The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 05, 1999
Filed:
Feb. 13, 1996
Joseph L Gervais, Fremont, CA (US);
Alampoondi E Natarajan, San Jose, CA (US);
Michael D Allen, San Jose, CA (US);
Radia J Perlman, Acton, MA (US);
Novell, Inc., Orem, UT (US);
Abstract
The present invention is an address mapping gateway, used in an internetwork link, that associates all nodes in a domain with a single network number (referred to as a domain network address), and provides gateway-mapped node addresses that are unique within the domain. The address mapping gateway dynamically substitutes the 'globally-unique' domain network address and the 'domain-unique' gateway-mapped node address for a network number and node address, respectively, of a network layer address of a packet header received from a source node in the domain. Conversely, when a packet is received for a destination node in the domain, the address mapping gateway substitutes the originally-assigned network number and node address for the domain network address and gateway-mapped node address, respectively, prior to forwarding the packet to the node. Specifically, the address mapping gateway maintains an address mapping table that provides a cross-reference between (1) a source node address and the network number of the local network in which the node resides, and (2) a gateway-mapped node address generated by the address mapping gateway. Upon receipt of a packet from the source node, the address mapping gateway creates a mapping entry in the address mapping table that node and performs an address translation to a globally-unique network layer address. On the other hand, upon receipt of a packet destined for a destination node in the domain, the address mapping gateway locates the mapping entry for the packet's gateway-mapped node address and performs a reverse address translation to the originally-assigned network layer address.