Apparatus and method for incorporating a large number of destinations over circuit-switched wide area network connections
First Claim
1. In a system for communicating between hosts, the system including a number of physical ports, an apparatus comprising:
- means for maintaining at least one virtual interface, each of said virtual interfaces representing a logical network interface between a local host and one of a plurality of remote hosts;
means for monitoring network traffic demand and deciding, based on network traffic demand, to provide a communications link between the local host and the remote host; and
means to provide the communication link on demand between the local host and the remote host,wherein an actual communicative binding to establish the communication link between the local host and the remote host does not take place until the apparatus decides, based on network traffic demand, to cause the binding.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In a wide-area computer network system providing bandwidth based on network demand, throughput, and delay requirements, distribution of network load over multiple, parallel connections from the originating node to a distinction node, an apparatus and method of enabling efficient exchange of packet data routing information for information protocol and information protocol exchange routers by providing different routing table information maintenance modes which a user can select, such as a default mode, a forced mode, and a periodic mode. In addition, the system provides, a virtual interface as a logical network interface for providing circuit switched connectivity, such as a connection between a host/application and a remote network where a particular path between a host and a remote network is dynamically assigned based on the network traffic demand at that time.
258 Citations
65 Claims
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1. In a system for communicating between hosts, the system including a number of physical ports, an apparatus comprising:
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means for maintaining at least one virtual interface, each of said virtual interfaces representing a logical network interface between a local host and one of a plurality of remote hosts; means for monitoring network traffic demand and deciding, based on network traffic demand, to provide a communications link between the local host and the remote host; and means to provide the communication link on demand between the local host and the remote host, wherein an actual communicative binding to establish the communication link between the local host and the remote host does not take place until the apparatus decides, based on network traffic demand, to cause the binding. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. In a system for communicating between hosts, the system including a number of physical ports, an apparatus comprising:
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means for maintaining a plurality of virtual interfaces, each of said virtual interfaces representing a logical network interface between a local host and one of a plurality of remote hosts; said plurality of virtual interfaces together representing a quantity of potential communication links exceeding the quantity of the physical ports; means for monitoring network traffic demand and deciding, based on network traffic demand, to provide a communication link between the local host and the remote host; means to provide the communication link on demand between the local host and the remote host, including dynamic connection means for establishing said communication link when said apparatus receives a packet to be routed to the remote host; and means to maintain at least one said communication link between the local host and each of a plurality of said remote hosts simultaneously; wherein an actual communicative binding to establish the communication link between the local host and the remote host does not take place until the apparatus decides, based on network traffic demand, to cause the binding. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. An apparatus for enabling efficient exchange of packet data routing information, comprising:
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(1) means for carrying out a default process for maintaining routing table information when no specific mode of operation is specified by a user; (2) means for carrying out a forced process for maintaining routing table information when a forced mode is specified by the user; and (3) means for carrying out a periodic process for maintaining routing table information when a periodic option is specified by the user wherein each of said means for carrying out a process exchanges the packet data information over a switched circuit Wide Area Network connection using at least one of the group of Internet Protocol (IP) routers and Internet Protocol Exchange (IPX) routers. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 64)
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46. A method for enabling efficient exchange of packet data routing information, comprising:
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(1) a default process step for carrying out a default process for maintaining routing table information when no specific mode of operation is specified by a user; (2) a forced process step for carrying out a forced process for maintaining routing table information when a forced mode is specified by the user; and (3) a periodic process step for carrying out a periodic process for maintaining routing table information when a periodic option is specified by the user wherein for each of said process steps packet data routing information is exchanged over a switched circuit Wide Area Network connection, using routers from at least one of the group of Internet Protocol (IP) routers and Internet Protocol Exchange (IPX) routers. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 65)
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58. In a system for communicating between hosts, the system utilizing a number of physical ports, a method for providing a communication link on demand between a local host and one of a plurality of remote hosts, comprising the steps of:
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maintaining at least one virtual interface, each of said virtual interfaces representing a logical network interface between the local host and the remote host; a decision step for determining network traffic demand and deciding, based on network traffic demand, when to establish a communication link between the local host and the remote host; and establishing the communication link between the local host and the remote host only after the decision to do so by the decision step. - View Dependent Claims (59, 60, 61, 62, 63)
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Specification