Cisco Technology, Inc.

James Anthony Aviani, Jr

Jean-Philippe Champagne

Kenneth Earl Mueller, Ii

Matthew Richard Gnagy

Joshua Miles Chase

James W O'Toole, Jr

Douglas Alan Gourlay

Frederick Juergens Baker

Bruce Arthur Lueckenhoff

David Eric Swanson

Martin Cieslak

Martin A Kagan

Mark Ting

Michael Todd Hall

Carl D Sutton

Robert Horst Starmer

Ravishankar Ganesh Ithal

Lincoln T Dale

Ulana Maria Sonia Legedza

James Melvin

Tim Sylvester

Mechanisms and techniques provide a data communications device for inserting an audio tag into a content page during a communications session between a first computerized device and a second computerized device. A data communications device receives a request for a content page from a first computerized device and transfers the request to a second computerized device. The data communications device receives the content page from the second computerized device in response to the request, inserts an audio tag within the content page, and adjusts a connection characteristic associated with the content page to maintain the communications session between the first computerized device and the second computerized device. The data communications device then transfers the content page having the inserted audio tag and modified connection characteristic to the first computerized device.

Methods and apparatus for inserting content within a content page

The invention is directed to methods and techniques in a communications device for delivering content. In particular the technique includes intercepting, from a requesting device, an initial request for initial content accessible from an initial content source and in response to intercepting the initial request, creating redirection information indicating an identity of secondary content to be accessed by the requesting device in addition to the initial content in the initial request and providing the redirection information to the requesting device, such that the requesting device accesses both the secondary content from the secondary content source as well as the initial content from the initial content source.

Methods and apparatus for providing content over a computer network

Internet services are differentiated by including user-reflexive data with a user request. The user-reflexive data may specify a quality of service to be accorded the return data and also billing information to improve detail of bills for billed Internet services. The user-reflexive data is included with the user request and data transmission is adjusted accordingly. Alternatively, the user-reflexive data is sent out-of-band.

Method and apparatus for traffic quality and billing authorization by request token insertion

Methods and apparatus are described for routing data traffic in a network having a plurality of layers including physical, data link, and network layers. The data traffic is received and one of a plurality of routing options for the data traffic is selected with reference to information outside of the physical, data link, and network layers. The data traffic is then routed according to the selected routing option.

Network cache-based content routing

Methods and apparatus for processing a service request received from a client are disclosed. When a service request is received, a plurality of packets are transmitted, where each of the plurality of packets identify a different type of service via which to send the corresponding packet. In addition, a mapping of each different type of service to an IP address is preferably maintained, thereby enabling the service request to be processed via an IP address associated with a type of service identified in a first one of the plurality of packets to be received.

Path selection system

Mechanisms and techniques provide a system that operates in a data communications device such as a switch or a router to provide a technique for inserting data into packets associated with a communications session between a first and second computerized devices. The technique comprises receiving a first packet containing data being propagated from the first computerized device to the second computerized device in the communications session and inserting a first amount of extra data into the first packet to alter the size of the first packet and forwarding the first packet including the first amount of extra data to the second computerized device. By monitoring and adjusting sequence and acknowledgement information from with in the data communications device, data can be inserted into packets without disrupting connection state information maintained by and expected by each computerized device.

Methods and apparatus for inserting data into a communications session

The invention is directed to techniques for managing access to data available from a data access device using a network switching protocol to manage content requests from clients. A data communications device receives a request for content from a client. The data communications device, such as a network switch, exchanges signals using the network switching protocol with one or more data access devices, such as a web cache. The data communications device can then select one data access device to provide the requested content to the client based, for example, on load balancing considerations. The data communications device sends a data transfer approval signal to the selected data access device. The selected data access device establishes a connection with the client using information, such as the client's network address, provided by the signals. The selected data access device then bypasses the data communications device and sends the requested content to the client. Using the network switching protocol, the data communications device can manage multiple, pipelined requests from the same client, while approving responses to the client from different data access devices, such as web caches and/or servers.

