SOFTWARE ROUTER FACILITATING NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN DEVICES UTILIZING VIRTUAL NETWORK CONNECTIONS

• US 20120017008A1
• Filed: 09/23/2011
• Published: 01/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dispersive Holdings Incorporated (Dispersive Networks, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Robert W. Twitchell Jr
• Inventors: Twitchell, Robert W. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 8,447,882 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/238
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/56 Packet switching systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/586 of virtual routers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/17 Interaction among intermediate nodes, e.g. hop by hop
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/06 Message adaptation to terminal or network requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/32 Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/325 in the network layer [OSI layer 3], e.g. X.25 H04L69/16 takes precedence

Abstract

A method includes communicating, by a first device, a request to a server to engage in communications with a second device; communicating, by the server, the request received from the first device to the second device; communicating, by the second device, acceptance to the server; communicating information associated with a third device to the first device; using a virtual network connection of the first device, establishing network communications with the third device; communicating information associated with the third device to the second device; using a virtual network connection of the second device, establishing network communications with the third device, wherein the third device is configured to act as a switch and provide cross-connect functionality between the first virtual network connection of the first device and the second virtual network connection of the second device.

Claims

1. A method of providing network communications between first and second end-user devices, comprising the steps of:

(a) communicating, by a first end-user device, a request to a server to engage in communications with a second end-user device;

(b) communicating, by the server, the request received from the first end-user device to the second end-user device;

(c) communicating, by the second end-user device, acceptance to the server of the request to engage in communications with the first end-user device;

(d) communicating information associated with a third device to the first end-user device;

(e) using a virtual network connection of the first end-user device, establishing network communications with the third device using received information associated with the third device;

(f) communicating information associated with the third device to the second end-user device;

(g) using a virtual network connection of the second end-user device, establishing network communications with the third device using received information associated with the third device, wherein the third device is configured to act as a switch and provide cross-connect functionality between the first virtual network connection of the first end-user device and the second virtual network connection of the second end-user device;

(i) communicating, from the first end-user device using the first virtual network connection, a packet to the third device; and

(j) communicating, from the third device, the packet to the second end-user device via the second virtual network connection.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of communicating information associated with the third device to the first end-user device comprises communicating an IP address of the third device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of communicating information associated with the third device to the second end-user device comprises communicating an IP address of the third device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of establishing a first network connection with the third device using the information associated with the third device comprises selecting a routing protocol from among a plurality of available routing protocols for communicating data using virtualized network capabilities of the first end-user device, and wherein said step (i) comprises communicating the packet using the selected routing protocol.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of available routing protocols includes the Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP), the Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), and the Constrained Shortest Path First (CSPF) protocol.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of establishing a network connection with the third device using the information associated with the third device comprises selecting an initial node to which to transmit for communication with the third device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said step of selecting an initial node comprises selecting an initial node based at least partially on network information stored at the first end-user device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the method further includes a step of querying one or more nodes of a network for the network information.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the method further includes receiving the network information from the one or more nodes and generating a routing table based on the network information.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual machine is spawned in response to a request for a network connection from an application running on the first end-user device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the application is a computer game.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first end-user device comprises a computer.

13. The method of claim 1,w herein the first end-user device comprises a mobile phone.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second end-user devices are the same type of device.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the third device is an end-user device.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the third device is a computer.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the third device is a mobile phone.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the third device is the same type of device as the first end-user device.

19. A method of transferring data between first and second end-user devices via network communications, comprising the steps of:

(a) first,

(i) communicating by the first end-user device, to a server, network contact information of the first end-user device, and

(ii) communicating by the second end-user device, to the server, network contact information of the second end-user device; and

(b) thereafter, communicating data from the first end-user device to the second end-user device by,

(i) communicating, by the first end-user device, a request to the server to engage in communications with the second end-user device by the first end-user device,

(ii) communicating, by the server, the request received from the first end-user device to the second end-user device,

(iii) communicating, by the second end-user device, acceptance to the server of the request to engage in communications with the first end-user device,

(iv) communicating information associated with a third device to the first end-user device,

(v) using a virtual network connection of the first end-user device, establishing a first network connection with the third device using received information associated with the third device,

(vi) communicating information associated with a third device to the second end-user device,

(vii) using a virtual network connection of the second end-user device, establishing a second network connection with the third device using received information associated with the third device,

(viii) wherein the third device is configured to act as a switch and provide cross-connect functionality between the first network connection established with the first end-user device and the second network connection established with the second end-user device,

(ix) communicating, from the first end-user device using the virtualized network capabilities of the virtual machine, a packet to the third device via the first network connection, and

(x) communicating, from the third device, the packet to the second end-user device via the second network connection.

20. A system comprising:

(a) a first end-user device comprising;

(i) a processor, and

(ii) one or more network adapters providing network capabilities;

(b) a second end-user device comprising;

(i) a processor, and

(ii) one or more network adapters providing network capabilities; and

(c) a server comprising;

(i) a processor, and

(ii) one or more network adapters providing network capabilities; and

(d) a third device comprising;

(i) a processor, and

(ii) one or more network adapters providing network capabilities;

(e) wherein the first end-user device further includes one or more computer readable media containing computer executable instructions configured to;

(i) communicate, to the server, a request to engage in communications with the second end-user device, and

(ii) using a virtual network connection of the first end-user device, establish a first network connection with the third device using received information associated with the third device;

(f) wherein the second end-user device further includes one or more computer readable media containing computer executable instructions configured to;

(i) communicate, to the server, acceptance of the request to engage in communications with the first end-user device, and

(ii) using a virtual network connection of the second end-user device, establish a second network connection with the third device using received information associated with the third device;

(g) wherein the server further includes one or more computer readable media containing computer executable instructions configured to;

(i) communicate, to the second end-user device, a request received from the first end-user device,

(ii) communicate information associated with a third device to the first end-user device, and

(iii) communicate information associated with a third device to the second end-user device; and

(h) wherein the third device is configured to act as a switch and provide cross-connect functionality between the first network connection established with the first end-user device and the second network connection established with the second end-user device, and includes one or more computer readable media containing computer executable instructions configured to communicate, from the third device, a packet received from the first end-user device over the first network connection to the second device via the second network connection.