Patent ID: 11861025
Assignee: RANKIN LABS, LLC
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  H | IPC G  H

Claim 10:
11. A method of receiving and processing a covert transmission within a TCP/IP protocol stack, said method comprising:
receiving, at an electrical interface, normal network traffic;
passing the normal network traffic to an IP protocol layer;
receiving, at the IP protocol layer, a datagram, intermingled with the normal network traffic and comprising data for covert delivery, wherein said datagram is artificially manipulated to appear as an error when processed at a IP layer by indicating the datagram to be a non-primary fragment of a larger transmission, where said larger transmission is not included within a remainder of the normal network traffic;
prior to a timeout period, intercepting said datagram, while permitting normal processing of the remainder of said normal network traffic, at a covert interception routine extending from a routine located with the IP protocol layer and below the IP layer;
processing said datagram, while permitting normal processing of the remainder of said normal network traffic, at a covert processing routine to extract said data for covert delivery, wherein said covert processing routine is an extension of the covert interception routine; and
subsequently continuing normal processing of said datagram such that said datagram is discarded as appearing as an error at the IP layer at or following expiration of the timeout period.