses are IP source addresses.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the wide area network includes a cellular network providing dynamic wide area network addresses including the first and second wide area network addresses.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the storing steps include storing the first and second network addresses in a NAT software component.

20. A system for providing communication between a wide area network and a short distance wireless network, comprising:

a hand-held wireless device, including;

a cellular transceiver to communicate with the wide area network, including to receive a first and second IP address for the hand-held wireless device;

a memory, coupled to the transceiver, to store the first and second IP address;

a routing software component, stored in the memory, to transfer a first plurality of packets, using the first IP address, between the wide area network and the short distance wireless network and to discontinue the transfer of the first plurality of packets and transfer a second plurality of packets using the second IP address in response to receiving the second IP address, after a temporary disconnect between the wide area network and the short distance wireless network; and

,

a first wireless device to transfer the first and second plurality of packets to the hand-held wireless device, wherein the first wireless device has a first private network address.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the routing software component transfers the first and second plurality of packets using a PPP protocol and discontinues the transfer by terminating a PPP connection.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the routing software component transfers the first and second plurality of packets using a TCP protocol and discontinues the transfer by terminating the TCP connection.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the first wireless device is selected from a group consisting of a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a personal digital assistant, a headset, a pager, a pen, a printer, a watch, a digital camera and an equivalent.

24. The system of claim 20, wherein the hand-held wireless device uses a Global System for Mobile communications (“

GSM”

) protocol to communicate with the wide area network.

25. The system of claim 20, wherein the hand-held wireless device uses a Code Division Multiple Access (“

CDMA”

) protocol to communicate with the wide area network.

26. The system of claim 20, wherein the hand-held wireless device uses a CDMA2000 protocol to communicate with the wide area network.

27. The system of claim 20, wherein the hand-held wireless device uses a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (“

UMTS”

) protocol to communicate with the wide area network.

28. The system of claim 20, wherein the hand-held wireless device uses a Time Division Multiple Access (“

TDMA”

) protocol to communicate with the wide area network.

29. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

a second wireless device to transfer a third plurality of packets to the hand-held wireless device, wherein the second wireless device has a second private network address.

30. An article of manufacture, including a computer readable medium, comprising:

a short-range radio software component to provide a short-range radio signal in a short distance wireless network;

a cellular software component to provide a communication signal in a wide area network; and

,

a routing software component to transfer a first plurality of packets, using a first wide area network address, between the wide area network and the short distance wireless network and to discontinue the transfer of the first plurality of packets and transfer a second plurality of packets using a second wide area network address in response to receiving the second wide area network address after a temporary disconnection between the wide area network and the short distance wireless network.

31. The article of manufacture of claim 30, wherein the first and second wide area network addresses are IP source addresses.

32. The article of manufacture of claim 30, wherein the routing software component establishes a PPP connection to transfer the first and second plurality of packets.

33. The article of manufacture of claim 30, wherein the routing software component establishes a TCP connection to transfer the first and second plurality of packets.