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:
May. 21, 2002
Filed:
May. 27, 1999
Kenneth Araujo, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
3Com Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and system for resolving network address translator (NAT) based internet protocol (IP) subnet address conflicts. In one embodiment of the present invention, a first NAT is used to assign an address to a first device which is coupled to the first NAT. Next, the present embodiment using a second NAT to assign an address to a second device coupled to the second NAT. Additionally, in the present embodiment, the second NAT automatically assigns an address to a link coupling the first NAT and the second NAT. The second NAT then assigns a second address to the second device. The second address is related to the address of the link coupling the first NAT and the second NAT. In so doing, the present invention insures that the second device has a second address associated therewith wherein the second address is different from the address of the first device. As a result, the present embodiment is able to resolve NAT-based subnet address conflicts. The present embodiment also eliminates the need for tedious user examination of all NAT-assigned IP addresses for each of the various NATs. Furthermore, the present embodiment is compatible with existing network address translator devices.