Tools and techniques for directing packets over disparate networks

Claim 2

1 . A controller which controls access to multiple independent disparate networks in a parallel network configuration, the disparate networks comprising at least one private network and at least one network based on the Internet, the controller comprising: a site interface connecting the controller to a site; at least two network interfaces which send packets toward the disparate networks; and a packet path selector which selects between network interfaces according to at least: a destination of the packet, an optional presence of alternate paths to that destination, and at least one specified criterion for selecting between alternate paths when such alternate paths are present; wherein the controller receives a packet through the site interface and sends the packet through the network interface that was selected by the packet path selector.

Claim 3

2 . The controller of claim 1 , wherein the controller controls access to a frame relay private network through a first network interface of the controller, and the controller controls access to the Internet through a second network interface of the controller.

Claim 4

3 . The controller of claim 1 , wherein the packet path selector selects between network interfaces according to a load-balancing criterion, thereby promoting balanced loads on devices that carry packets on the selected path after the packets leave the selected network interfaces.

Claim 5

4 . The controller of claim 1 , wherein the packet path selector selects between network interfaces according to a reliability criterion, thereby promoting use of devices that will still carry packets on the selected path after the packets leave the selected network interfaces, when other devices on a path not selected are not functioning.

Claim 6

5 . The controller of claim 1 , wherein the packet path selector selects between network interfaces according to a security criterion, thereby promoting use of multiple disparate networks to carry different pieces of a given message so that unauthorized interception of packets on fewer than all of the disparate networks used to carry the message will not provide the total content of the message.

Claim 7

6 . The controller of claim 1 , wherein the controller sends packets out of sequence over the parallel disparate networks.

Claim 8

7 . The controller of claim 6 , wherein the controller places an encrypted sequence number in at least some of the packets which are sent out of sequence.

Claim 9

8 . The controller of claim 1 , wherein the controller sends packets from a selected network interface to a VPN.

Claim 10

9 . The controller of claim 1 , wherein the controller sends packets from a selected network interface to a point-to-point private network connection.

Claim 11

10 . A controller which controls access to multiple networks in a parallel network configuration, suitable networks comprising Internet-based networks and private networks from at least one more provider, in combination, the controller comprising: a site interface connecting the controller to a site; at least two network interfaces which send packets toward the networks; and a packet path selector which selects between network interfaces on granularity which is at least as fine as session-by-session according to at least: a destination of the packet, an optional presence of alternate paths to that destination, and at least one specified criterion for selecting between alternate paths when such alternate paths are present; wherein the controller receives a packet through the site interface and sends the packet through the network interface that was selected by the packet path selector.

Claim 12

10 . A controller which controls access to multiple networks in a parallel network configuration, suitable networks comprising Internet-based networks and private networks from at least one more provider, in combination, the controller comprising: a site interface connecting the controller to a site; at least two network interfaces which send packets toward the networks; and a packet path selector which selects between network interfaces on granularity which is at least as fine as session-by-session according to at least: a destination of the packet, an optional presence of alternate paths to that destination, and at least one specified criterion for selecting between alternate paths when such alternate paths are present; wherein the controller receives a packet through the site interface and sends the packet through the network interface that was selected by the packet path selector.

Claim 13

11 . A controller which controls access to multiple networks in a parallel network configuration, suitable networks comprising Internet-based networks and private networks from at least one more provider, in combination, the controller comprising: a site interface connecting the controller to a site; at least two network interfaces which send packets toward the networks; and a packet path selector which selects between network interfaces on a per-packet basis according to at least: a destination of the packet, an optional presence of alternate paths to that destination, and at least one specified criterion for selecting between alternate paths when such alternate paths are present; wherein the controller receives a packet through the site interface and sends the packet through the network interface that was selected by the packet path selector.

Claim 14

11 . A controller which controls access to multiple networks in a parallel network configuration, suitable networks comprising Internet-based networks and private networks from at least one more provider, in combination, the controller comprising: a site interface connecting the controller to a site; at least two network interfaces which send packets toward the networks; and a packet path selector which selects between network interfaces on a per-packet basis according to at least: a destination of the packet, an optional presence of alternate paths to that destination, and at least one specified criterion for selecting between alternate paths when such alternate paths are present; wherein the controller receives a packet through the site interface and sends the packet through the network interface that was selected by the packet path selector.

