Integrated packet inspection and modification system and network device for internet service provider market research and influence

• US 9,344,341 B1
• Filed: 08/31/2012
• Issued: 05/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Kharitonov, Daniel
• Primary Examiner(s): Daniel, Jr., Willie J
• Application Number:
  US13/601,018
• Time in Patent Office: 1,355 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/028 by filtering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/205 Quality of Service based
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/50 Overload detection or protection within a single switching element

Abstract

A network router includes interfaces to receive packets, a routing engine that executes a routing protocol to maintain routing information specifying routes through a network, a packet forwarding engine forward the packets to the interfaces in accordance with the routing information, one or more advertising engine service cards comprising a packet inspection engine and an advertising engine control unit, and a set of dynamic filters that identify packets for inspection by the packet inspection engine based on characteristics of the packet. The filters direct any matching ones of the packets from the packet forwarding engine to the packet inspection engine within the advertising engine service card, and the packet inspection engine analyzes the packets to extract information from the packets based on configured advertising engine policies. The advertising engine control unit outputs commands to dynamically add and delete filters from the set of dynamic filters.

Claims

1. A network router comprising:

a plurality of interfaces configured to send and receive packets;

a routing component that executes a routing protocol to maintain routing information specifying routes through a network;

a forwarding component configured by the routing component to apply forwarding information to select next hops for the packets and forward the packets to the interfaces in accordance with the routing information;

one or more advertising engine service cards comprising a packet inspection engine, a packet modification engine, and an advertising engine control unit;

wherein the forwarding component stores a set of dynamic filters that identify packets for inspection by the packet inspection engine based on characteristics of the packet,

wherein the forwarding component applies the set of dynamic filters to the received packets and directs any matching ones of the packets from the forwarding component to the packet inspection engine within the advertising engine service card,

wherein the packet inspection engine of the advertising engine service card analyzes the packets to extract information from the packets based on configured advertising engine policies; and

wherein, based on the inspection by the packet inspection engine, the packet modification engine modifies one or more of the packets by rewriting application-layer data contained within a payload of each of the packets to insert at least one advertisement within the application-layer data.

2. The network router of claim 1, wherein the packet modification engine modifies one or more of the packets in accordance with a policy based on the inspection by the packet inspection engine, wherein the policy is configured by a user via a user interface.

3. The network router of claim 1, wherein the packet inspection engine buffers the packets and reassembles an application layer communication based on a plurality of received packets in a packet flow session.

4. The network router of claim 3, wherein the packet modification engine modifies the application layer communication by inserting, modifying or removing one or more packets that make up the application layer communication so as to insert the at least one advertisement in the application layer communication.

5. The network router of claim 1, wherein applying the set of dynamic filters comprises:

for a first time period, applying a first set of dynamic filters that matches a first set of packets, and wherein the packet modification modifies the first set of packets by rewriting application-layer data contained within a payload of each of the first set of packets to insert at least one advertisement within the application-layer data;

modifying the set of dynamic filters to replace the first set of dynamic filters with a second set of dynamic filters that matches a second set of packets

for a second time period, applying the second set of dynamic filters, wherein the packet modification modifies the second set of packets by rewriting application-layer data contained within a payload of each of the second set of packets to insert at least one advertisement within the application-layer data.

6. The network router of claim 1, wherein the first set of dynamic filters matches a first set of source Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of customers, and wherein the second set of dynamic filters matches a second set of source Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of customers.

7. The network router of claim 1,

wherein the advertising engine control unit comprises a software application interface that is responsive to pluggable software installed on the advertising engine control unit, and

wherein the pluggable software presents a user interface that allows a user to configure the advertising engine policies and the dynamic filters applied by the forwarding component.

8. The network router of claim 7, wherein the pluggable software allows the user to request a report based on the information extracted from the received packets, and wherein the pluggable software generates the reports based on the request.

9. The network router of claim 7, wherein the pluggable software compiles a marketing database based on the information extracted from the received packets.

10. The network router of claim 1, wherein the packet inspection engine of the advertising engine service card performs market research analysis on the packets based on one of a keyword search of the packets, a fixed offset search of the packets, and an information correlation between fields of the packets.

11. The network router of claim 1, wherein the forwarding component comprises at least one stage of a switch fabric to forward the modified packets to the interfaces based on the selected next hops.

12. The network router of claim 1, wherein the routing component routes the modified packets in accordance with the routing protocol.

13. The network router of claim 1, wherein the dynamic filter matches packets based on information contained within a header of the received packet, and specifies an action to be performed on a matching packet.

14. The network router of claim 1, wherein at least one of the dynamic filters includes a rate-limiting filter term that directs the forwarding component to direct matching ones of the packets from the forwarding component to the packet inspection engine when a rate at which the matching ones of the packets is received is below a threshold, and directs the forwarding component to drop the matching ones of the packets when the rate exceeds the threshold.

