System and method for establishing a virtual private network of a mobile device through a preferred network

• US 9,674,149 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2014
• Issued: 06/06/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tiger, Roi, Elishayov, Gadi, Friedman, Eran, Tubi, Lior
• Primary Examiner(s): Hussain, Imad
• Application Number:
  US14/207,457
• Publication Number:
  US 20140280797A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,182 Days
• Field of Search: 709220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks

Abstract

A system and method may handle the supervision of the connectivity of a virtual private network (VPN) of a mobile device that is configured to connect through a plurality of network interfaces. A server may configure the mobile device to send a request for data item. The server may track the response of the mobile device to the request. According to one embodiment, the VPN may not be connected through a preferred network interface, while such interface is available. In such case, the data item may be routed through the preferred network and therefore not received by the VPN server within a predetermined period of time. According to another embodiment, the server may identify an internal IP address of the data item. The server may be configured to determine the current network interface based on the internal IP address. The server may disconnect the VPN to permit the VPN to reconnect through the preferred network interface.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a request at a server to establish a virtual private network (VPN) of a mobile device;

configuring the mobile device by the server to send a request for a data item through the VPN;

determining that the VPN is connected to a network interface of the mobile device other than a certain type of network interface when the request for the data item is not received by the server;

determining whether the VPN is connected to the certain type of network interface when the request for the data item is received by the server; and

disconnecting the VPN from a current network interface when the VPN is not connected to the certain type of network interface to permit the VPN to reconnect to the preferred network interface.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the received request for the data item includes a data item accompanied by an IP address generated through a domain name system (DNS.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the IP address is updated each time the data item is received to prevent caching.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, determining that the VPN is connected to a network interface of the mobile device other than the certain type of network interface when the request for the data item is not received by the server within a predetermined period of time.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device configuration further comprising causing the mobile device to use a proxy auto-config (PAC) when searching for at least one proxy as a result of the request for the data item.

6. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining in a database one or more of a type of the network interface used for the VPN or a received data item.

7. An article comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed on a computing device, performs a computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a request at a server to establish a virtual private network (VPN) of a mobile device;

configuring the mobile device by the server to send a request for a data item through the VPN;

determining that the VPN is connected to a network interface of the mobile device other than a certain type of network interface when the request for the data item is not received by the server;

determining whether the VPN is connected to the certain type of network interface when the request for the data item is received by the server; and

disconnecting the VPN from a current network interface when the VPN is not connected to the certain type of network interface to permit the VPN to reconnect to the certain type of network interface.

8. A system comprising:

a memory including executable instructions; and

a processor communicatively connected to the memory, the processor is configured to execute the instructions, thereby causing the processor to;

receive a request at a server to establish a virtual private network (VPN) of a mobile device;

configure the mobile device by the server to send a request for a data item through the VPN;

determine that the VPN is connected to a network interface of the mobile device other than a certain type of network interface when the request for the data item is not received by the server;

determine whether the VPN is connected to the certain type of network interface when the request for the data item is received by the server; and

disconnect the VPN from a current network interface when the VPN is not connected to the certain type of network interface to permit the VPN to reconnect to the certain type of network interface.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the the received request for the data item includes a data item accompanied by an IP address generated through a domain name system (DNS.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the IP address is updated each time the data item is received to prevent caching.

11. The system of claim 8, further comprising, determining that the VPN is connected to a network interface of the mobile device other than the certain type of network interface when the request for the data item is not received by the server within a predetermined period of time.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the mobile device configuration further comprising causing the mobile device to use a proxy auto-config (PAC) when searching for at least one proxy as a result of the request for the data item.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one mobile device is any of a smartphone or a tablet personal computer (PC).

14. The system of claim 8, wherein a network interface is to a wireless network, a cellular network, a wired network, or a combination thereof.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the cellular network is any of a code division multiple accesses (CDMA), a global system for mobile communications (GSM), a 3^rd generation mobile telecommunications (3G), or a long-term evolution (LTE) cellular network.

16. The system of claim 8, further comprising a database for maintaining one or more of a type of the network interface used for the VPN or a received data item.

17. A computer-implemented method comprising:

establishing data traffic with a server through a VPN of a mobile device;

identifying by the server one or more data items transmitted through the VPN of the mobile device;

analyzing, by the server, the one or more data items to identify an internal IP address of the one or more data items;

determining whether the VPN is connected to a certain type of network interface of the mobile device based upon the internal IP address; and

disconnecting the VPN from a current network interface when the VPN is not connected to the certain type of network interface to permit the VPN to reconnect to the certain type of network interface.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the internal IP address is changed when a type type of network interface through which the mobile device is changed.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, further comprising:

maintaining a type of network interface used for the VPN in a database for further use.