Claim 15

12 . A method for combining connections for access to multiple parallel disparate networks, the method comprising the steps of: obtaining at least two known location address ranges which have associated networks; obtaining topology information which specifies associated networks that provide, when working, connectivity between a current location and at least one destination location; receiving at the current location a packet which identifies a particular destination location by specifying a destination address for the destination location; determining whether the destination address lies within a known location address range; selecting a network path from among paths to disparate associated networks, said networks being in parallel at the current location, each of said networks specified in the topology information as capable of providing connectivity between the current location and the destination location; forwarding the packet on the selected network path.

Claim 16

12 . A method for combining connections for access to multiple parallel disparate networks, the method comprising the steps of: obtaining at least two known location address ranges which have associated networks; obtaining topology information which specifies associated networks that provide, when working, connectivity between a current location and at least one destination location; receiving at the current location a packet which identifies a particular destination location by specifying a destination address for the destination location; determining whether the destination address lies within a known location address range; selecting a network path from among paths to disparate associated networks, said networks being in parallel at the current location, each of said networks specified in the topology information as capable of providing connectivity between the current location and the destination location; forwarding the packet on the selected network path.

Claim 17

13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising the step of modifying the packet destination address to lie within a known location address range associated with the selected network before the forwarding step.

Claim 18

14 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the forwarding step forwards the packet toward the Internet when the packet's destination address does not lie within any known location address range.

Claim 19

15 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the destination address identifies a destination location to which only a single associated network provides connectivity from the current location, and the forwarding step forwards the packet to that single associated network.

Claim 20

16 . The method of claim 12 , wherein repeated instances of the selecting step make network path selections on a packet-by-packet basis.

Claim 21

17 . The method of claim 12 , wherein repeated instances of the selecting step make network path selections on a per session basis.

Claim 22

18 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the selecting step selects the network path at least in part on the basis of a dynamic load-balancing criterion.

Claim 23

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein repeated instances of the selecting step select between network paths at least in part on the basis of a dynamic load-balancing criterion which tends to balance line loads by distributing packets between lines.

Claim 24

20 . The method of claim 18 , wherein repeated instances of the selecting step select between network paths at least in part on the basis of a dynamic load-balancing criterion which tends to balance network loads by distributing packets between disparate networks.

Claim 25

21 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the selecting step selects the network path at least in part on the basis of a reliability criterion.

Claim 26

22 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the selecting step selects the network path at least in part on the basis of a security criterion.

Claim 27

23 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the modifying step modifies a packet destination address which was in a known location address range associated with a private network such that the modified packet destination address lies instead in a known location address range associated with a VPN.

Claim 28

24 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the modifying step modifies a packet destination address which was in a known location address range associated with a VPN such that the modified packet destination address lies instead in a known location address range associated with a private network.

Claim 29

25 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the modifying step modifies a packet destination address corresponding to one of: the Internet, a private network, thereby making the modified packet destination address correspond to the other of: the Internet, a private network.

Claim 30

26 . A method for combining connections for access to parallel networks, the method comprising the steps of: sending a packet to a site interface of a controller, the controller comprising the site interface which receives packets, at least two network interfaces to parallel networks, and a packet path selector which selects between the network interfaces on a per-session basis to promote load-balancing; and forwarding the packet, possibly with a modified destination address, through the network interface selected by the packet path selector.

Claim 31

26 . A method for combining connections for access to parallel networks, the method comprising the steps of: sending a packet to a site interface of a controller, the controller comprising the site interface which receives packets, at least two network interfaces to parallel networks, and a packet path selector which selects between the network interfaces on a per-session basis to promote load-balancing; and forwarding the packet, possibly with a modified destination address, through the network interface selected by the packet path selector.

Claim 32

27 . The method of claim 26 , wherein the step of sending a packet to the controller site interface is repeated as multiple packets are sent, and the controller sends different packets of a given message to different parallel networks.

