Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Computer-to-computer protocol implementing – Computer-to-computer handshaking
Reexamination Certificate
1997-05-20
2001-06-26
Harrell, Robert B. (Department: 2152)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Computer-to-computer protocol implementing
Computer-to-computer handshaking
C370S276000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06253247
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a system and method for transmission of data between two computer networks, and more particularly to concurrent transmission of a particular user's data in packets over two or more telephone connections between computer networks.
TECHNICAL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Information may be sent between different computers by connecting the computers in a network. The Internet is a computer network which connects computers around the world. Another popular type of network, which is limited to a relatively small geographic area, is called a “local area network” or “LAN.” Businesses also often use an “intranet” network, which is based on Internet technology but is geographically restricted.
FIGS. 1 and 2
illustrate a problem encountered by many network users. LANs and intranets
10
,
12
are relatively fast. That is, they can rapidly transmit large amounts of information internally. Portions of the Internet
14
are also relatively fast. However, connections
16
between LANs, and connections
18
between a LAN and the Internet
14
, are typically much slower than connections within a given LAN or intranet
10
,
12
.
The connections
16
available today to interconnect two local area computer networks
10
,
12
using a single serial link are analog and digital telephone lines, dedicated lines such as T1 and T3 connections, direct dial-in modems, and multiple channels sent over the same serial link such as Integrated Subscriber Digital Network (ISDN) connections. A T1 line gives about 1.544 Mb/s but costs a significant amount of money for the privilege of having a dedicated line. ISDN is also relatively fast and expensive. Other serial connections are much less expensive, but also much slower.
FIG. 2
shows one of the publicly discussed plans for connecting multiple geographically dispersed LANs
10
,
12
using the Internet
14
. The Internet
14
acts as part of the conduit for the transmission of data. The data from one LAN or intranet
10
is transmitted by way of a telephone connection
18
to a local Internet Service Provider (“ISP”)
20
which then transmits the data over another connection
22
to the Internet
14
. From the Internet
14
, the data travels over a connection
24
to a remote ISP
26
that services the remote LAN
12
. The ISP
26
transmits the data to the LAN
12
over a connection
28
. The main advantage of this method is that there are no toll charges for the connections
18
,
28
, as they are made locally. In addition, a traveling sales representative of the company, for instance, can login to any local ISP and access the corporate LAN using a password.
However, a bottleneck in this scenario is the slow speed of conventional connections
18
,
28
between the ISPs and the LANs where a modem or an inexpensive dedicated line is used. The slow nature of the connections
18
,
28
between the ISP and the user prevents the user as well as the cyber community at large from utilizing the full commercial value of the Internet
14
such as for video on demand, downloading large data files or connecting corporate intranets
10
,
12
over a wide area network.
One source of this limitation on cheap bandwidth is that for a given user each of the connections
16
,
18
,
28
relies on a single physical connection from one LAN or intranet
10
to the other LAN or intranet
12
. Thus, a drawback of conventional technology is that the data bandwidth of the user's connection between the two LANs
10
,
12
is limited by the total bandwidth of a single physical connection
16
,
18
,
28
. While a company may have a high speed LAN
10
or
12
within its premises, its LAN
10
to corporate LAN
12
connectivity is slowed by the use of slow connections to the Internet
14
or other wide area networks (“WANs”).
In spite of these drawbacks, the Internet
14
has become the information highway of choice, and corporations with several geographically distributed offices are planning to use the Internet
14
to connect their dispersed sites. They are also planning private Internet-like networks.
Thus, it would be an advancement in the art to provide a novel system and method for connecting LANs to allow faster but relatively inexpensive transmission of a given user's data.
It would be an additional advancement to provide such a system and method which can be used to connect a user on one LAN with another LAN through the Internet.
Such a method and system are disclosed and claimed herein.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides methods and systems for transmitting a user's data between two computer networks. One method of the invention includes obtaining at least two connections between the two computer networks. Each of the connections uses a telephone line which is physically separate from the other connection(s) for at least a portion of that connection. The method allocates the obtained connections exclusively to the user for a period of time, during which it places the user's data in data packets and sends the data packets concurrently over the allocated connections.
The set of connections constitutes a virtual “fat pipe” connection through which the user's data is transmitted more rapidly, without requiring the extreme expense of T1, T3, ISDN, or similar connections. Additional users may be given their own dedicated “fat pipe” connections.
The data packets may be configured to contain a computer network address such as an IP (Internet protocol) address. The step of sending the data packets includes multiplexing by sending a first data packet containing a first portion of the user's data and a first IP address over a first allocated connection and concurrently sending a second data packet containing a second portion of the user's data and a second IP address over a second allocated connection.
A mapping is established between multiple IP addresses contained in data packets sent concurrently over the allocated connections, on the one hand, and a corresponding single IP address contained in corresponding data packets sent between the user and the allocated connections, on the other hand. The mapping allows a demultiplexing operation on the received packets to restore the original order of the data as it existed before being broken into packets.
The invention also provides a mux device for assisting the transmission of a user's data between two computer networks. The mux device includes a means for allocating exclusively to the user for a period of time at least two connections between the two computer networks, each of the connections using a telephone connection which is physically separate from the other connection(s) for at least a portion of that connection; a means for accepting data packets for transmission, each data packet containing a portion of the user's data and also containing a computer network address; and a means for submitting data packets to the allocated connections for concurrent transmission, the submitted data packets corresponding in user data content to the accepted data packets.
One embodiment of the mux device also includes a means for receiving data packets transmitted over the allocated connections, a means for advancing the data in those data packets toward an application program, and a mapping means such as an IP address table. The mux device is bidirectional, allowing the use of one or more pairs of mux devices, with each device acting in turn as a multiplexer (mux) and a demultiplexer (demux). By allowing the creation and management of virtual “fat pipe” connections the mux/demux devices provide substantially faster throughput than a conventional serial link, without the expense of a dedicated T1 or similar line.
Error or exception handling may include disconnecting a line that has a bad connection, reconfiguring the pipe to use less than the initial number of lines while continuing to transmit data, and attempting to re-establish a connection and then reconfiguring the mapping tables if the connection is re-establi
Bhaskar Ragula
Datta Sanchaita
Computer Law
Harrell Robert B.
Ragula Systems
Vu Thong
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