Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for establishing dynamic tunnel access sessions in a communication network

US7117526B1 · kind B1 · utility

266Cited by
4References
18Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateOct 20, 2000
Grant dateOct 3, 2006
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 11, 2023

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06Q20/3674
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method and apparatus for implementing dynamic tunnel access sessions at a network device within a communications network. The tunnel access sessions are created between a network device, typically a gateway device and a network service, such as the Internet or a corporate intranet. The dynamic tunnel access sessions provide for subscriber-transparent tunneling. The present invention does not require special client-side software to be loaded on the remote host of the subscriber, and does not require any manual configuration of the remote host. A subscriber is capable of establishing more than one tunnel access session to more than one network service during a network session. Additionally, more than one subscriber who accesses the communication network via the network device is able to establish a communication link with a pre-existing tunnel.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.