P2P Proxy Gateway NAT Table Load Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Peer-to-peer applications, such as BitTorrent, put a significant burden on network gateway devices due to the large number of connections, leading to inefficient system resources and network bandwidth usage as the Network Address Translation (NAT) procedure handles numerous incoming and outgoing connections, causing bottlenecks and reduced efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A network gateway device equipped with a peer-to-peer meta descriptor detector, a proxy control unit, an internal tracker, and a peer-to-peer engine that intercepts and modifies peer-to-peer meta descriptor files to replace tracker addresses with private network addresses, reducing the load on NAT tables by managing connections internally and distributing upload tasks among users.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If peer-to-peer applications establish numerous connections for file sharing, then the availability of connection sources increases and users can benefit from distributed uploading, but the burden on network gateway devices increases significantly due to NAT procedure overhead
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway device acts as an intermediary by establishing a single representative connection to the tracker server instead of allowing numerous direct connections from internal computers. The gateway maintains NAT table mappings for these intermediary connections, significantly reducing the number of entries required compared to direct peer-to-peer connections through the gateway.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the NAT translation function for peer-to-peer connections from the gateway device by enabling direct routing. When the gateway detects that both source and destination computers are internal, it bypasses the NAT procedure entirely, allowing direct communication without gateway intervention and eliminating NAT table overhead for these connections.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the NAT procedure handles numerous incoming and outgoing connections, then peer-to-peer file sharing functionality is maintained, but system resources and network bandwidth of the gateway become insufficient causing bottlenecks
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway serves as an intermediary that establishes connections to tracker servers on behalf of internal computers. This approach maintains peer-to-peer file sharing functionality while limiting the number of connections the gateway must manage, as only tracker server connections (not direct peer connections) go through the gateway.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent removes unnecessary gateway involvement from direct peer-to-peer communications by detecting internal connections and routing them directly without NAT translation. This extraction of the NAT function for internal traffic eliminates gateway bottlenecks while preserving file sharing functionality.
3Reliability
If the gateway creates NAT table entries for every connection, then connection tracking and management is achieved, but the number of connections stored in NAT tables increases hugely consuming system resources
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway acts as an intermediary that consolidates multiple internal computer connections into fewer gateway-level connections to tracker servers. By maintaining NAT tables only for these intermediary connections rather than individual peer connections, the gateway reduces NAT table entry quantity while preserving connection tracking capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts direct peer-to-peer connections from the gateway's NAT table management scope by enabling internal computers to communicate directly without gateway involvement. This removes unnecessary NAT table entries for internal traffic while maintaining accurate tracking of external connections through the gateway.
Data Source
AI summary
A network gateway device providing peer-to-peer proxy service is provided, including a P2P meta descriptor detector detecting an original P2P meta descriptor file from the public network, a P2P proxy control unit modifying the original P2P meta descriptor file to generate a modified P2P meta descriptor file, and forwarding the modified P2P meta descriptor file to a computer in the private network, an internal tracker receiving a first inquiry message, and replying with a pseudo sharing computer list, and a peer-to-peer engine loading the original P2P meta descriptor file to download shared contents, and forwarding the shared contents to the computer.