Method and apparatus for tunneling data through a single port

• US 7,406,533 B2
• Filed: 10/08/2003
• Issued: 07/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Nelson, Steve, Yim, Wai, Li, Chia-Hsin
• Primary Examiner(s): Cardone; Jason
• Assistant Examiner(s): Liu; Lin
• Application Number:
  US10/681,523
• Publication Number:
  US 20050080919A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,756 Days
• Field of Search: 709/236, 370/395.52
• US Class Current: 709/236
• 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 69/161 Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/163 In-band adaptation of TCP data exchange; In-band control procedures

Abstract

A communication protocol stack for enabling multimedia communication between communicating devices where multiple port communication data is tunneled through a single TCP port is provided. The communication protocol stack includes, at an application level, the capability to identify whether received communication data is for a communication port. If the received communication data is for the communication port, then the communication protocol stack includes the ability to forward identification data regarding the received communication data to a table in advance of forwarding the received communication data to a driver level of the communication protocol stack. A method, computer readable medium, and a system for tunneling port traffic through a single HTTP port are also provided.

Claims

1. A tangible computer readable storage medium having program instructions for communicating port traffic through a single Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) port, comprising:

a) program instructions for establishing a connection between a first and second computing device;

b) program instructions for transmitting allocation data associated with the port traffic to a tunneling driver;

c) program instructions for segmenting the port traffic into datagrams;

d) program instructions for appending a first header to each one of the datagrams; and

e) program instructions for appending a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) header over the first header, the program instructions for appending a TCP/IP header including,

program instructions for inserting a flag into a lower byte of a window size field of the TCP/IP header; and

program instructions for inserting a checksum into an upper byte of the window size field of the TCP/IP header,

wherein the TCP/IP header is configured to direct each one of the datagrams to the single HTTP port.

2. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the connection is a TCP connection and the single HTTP port is port 80.

3. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the program instructions for transmitting allocation data includes,

program instructions for defining a port number and a protocol type associated with the port traffic.

4. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the first header is one of a TOP header and a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) header.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the method operation of registering identification data associated with the library call is done prior to advancing data associated with the library call from an application level of a protocol stack of the packet based multimedia communication standard to a driver level of the packet based multimedia communication standard.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the flag and checksum identify the data packet as a connectionless TCP/IP packet.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the TCP/IP header flag is set as SYN if a client initiates a connection behind the firewall, and the TCP/IP header flag is set as SYN+ACK if a server responds back to the client.

5. A method for communicating port traffic through a single Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) port, comprising:

a) establishing a connection between a first and second computing device;

b) transmitting allocation data associated with the port traffic to a tunneling driver;

c) segmenting the port traffic into datagrams;

d) appending a first header to each one of the datagrams; and

e) appending a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) header over the first header, the method operation of appending a TCP/IP header including,

inserting a flag into a lower byte of a window size field of the TCP/IP header; and

inserting a checksum into an upper byte of the window size field of the TCP/IP header,

wherein the TCP/IP header is configured to direct each one of the datagrams to the single HTTP port.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the connection is a TCP connection and the single HTTP port is port 80.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the method operation of transmitting allocation data includes,

defining a port number and a protocol type associated with the port traffic.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

setting a SYN flag in the TCP/IP header for initiation of the connection from behind a firewall; and

setting SYN+ACK flags in the TCP/IP header for responses to the initiation of the connection from outside of the firewall.

9. A tangible computer readable storage medium having program instructions for tunneling data associated with a packet based multimedia communication standard, comprising:

program instructions for intercepting a library call associated with the multimedia communication standard;

program instructions for registering identification data associated with the library call;

program instructions for adding a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) header over a pre-existing header of a data packet related to the identification data, the program instructions for adding a TCP/IP header including,

program instructions for inserting a flag into a lower byte of a window size field of the TCP/IP header; and

program instructions for inserting a checksum into an upper byte of the window size field of the TCP/IP header; and

program instructions for transmitting the data packet having the (TCP/IP) header through a firewall.

10. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the program instructions for operation of registering identification data associated with the library call includes,

program instructions for checking if a port number and a protocol type are defined in a table;

and

program instructions for adding the port number and the protocol type to the table.

11. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the port number is port 80 and the protocol type is a TCP.

12. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the identification data includes a port number and a protocol type associated with the data packet.

13. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the program instructions for registering identification data associated with the library call are completed prior to advancing data associated with the library call from an application level of a protocol stack of the packet based multimedia communication standard to a driver level of the packet based multimedia communication standard.

14. A method for tunneling data associated with a packet based multimedia communication standard, comprising:

intercepting a library call associated with the multimedia communication standard;

registering identification data associated with the library call;

adding a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) header over a pre-existing header of a data packet related to the identification data, the method operation of adding a TCP/IP header including,

inserting a flag into a lower byte of a window size field of the TCP/IP header; and

inserting a checksum into an upper byte of the window size field of the TCP/IP header; and

transmitting the data packet having the (TCP/IP) header through a firewall.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the method operation of registering identification data associated with the library call includes,

checking if a port number and a protocol type are defined in a table;

if the port number and the protocol type are not defined in the table, the method includes,

adding the port number and the protocol type to the table.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the port number is port 80 and the protocol type is a TCP.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the identification data includes a port number and a protocol type associated with the data packet.

21. A system for tunneling port traffic destined for multiple ports through a single port, comprising:

a server configured to transmit data packets each having a tunneling header in addition to a packet header;

a firewall limiting a number of unblocked TOP ports, the firewall capable of analyzing the tunneling header, wherein the tunneling header is associated with the single port so that the firewall allows the data packets to pass through; and

a client configured to receive the data packets from the firewall through the single port, the client further configured to identify a flag and a checksum associated with the tunneling header in order to strip the tunneling header for access to the packet header, wherein the flag and the checksum are incorporated into a lower byte and a upper byte of a window size field of the tunneling header respectively.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the packet header is a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packet header.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the single port is hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) port 80.

24. A communication method utilizing protocol stack for enabling multimedia communication between communicating devices, comprising:

at an application level, identifying whether received communication data is for a communication port; and

if the received communication data is for the communication port, forwarding identification data regarding the received communication data to a table in advance of forwarding the received communication data to a driver level of the communication protocol stack, wherein a tunneling driver associated with the driver level inserts a tunneling header over a header of the communication data when the communication data is for the communication port, wherein the method operation of inserting a tunneling header includes,

inserting a flag into a lower byte of a window size field of the tunneling header; and

inserting a checksum into an upper byte of the window size field of the tunneling header.

25. The communication protocol stack of claim 24, further comprising:

forwarding the communication data to the driver level; and

checking whether the identification data associated with the communication data is listed in the table.

26. The communication protocol stack of claim 25, further comprising:

incorporating a firewall Internet protocol address and a firewall port number into the tunneling header.