15. The network router of claim 1, wherein at least one of the dynamic filters includes a filter that specifies a time period during which the filter is to be applied by the network router.

16. A method comprising:

receiving packets at a plurality of interfaces of a router;

maintaining routing information specifying routes through a network by executing a routing protocol at a routing component of the router;

selecting next hops for the packets within the network with a forwarding component configured by the routing component;

forwarding the packets to the interfaces in accordance with the routing information;

storing a set of dynamic filters with the forwarding component, wherein the dynamic filters identify packets for inspection by a packet inspection engine configured on an advertising engine service card of the router based on characteristics of the packets;

applying the set of dynamic filters to the received packets;

directing any matching ones of the packets from the forwarding component to the packet inspection engine within the advertising engine service card;

by the packet inspection engine of the advertising engine service card, analyzing the packets to extract information from the packets based on configured advertising engine policies; and

by a packet modification engine of the advertising engine service card, modifying one or more of the packets by rewriting application-layer data contained within a payload of each of the packets to insert at least one advertisement within the application-layer data.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein modifying comprises modifying the one or more of the packets in accordance with a policy based on the inspection by the packet inspection engine, wherein the policy is configured by a user via a user interface.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein applying the set of dynamic filters to the received packets comprises matching packets based on information contained within a header of the received packets, and specifying an action to be performed on the matching packets.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising presenting a user interface with a pluggable software that allows a user to configure the advertising engine policies and the dynamic filters applied by the forwarding component.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising forwarding the modified packets to the interfaces based on the selected next hops using at least one stage of a switch fabric.

21. The method of claim 16, further comprising compiling a marketing database based on the information extracted from the received packets.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein analyzing the packets comprises performing market research analysis on the packets for market research purposes based on one of a keyword search of the packets, a fixed offset search of the packets, and an information correlation between fields of the packets.

23. A method comprising:

receiving packets at a plurality of interfaces of a router;

maintaining routing information specifying routes through a network by executing a routing protocol at a routing component of the router;

selecting next hops for the packets within the network with a forwarding component configured by the routing component;

forwarding the packets to the interfaces in accordance with the routing information;

storing a set of dynamic filters with the forwarding component, wherein the dynamic filters identify packets for inspection by a packet inspection engine configured on an advertising engine service card of the router based on characteristics of the packets;

applying the set of dynamic filters to the received packets;

directing any matching ones of the packets from the forwarding component to the packet inspection engine within the advertising engine service card;

by the packet inspection engine of the advertising engine service card, analyzing the packets to extract information from the packets based on configured advertising engine policies; and

by the packet inspection engine of the advertising engine service card, compiling extracted information from the packets, wherein the information comprises a source Internet Protocol (IP) address of each of the packets;

by the advertising engine service card, matching the source IP address to billing address information of a customer associated with the source IP address.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising providing at least a portion of the billing address information to a third party for targeted marketing activity.

25. A network switch comprising:

a plurality of interfaces configured to send and receive packets;

a forwarding plane that makes forwarding decisions to select next hops for the packets and forward the packets to the interfaces in accordance with the selected next hops;

one or more advertising engine service cards comprising a packet inspection engine and an advertising engine control unit;

wherein the forwarding plane stores a set of dynamic filters that identify packets for inspection by the packet inspection engine based on characteristics of the packet,

wherein the forwarding plane applies the set of dynamic filters to the received packets and directs any matching ones of the packets from the forwarding plane to the packet inspection engine within the advertising engine service card,

wherein the packet inspection engine of the advertising engine service cards analyzes the packets to extract information from the packets based on configured advertising engine policies, and

wherein, based on the inspection by the packet inspection engine, the packet modification engine modifies one or more of the packets by rewriting application-layer data contained within a payload of each of the packets to insert at least one advertisement within the application-layer data.

26. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions for causing a programmable processor to:

receive packets at a plurality of interfaces of a router;

maintain routing information specifying routes through a network by executing a routing protocol on a control unit of a routing component of the router;

select next hops for the packets within the network with a forwarding component configured by the routing component;

forward the packets to the interfaces in accordance with the routing information;

store a set of dynamic filters with the forwarding component, wherein the dynamic filters identify packets for inspection by a packet inspection engine configured on an advertising engine service card of the router based on characteristics of the packets;

apply the set of dynamic filters to the received packets;

direct any matching ones of the packets from the forwarding component to the packet inspection engine within the advertising engine service card;

analyze the packets to extract information from the packets based on configured advertising engine policies; and

modify one or more of the packets by rewriting application-layer data contained within a payload of each of the packets to insert at least one advertisement within the application-layer data.