Patent ID: 9438596
Filing Date: 2016-09-06
CPC Classification: H04L

Claim Text:
1. A method for a cloud controller to control a plurality of network devices, comprising: receiving, at the cloud controller from a first network device, a message indicative of a public network address associated with the first network device, wherein the cloud controller is associated with a public network address, and the public network address associated with the cloud controller was preloaded in the first network device when the first network device was manufactured; receiving, at the cloud controller from a second network device, a message indicative of a public network address associated with the second network device; pre-assigning, at the cloud controller, the first and second network devices to an account maintained by the cloud controller; receiving, at the cloud controller from the first network device, a request message to establish a virtual network between the first network device and the second network device, wherein the request message does not include any identification of the second network device, as the cloud controller identifies the first network device and the second network device as devices assigned to the common account; sending an authorization message to the public network addresses associated with the first and second network devices to authorize the first and second network devices to establish a virtual network comprising two private networks to which the first and second network devices belong, wherein the authorization message includes a pre-shared key generated by the cloud controller based on a series number of the first network device and a series number of the second network device; periodically synchronizing, between the cloud controller and the second network device, to update status of the public network address associated with the second network device; receiving a status change, from the second network device to the cloud controller, that the second network device obtains a private network address from a router's dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) service; and tracing back packets transmitted from the second network device to identify a mapping relationship between the public network address prior to the status change and the private network address after the status change for the second network device, and storing the mapping relationship in a database of the cloud controller.