Methods and apparatus for managing access to data through a network device

A method and system for preventing the detection of an operating system by an intruder, the operating system installed on a host in a network, is provided. The intruder transmits a network probe for operating system detection. The network probe is identified and a response is generated to the network probe, generated by the operating system, is modified. The modified response provides the intruder with false information related to the operating system, thereby misleading the intruder about the type of operating system.

Method and system for preventing operating system detection

The technique of the present invention provides a solution to the problem of routing or redirecting a given client to a replica or proxy server which has a relatively shortest propagation delay to the client. According to the technique of the present invention, a network device referred to as an intercept server sits in front of a host server, and intercepts packets routed to the host server. When desired, packets which are intercepted by the intercept server are replicated, encapsulated and tunneled to selected client servers in the overlay network. The tunneled packets are received and processed by each of the selected client servers, whereupon each of the selected client servers generates a respective spoofed response to the source device identified in the header of the originally intercepted packet. Further, according to the technique of the present invention, each of the selected client servers transmits its respective spoofed response to the identified source device at substantially the same time. The client server associated with the spoofed response which is first received at the identified source device is considered to have the relatively shortest propagation delay to the identified source device, and is identified as the successful client server. Thereafter, the source device will be directed or redirected to communicate directly with the successful client server when subsequently attempting to access information from the host server.

Distributed network traffic load balancing technique implemented without gateway router

In order to direct content requests to an appropriate content serving site in a computer network, a phased learning approach is utilized to ensure that, as best as possible, the request is made to content serving site with the shortest delay. In a setup phase, an indirect path return geographic sever load balancer times queries to all of the individual content serving sites so that the queries all arrive at the content serving sites at the same time. Therefore, when the requesting fixed location receives communications from the content serving sites, it can easily tell which content serving site has the least delay by an established race condition. The winner of the race may then be relayed to the indirect path return geographic server load balancer for later usage. In an execution mode, only the m fastest content serving sites and n other sites (used to test random and new sites) are queried when a DNS request arrives from the requesting fixed location. The particular m fastest content serving sites and n other sites may be dynamically updated so as to ensure the most reliable directing of requests. This solution provides a very efficient and effective means by which to determine closest content serving sites while keeping load balancer-created traffic at a minimum.

Phased learning approach to determining closest content serving sites

A method of communicating an encrypted data broadcast to a plurality of virtual private network receivers is disclosed. A first communication channel is established between a first one of the receivers and a network node. A private data stream is communicated to the first receiver on the first channel. A request is received from the first receiver to join a broadcast data stream that is directed to a plurality of receivers by a broadcast server. A second encrypted communication channel is established between the first receiver and the network node for purposes of carrying the broadcast data stream. Decryption information, which the first receiver can use to decrypt information that is sent on the second channel, is sent to the first receiver through the first channel. The broadcast data stream is then communicated to the first receiver on the second channel. As a result, a particular receiver can receive an encrypted broadcast that is encrypted as part of a single session for a large plurality of other receivers, without impacting separate, private encrypted communications conducted by the particular receiver.

Method and apparatus for communicating an encrypted broadcast to virtual private network receivers

Mechanisms and techniques provide a system that operates in a data communications device such as a switch or a router to provide a technique for load balancing packets between computer systems based on extra data inserted in the packets. The system receives a message containing extra data. The extra data was inserted into the message by a second data communications device existing in a network coupling the first data communications device to a first computerized device that originated the message. The system identifies, based on the extra data inserted into the message, a second computerized device that is to process the message and forwards the message to the second computerized device for processing. The extra data can include demographic data that can be used to select a demographic server, and for selection of a specific server from a group of servers associated with the demographic server.

Methods and apparatus for directing messages to computer systems based on inserted data

A URL re-writing system and method in a network examines and modifies HTML data and its embedded URLs. The re-writing system can be implemented in a router and can replace URLs found in the HTML data in order to accomplish more efficient routing for example to a close mirror site or for content routing. The re-writing system can also use URL replacement to insert important or emergency information to data received by users on a Web-based network.

Growing community of inventors

Santa Barbara, CA, United States of America

James Anthony Aviani, Jr