Augmented IP Router for Consistent Session Packet Routing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current Internet Protocol (IP) networks are stateless, leading to issues such as user mobility limitations in mobile networks, session layer load balancing challenges, and inefficiencies in routing between private or overlapping networks, which are exacerbated by tunneling protocols that introduce additional overhead and reduce flexibility.
Innovation Solution
Implementing an augmented IP router (AIPR) that ensures packets of a session follow the same path as the lead packet, maintaining session information to enable consistent routing and security functions across all packets.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If tunneling protocols are used to provide user mobility and session management in stateless IP networks, then user mobility and session layer load balancing are enabled, but additional overhead is introduced that induces IP packet fragmentation and reduces network efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an augmented IP router (AIPR) as an intermediary device that maintains session state information and manages packet routing. The AIPR acts as a mediator between the stateless IP network and session management requirements, tracking session states and ensuring packets follow consistent paths without requiring tunneling protocols. This resolves the contradiction by enabling user mobility and session management while avoiding the overhead and fragmentation issues of tunneling.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the session management functionality from the end hosts and centralizes it in the AIPR. By taking out the state maintenance burden from mobile devices and application layers, the system enables user mobility and load balancing without requiring complex tunneling protocols at the application level. The AIPR handles session tracking independently, eliminating the need for tunneling overhead while maintaining network efficiency.
2Adaptability or versatility
If tunneling protocols are implemented to enable session layer load balancing, then load balancing capability is provided, but additional overhead and CPU cycles per packet are required
Solution Approach 1:
The AIPR serves as an intermediary that centralizes session management and load balancing functions. Instead of requiring complex tunneling protocols and application-layer interventions, the AIPR maintains session state information and makes routing decisions based on session identifiers. This approach enables session layer load balancing while reducing device complexity and CPU overhead compared to tunneling-based solutions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses session identifiers copied from packet headers to track and manage session states in the AIPR. Rather than implementing complex tunneling protocols that require extensive processing, the system copies relevant session information into the AIPR's session table and uses this copied data for rapid routing decisions. This reduces CPU cycles per packet while maintaining load balancing capability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If stateless IP routing is used to forward packets based on destination address, then network flexibility and congestion avoidance are achieved, but session consistency and security function uniformity cannot be ensured
Solution Approach 1:
The AIPR acts as an intermediary that bridges stateless IP routing and session consistency requirements. It maintains session state information and uses session identifiers to track packets belonging to the same session. The AIPR ensures that packets from the same session follow consistent paths and receive uniform security treatment, while still allowing the underlying IP network to operate in a flexible, stateless manner for congestion avoidance and routing adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by maintaining session state information specifically at the AIPR nodes where it is needed, rather than requiring global state maintenance throughout the entire network. Each AIPR maintains local session tables for sessions passing through it, enabling session consistency and security uniformity at the local level while preserving overall network flexibility and stateless operation.
Data Source
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AI summary
An intermediate node obtains a lead packet of a plurality of packets in a session having a unique session identifier, modifies the lead packet to identify at least the intermediate node and also to identify source and destination port numbers assigned by the intermediate node for a possible forward association, and then forwards the lead packet toward the destination node though an intermediate node electronic output interface to the IP network. The intermediate node also may receive, through an intermediate node electronic input interface in communication with the IP network, a backward message from a next node having a next node identifier. Both the intermediate node and the next node form an association between the intermediate node identifier, the next node identifier, and the source and destination port numbers assigned by the intermediate node. This association is part of a forward association for the intermediate node and is part of a return associate for the next node.