Patent Application
20080256620
1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to the field of computer networks. More particularly, the present invention relates to allowing communications between a user and the Internet without passing the communications through a private network.
2. The Background
In recent years, “intranets” have been rising in popularity, especially with large companies. An intranet is an internal network that serves only a specific type of person (such as employees of a corporation, or students at a school). The intranet is usually not accessible to the general public. Intranets have become popular mainly because they allow for much more productive communication between users within the network, even when the users are dispersed over a wide geographic area (such as in multi-national corporations).
Many entities that maintain intranets, however, have also wanted to offer users access to the Internet as well. There were, however, a limited number of ways that this could be accomplished. The first, and most simple, way would be for the user to first terminate the existing connection between the PC 10 and the ISP or access point 14. Then the user could log into the Internet. The major drawbacks of this solution are obvious. It does not allow for simultaneous connection to an intranet and the Internet, thus limiting the productivity of the user. Additionally, it requires termination of the link between the PC and the ISP, thus using up valuable time on the user's end, as he has to re-initiate a connection process.
The second way an entity could offer access to the Internet is to have a preconfigured connection from the intranet to the Internet, such that communications between the user and the second intranet or Internet pass through the intranet.
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a private network configured to communicate with its users over the Internet, utilizing a technique called tunneling as to ensure that the data cannot be read by unauthorized users. Tunneling involves encapsulating a packet of data around a frame or packet of a different protocol for transport. Security protocols such as the IP Security Protocol (IPSEC) may also be utilized in order to further reduce the chances of unauthorized access. Thus, the link between the ISP and the intranet in the examples described above (16 in
Even when using a VPN, the same problems arise in directing traffic to and from the Internet when the user is connected to an intranet.
What is needed is a method by which an entity may provide Internet access to its users without encountering the problems that arise in passing Internet traffic through the intranet.
A method for routing packets sent from a user to the internet is provided for systems in which the user is connected to a private network. The method includes: extracting a source network address from the packet; using said source network address to retrieve a user profile for the user; examining said user profile to determine whether to route the packet through the private network or to route the packet directly to the Internet; and routing said packet according to said profile. This allows a user or network provider to choose whether to route packets destined for the Internet directly to the Internet rather than through the private network, thus preventing excessive network traffic on the private network.
Those of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the following description of the present invention is illustrative only and not in any way limiting. Other embodiments of the invention will readily suggest themselves to such skilled persons.
In accordance with a presently preferred embodiment of the present invention, the components, process steps, and/or data structures are implemented using a gateway device. Different implementations may be used and may include other types of operating systems, computing platforms, computer programs, and/or general purpose machines. In addition, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that devices of a less general purpose nature, such as hardwired devices, devices relying on Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) technology, or the like, may also be used without departing from the scope and spirit of the inventive concepts disclosed herewith.
A method for providing Internet access to users connected to a private network is provided. This method may be executed by a gateway. A gateway is a device which performs protocol conversion between different types of networks or applications. The term gateway is not meant to be limited to a single type of device, as any device, hardware or software, that may act as a bridge between the user and the networks may be considered a gateway for purposes of this application.
At 102, the gateway determines if the user has logged on to the gateway yet. This may be determined in many ways, including searching through a list of logged on users and seeing if any of their source addresses match the source address from the packet.
If the user has logged on to the gateway, the process moves to 104, where the source address is used to find a user profile of the user who sent the packet. The user profile may contain various pieces of information regarding the user's account, including information as to whether any network traffic sent from the user to the Internet should be routed through the Internet.
The user profile may take on many forms. It may be stored within the gateway. It may be downloaded from an authentication server or other external device. The user profile may correspond to a single user or to a group of users.
Both types of user profiles may also contain additional pieces of information about the user. The descriptions of the user profiles above are not meant to be limiting and the exact structure of the profiles may be modified in many different ways.
Referring back to
Referring back to
One additional aspect that should be addressed is how to deal with packets sent from a user who, while connected to the gateway, has not logged on to the gateway yet. A user who has logged on tot he gateway may have a user profile. However, if a user has not logged on to the gateway, he cannot have a user profile. There is currently no way to link a user profile with an unknown user, since user profiles are, by definition, associated with particular users (most commonly by utilizing the user's IP address). In order to remedy this situation, the gateway may contain a global flag, indicating whether packets sent from users to the Internet should be routed directly to the Internet or through a private network when those users have not logged in to the gateway. Thus, at 110, the global flag is examined to determine whether to route the packet through the private network or route the packet directly through to the Internet if the user has not logged on to the gateway. At 112, the packet is routed according to the global flag if the user has not logged on to the gateway.
A user profile examiner 308 is coupled to the user profile examiner 306. The user profile examiner examines the user profile found by the user profile retriever 304 to determine whether to route the packet through the private network or route the packet directly to the Internet. Again, the user profile may contain a flag which indicates the answer. A router 310 is coupled to the user profile examiner and is coupled to either a private network or to the Internet by way of a switch 312, the switch controlled by what determination was made by the user profile examiner 308.
A global flag 314 may indicate how to route the packet if the user has not logged on to the gateway. Therefore, a global flag examiner 316 is coupled to the global flag and examines the flag to determine the default setting if the user has not logged on to the gateway. Router 310 is coupled to the global flag examiner 316 via a switch 318 if the user has not logged on to the gateway. The router then uses this information (rather than information taken from a user profile) in routing the packet.
While embodiments and applications of this invention have been shown and described, it would be apparent to those skilled in the art that many more modifications than mentioned above are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. The invention, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims.
This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/117,803, filed on Apr. 4, 2002, entitled “Default Internet Traffic and Transparent Passthrough” in the name of the same inventors and commonly owned herewith, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 09/223,243, filed Dec. 30, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,490,290.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10117803 | Apr 2002 | US |
| Child | 12144551 | US | |
| Parent | 09223243 | Dec 1998 | US |
| Child | 10117803 | US |
