Multi-homing Mobile Internet Routing via Endpoint Identity Protocol
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current mobile Internet technologies rely on mobility tunnels, which centralize state and bypass value-added features, leading to brittle service delivery compared to native IP networks, and lack optimal routing due to business, regulatory, or technical constraints.
Innovation Solution
A method utilizing multi-homing techniques with Endpoint Identity Protocol (EIP) to manage endpoint identifiers and locators, allowing routing of packets through provider networks to bypass centralized tunnel gateways, enabling direct communication between mobile hosts and correspondent nodes while maintaining service availability and supporting fast handovers and policy enforcement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If mobility tunnels (GTP, MIP, PMIP) are used to provide wide-area mobility, then mobile hosts can access the Internet across different networks, but traffic is centralized through tunnel gateways which reduces service availability and reliability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the centralized tunnel gateway architecture into distributed mobile IP routing functionality. Each mobile host maintains its own IP routing state and can communicate directly with correspondent nodes without mandatory tunneling through centralized gateways. This segmentation distributes the mobility management function across multiple independent entities, eliminating the single point of failure inherent in centralized tunnel gateways and thereby improving service availability and reliability while preserving mobility access capability.
2Adaptability or versatility
If centralized tunnel gateways are used to manage mobile host state, then mobility is supported, but the system becomes brittle and less reliable compared to native IP networks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the mandatory tunneling function from the mobility management architecture. Instead of requiring all mobile host traffic to pass through centralized tunnel gateways, the invention allows mobile hosts to establish direct IP routes to correspondent nodes. The tunneling capability is retained as an optional mechanism rather than a mandatory requirement, thereby reducing system brittleness and improving reliability while preserving mobility support. This extraction removes the centralized gateway as a critical dependency.
3Adaptability or versatility
If tunneling is used for mobile Internet access, then mobility is enabled, but value-added features embedded in the Internet fabric are bypassed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional approach by making direct IP routing the default mechanism and tunneling the optional fallback. Instead of tunneling all traffic and selectively applying value-added features, the invention allows traffic to flow directly through the native IP network where value-added features are naturally encountered. Mobile hosts can opt for tunneling only when necessary, thereby ensuring that value-added features embedded in the Internet fabric are utilized by default while mobility capability is preserved through the inverted routing paradigm.
Data Source
AI summary
In one embodiment, a method of providing mobile internet comprises receiving a down-link packet having a endpoint identity protocol element (EIP), the EIP comprising a global locator associated with a provider network, a first local locator set to a predetermined value, and an endpoint identifier associated with a mobile host; querying the provider network to obtain a second local locator value associated with the mobile host, the second local locator indicates the location of a first radio router with which the mobile host had previously exchange authentication; overwriting the first local locator portion of the EIP with the second local locator; and routing the down-link packet towards the mobile host using the second local locator.