Claim 33

28 . The method of claim 26 , wherein the step of sending a packet to the controller site interface is repeated as multiple packets are sent, the network interfaces include at least two VPN line interfaces and a private network interface, and the packet path selector selects between at least those three interfaces.

Claim 34

29 . The method of claim 26 , further comprising the step of sensing failure of one of parallel disparate networks and automatically sending traffic through at least one other parallel disparate network.

Claim 35

30 . A method for combining connections for access to parallel networks, the method comprising the steps of: receiving at a first controller a packet which has a first site IP address as source address and a second site IP address as destination address; modifying the packet to have an IP address of the first controller as the source address and an IP address of a second controller as the destination address; and forwarding the modified packet along a selected path toward the second site.

Claim 36

30 . A method for combining connections for access to parallel networks, the method comprising the steps of: receiving at a first controller a packet which has a first site IP address as source address and a second site IP address as destination address; modifying the packet to have an IP address of the first controller as the source address and an IP address of a second controller as the destination address; and forwarding the modified packet along a selected path toward the second site.

Claim 37

31 . A method for combining connections for access to parallel networks, the method comprising the steps of: receiving at a first controller a packet which has a first VPN IP address as source address and a second VPN IP address as destination address; modifying the packet to have an IP address of the first controller as the source address and an IP address of a second controller as the destination address; and forwarding the modified packet along a selected path toward the second VPN.

Claim 38

31 . A method for combining connections for access to parallel networks, the method comprising the steps of: receiving at a first controller a packet which has a first VPN IP address as source address and a second VPN IP address as destination address; modifying the packet to have an IP address of the first controller as the source address and an IP address of a second controller as the destination address; and forwarding the modified packet along a selected path toward the second VPN.

Claim 39

32 . A method for combining connections for access to disparate parallel networks, the method comprising the steps of: receiving at a controller a packet which has a first site IP address as source address and a second site IP address as destination address; selecting, within the controller, between a path through an Internet-based network and a path through a private network that is not Internet-based; and forwarding the packet along the selected path toward the second site.

Claim 40

32 . A method for combining connections for access to disparate parallel networks, the method comprising the steps of: receiving at a controller a packet which has a first site IP address as source address and a second site IP address as destination address; selecting, within the controller, between a path through an Internet-based network and a path through a private network that is not Internet-based; and forwarding the packet along the selected path toward the second site.

Claim 41

33 . A computer storage medium having a configuration that represents data and instructions which will cause performance of a method for combining connections for access to multiple parallel disparate networks, the method comprising the steps of: obtaining at least two known location address ranges, which have associated networks; obtaining topology information which specifies associated networks that provide, when working, connectivity between a current location and at least one destination location; receiving at the current location a packet which identifies a particular destination location by specifying a destination address for the destination location; determining whether the destination address lies within a known location address range; selecting a network path from among paths to disparate associated networks, said networks being in parallel at the current location, each of said networks specified in the topology information as capable of providing connectivity between the current location and the destination location; modifying the packet destination address to lie within a known location address range associated with the selected network if it does not already do so; and forwarding the packet on the selected network path.

Claim 42

33 . A computer storage medium having a configuration that represents data and instructions which will cause performance of a method for combining connections for access to multiple parallel disparate networks, the method comprising the steps of: obtaining at least two known location address ranges, which have associated networks; obtaining topology information which specifies associated networks that provide, when working, connectivity between a current location and at least one destination location; receiving at the current location a packet which identifies a particular destination location by specifying a destination address for the destination location; determining whether the destination address lies within a known location address range; selecting a network path from among paths to disparate associated networks, said networks being in parallel at the current location, each of said networks specified in the topology information as capable of providing connectivity between the current location and the destination location; modifying the packet destination address to lie within a known location address range associated with the selected network if it does not already do so; and forwarding the packet on the selected network path.

Claim 43

34 . The configured storage medium of claim 33 , wherein the selecting step selects the network path at least in part on the basis of a dynamic load-balancing criterion.

Claim 44

35 . The configured storage medium of claim 33 , wherein repeated instances of the selecting step make network path selections on a packet-by-packet basis.