Default internet traffic and transparent passthrough

• US 8,077,738 B2
• Filed: 06/23/2008
• Issued: 12/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhang, Shujin, Chu, Jie, Dos Santos, Maria Alice
• Primary Examiner(s): Phillips, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jones, Prenell P
• Application Number:
  US12/144,551
• Publication Number:
  US 20080256620A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,268 Days
• Field of Search: 370/254, 370/401, 370/338, 370/351, 370/390, 370/392, 370/389, 370/352, 370/400, 370/395, 370/248, 370/252, 370/382, 709/229, 709/223, 709/213, 709/214, 709/217, 709/238, 709/222, 379/121, 455/433, 455/435, 455/422, 455/432, 455/436, 455/522, 713/1, 705/1
• US Class Current: 370/466
• 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 45/308 Route determination based on user's profile, e.g. premium users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/20 Traffic policing
• 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 69/165 Combined use of TCP and UDP protocols; selection criteria therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/169 Special adaptations of TCP, UDP or IP for interworking of IP based networks with other networks protocols for interworking, protocol conversion H04L69/08

Abstract

A method for routing packets sent from a user to the internet is provided for systems in which the user is connected to a private network. The method includes: extracting a source network address from the packet; using said source network address to retrieve a user profile for the user; examining said user profile to determine whether to route the packet through the private network or to route the packet directly to the Internet; and routing said packet according to said profile. This allows a user or network provider to choose whether to route packets destined for the Internet directly to the Internet rather than through the private network, thus preventing excessive network traffic on the private network.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining whether a device has logged on to a gateway having connections to a private network and to an Internet, wherein a user profile is associated with the device; and

routing a packet according to a global flag, the global flag indicating whether to route the packet to the Internet directly or through the private network, the packet sent from the device to the Internet.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user profile corresponds to multiple users in a group.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the user profile is retrieved from an authentication server.

4. A program storage device readable by a computer, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the computer to perform a method, the method comprising:

determining whether a device has logged on to a gateway having connections to a private network and to an Internet, wherein a user profile is associated with the device; and

routing a packet according to a global flag, the global flag indicating whether to route the packet to the Internet directly or through the private network, the packet sent from the device to the Internet.

5. The program storage device of claim 4, wherein the user profile corresponds to multiple users in a group.

6. The program storage device of claim 4, wherein the user profile is retrieved from an authentication server.

7. An apparatus comprising:

means for determining whether a device has logged on to a gateway having connections to a private network and to an Internet, wherein a user profile is associated with the device; and

means for routing a packet according to a global flag the global flag indicating whether to route the packet to the Internet directly or through the private network, the packet sent from the device to the Internet.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the user profile corresponds to multiple users in a group.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the user profile is retrieved from an authentication server.

10. An apparatus for routing a packet sent from a device to the Internet, the device connected to a private network, including:

a global flag examiner configured to examine a global flag to determine whether to route the packet through the private network or to route the packet directly to the Internet if the device has not logged on to a gateway device having connections to the private network and to the Internet, wherein a user profile is associated with the device, and the packet is routed according to the global flag if the device has not logged on to the gateway device.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the user profile corresponds to multiple users in a group.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the user profile is retrieved from an authentication server.

13. A network device apparatus for routing comprising:

an input interface;

an output interface;

a processor which executes instructions that cause the processor to;

determining whether a device has logged on to a gateway having connections to a private network and to an Internet, wherein a user profile is associated with the device; and

routing a packet according to a global flag, the global flag indicating whether to route the packet to the Internet directly or through the private network, the packet sent from the device to the Internet.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the user profile corresponds to multiple users in a group.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the user profile is retrieved from an authentication server.