Method and apparatus for supporting communications between a computing device within a network and an external computing device
First Claim
1. A method for determining whether a first computing system within a protected network can communicate with an external computing system, said method comprising:
- receiving a registration request from at least one of said first and external computing systems;
testing, by a registrar that is positioned outside said protected network, whether at least one of the first computing system and the external computing system is publicly addressable by comparing address information indicated by said at least one of said first and external computing systems with address information indicated in a message received from said at least one of said first and external computing systems in order to determine whether said at least one of said first and external computing systems is behind a network address translator (NAT);
initiating a creation of a persistent connection between said computing system and a proxy server if said computing system is not publicly addressable; and
recording an address of said proxy server for said computing system if said computing system is not publicly addressable.
26 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A network communication bridge establishes communication between a computing system within a protected network and an external computing system. A registrar is positioned outside the protected network and registers authorized users. The registrar determines if the computing device associated with the user is publicly addressable, and for those computing devices that are not publicly addressable, the computing device maintains a persistent communication session with a bridge proxy server. The bridge proxy server employs a reversal or relaying technique to enable communication between two systems that cannot ordinarily establish communication with each other, based on characteristics of the two systems. If at least one party to a communication is publicly addressable, then a reversal technique is employed. If neither party to the communication is publicly addressable, then both parties have a persistent session with their respective bridge proxy server, and the bridge proxy server acts as a “relay service” for communications between the initiator and the recipient. The invention can be implemented as a separate application or as an enhancement to the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method for determining whether a first computing system within a protected network can communicate with an external computing system, said method comprising:
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receiving a registration request from at least one of said first and external computing systems; testing, by a registrar that is positioned outside said protected network, whether at least one of the first computing system and the external computing system is publicly addressable by comparing address information indicated by said at least one of said first and external computing systems with address information indicated in a message received from said at least one of said first and external computing systems in order to determine whether said at least one of said first and external computing systems is behind a network address translator (NAT); initiating a creation of a persistent connection between said computing system and a proxy server if said computing system is not publicly addressable; and recording an address of said proxy server for said computing system if said computing system is not publicly addressable. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A system for determining whether a first computing system within a protected network can communicate with an external computing system, said system comprising:
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a memory that stores computer-readable code; and a processor operatively coupled to said memory, said processor configured to implement said computer-readable code, said computer-readable code configured to; receive a registration request from at least one of said first and external computing systems; testing, by a registrar that is positioned outside said protected network, whether at least one of the first computing system and the external computing system is publicly addressable by comparing address information indicated by said at least one of said first and external computing systems with address information indicated in a message received from said at least one of said first and external computing systems in order to determine whether said at least one of said first and external computing systems is behind a network address translator (NAT); initiating a creation of a persistent connection between said computing system and a proxy server if said computing system is not publicly addressable; and recording an address of said proxy server for said computing system if said computing system is not publicly addressable. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. An article of manufacture for determining whether a first computing system within a protected network can communicate with an external computing system, said article of manufacture comprising:
computer readable hardware having computer readable code embodied thereon, wherein said computer readable program code instructs a processor to; receive a registration request from at least one of said first and external computing systems; test, by a registrar that is positioned outside said protected network, whether at least one of the first computing system and the external computing system is publicly addressable, by comparing address information, indicated by said at least one of the first computing system and the external computing system, with address information indicated in a message received from said at least one of the first computing system and the external computing system in order to determine whether said at least one of said first and external computing systems is behind a network address translator (NAT); initiate a creation of a persistent connection between said computing system and a proxy server if said computing system is not publicly addressable; and record an address of said proxy server for said computing system if said computing system is not publicly addressable.
Specification