IP Gateway Intercepting Packets Without Dedicated Address
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Solution Overview
Problem
Network gateways in IP networks often lack assigned IP addresses, preventing them from receiving or transmitting IP data packets, especially in environments where IP addresses are scarce.
Innovation Solution
A network gateway without an IP address inspects IP data packets passing through its interfaces, intercepting those intended for it based on predefined policies and forwarding others to their destinations, using IP addresses from other interfaces for source addresses to enable communication.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If the network gateway is not assigned an IP address, then the scarcity of IP addresses is overcome, but the network gateway cannot receive or transmit IP data packets
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses IP addresses from other network interfaces as intermediary identifiers to enable the gateway to receive and send packets without having a dedicated IP address. The gateway inspects packets and uses alternative IP addresses from its other interfaces to identify itself as the intended recipient, allowing communication without consuming additional IP address resources.
2Reliability
If the network gateway inspects all IP data packets, then it can identify intended packets without an IP address, but the processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making the inspection process selective rather than uniform. The gateway inspects packets differently based on their characteristics - examining destination addresses, source addresses, and routing information only when necessary to determine if the packet is intended for the gateway. This targeted approach reduces overall processing complexity while maintaining accurate identification.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems which receive and transmit an IP data packet at a network device via a first network interface if the IP data packet satisfies an interception policy, and via a second network interface if the IP data packet does not satisfy the interception policy. The decision to use the first network interface or the second network interface depends on whether the IP data packet satisfies the interception policy. The IP data packet is either received by the network device or created by the network device. If the IP data packet is created by the network device, the source address of the IP data packet is reachable via the first network interface. When the IP data packet is received by the network device and also satisfies the interception policy, another IP data packet is transmitted via the first network interface as a response and its source address is an IP address reachable via the first network interface. Its destination address is source address of the IP data packet received by the network device.