IoT Packet Routing Through a Central Firewall Device
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
IoT devices lack firewall capabilities, necessitating the purchase of expensive dedicated firewall devices to ensure security, which increases costs.
Innovation Solution
Utilize a central device with firewall capabilities to forward IP packets from IoT devices, encapsulating the target device's IP address in the packet body and using the central device's firewall rules to determine packet transmission, thereby eliminating the need for dedicated firewall devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a dedicated firewall device is purchased to protect IoT devices, then security capability is improved, but device cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a central device as an intermediary between the IoT device and the target device. The central device receives packets from the IoT device, applies firewall rules to determine whether to forward them, and only allows permitted packets to reach the target device. This mediator approach provides firewall protection without requiring the IoT device itself to be expensive or complex.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables the central device to automatically apply pre-configured firewall rules to packets from IoT devices without requiring manual intervention. The system self-manages security by automatically determining which packets to forward based on stored firewall rules, reducing operational complexity and cost.
2Device complexity
If the destination address in the packet header is set to the target device's IP address, then packet transmission is direct and simple, but the central device cannot apply firewall rules
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the packet into two distinct address fields: the packet header destination address is set to the central device's IP address (ensuring the central device receives and can inspect the packet), while the packet body destination address is set to the target device's IP address (preserving the original routing information). This segmentation allows the central device to apply firewall rules while maintaining simple packet transmission structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent embeds the target device's IP address within the packet body of the first IP packet, creating a nested address structure. The central device extracts this embedded address to determine whether to forward the packet, allowing firewall control without complicating the outer packet header structure.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method for packet transmission and an electronic device. In an example method, an internet of things (IoT) device can generate a first internet protocol (IP) packet, where a destination address in a packet header of the first IP packet is an IP address of a central device instead of an IP address of a target device. The IoT device may encapsulate the IP address of the target device into a packet body of the first IP packet. In this way, the central device may determine, according to a firewall rule of the IoT device, whether to send the first IP packet to the target device, and the central device may be used as a firewall device.