Service request packet including an exterior network protocol attribute
US8619773B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 29, 2010 |
| Grant date | Dec 31, 2013 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 19, 2032 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L45/42
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Packets are encapsulated and sent from a service node to one or more application nodes for applying one or more Layer-4 to Layer-7 services to the packets. Before which for a packet, the service node performs a lookup operation based on a destination address of the packet in a routing data structure derived from a exterior network protocol, such as, but not limited to Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). This lookup operation results in the identification of a next hop packet switching device to which the packet would be sent from the service node. The service node includes this identification of the next hop address in the request packet sent to the application node(s). After the service(s) are applied to the packet, an application node will send the services-applied packet to this next hop address. In this manner, application nodes do not need to run an exterior network protocol. Although, they typically will run an Interior Gateway Protocol for identifying how to forward packets to the next hop address.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.