IPv4 Unicast Address Compression via Network-Host Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing compression methods for IPv4 unicast addresses struggle to efficiently handle high-volume lists, leading to performance issues in network communications, particularly in low-speed SCADA networks.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for compressing IPv4 unicast addresses by dividing each address into a network portion and a host portion, grouping addresses based on the network portion, summarizing the host portions into sets, and encoding the groups in binary format, using an end-of-string delimiter and optional additional data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If existing compression methods are used for IPv4 unicast addresses, then some compression is achieved, but they cannot efficiently handle high-volume lists leading to performance issues
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides IPv4 addresses into network portion and host portion, processes them separately through different encoding paths, and reassembles them. This segmentation allows efficient handling of high-volume IP lists by processing common network prefixes once and varying host portions individually, resolving the contradiction between compression speed and data volume reduction.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the encoding parameter from standard dotted-decimal notation to a custom binary-like format where common network portions are encoded once and host variations are appended. This parameter change enables both high-speed processing of large IP lists and significant reduction in transmitted data volume simultaneously.
2Loss of information
If IPv4 addresses are transmitted in standard format, then complete address information is preserved, but large data transmission volume reduces network performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent nests the host portion encoding within the network portion encoding structure. The compressed representation contains the network prefix that applies to multiple addresses, with host variations nested as additional bytes. This nesting preserves complete address information while reducing overall transmission volume, as common network portions are not repeated for each address.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a compressed copy of the IP address list where common network portions are represented once rather than copied repeatedly for each address. The compression mechanism maintains the ability to reconstruct any original address from the compressed form, preserving information completeness while reducing transmission energy consumption.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system for compressing IPv4 unicast addresses, can involve dividing one or more IPv4 unicast addresses among a group of IPv4 unicast addresses into a network portion and a host portion, grouping IPv4 unicast addresses into groups based on the network portion, summarizing the host portion of each group among the groups into a set of IPv4 unicast addresses, and encoding the groups in binary format, thereby resulting in a compression of the IPv4 unicast addresses into compressed IPv4 unicast addresses.