3com Corporation

Wayming Daniel Tai

Wing Cheong Chau

Tsyr-Shya Joe Sun

Tze-jian Liu

Jeffrey Kaiping Pao

Darren Leu

Chandy Nilakantan

Xiaohu Wang

The present invention provides method and apparatus to provide local clients with the capability to dial-out through a packet processor to a remote line server to access a remote client. A packet processor is disclosed which includes a first and second interface and a bridge/router. The remote client is coupled through respectively a first network, a remote line server, and a second point-to-point network to the packet processor. The first interface couples to each of the local clients and detects data packets from one of the local clients which contain a dial-out phone number of the remote client. The second interface couples to the first network and opens a first point-to-point connection to the remote line server, responsive to the detecting of the packet. The bridge/router passes the dial-out phone number to the remote line server across the first point-to-point connection to cause the remote line server to establish a second point-to-point connection to the remote client for the transfer of data packets from the local client. The local clients may include a modem shell for redirecting modem communications including a dial-out phone number from an application on the local client to the packet processor across a packet switched network.

Virtual modem for dialout clients in virtual private network

The present invention provides a modular architecture for connecting a plurality of telephone lines to a computer network. The invention binds a plurality of network access servers together so that they form a single system image to clients dialing into the plurality of network access servers. The invention operates by providing a tunneling mechanism for communication between the network access servers. The tunneling mechanism facilitates packet re-forwarding so that a call dialed into a physical port in a network access server can be re-forwarded through a logical port in another network access server. This allows a call to be routed through a physical port in a network access server even if no logical port is available in the network access server. Packet re-forwarding also allows multilink connections through physical ports in multiple network access servers to be routed through a single logical port in a network access server. Packet re-forwarding also provides support for spoofing; if the telephone line is torn down during spoofing, the logical port is maintained so that the connection may be reestablished through a physical port in another network access server. Finally, the present invention supports authentication across multiple network access servers using a security server, by allowing the network access servers to share authentication information.

Integrated architecture to support a single system image across multiple network access servers

Architecture to support a single system image across multiple network access servers

Supporting multilink connections across multiple network access servers

Supporting load sharing across multiple network access servers

Architecture to support a single system image across multiple network

Supporting authentication across multiple network access servers

Growing community of inventors

Cupertino, CA, United States of America

Wayming Daniel Tai