Patent ID: 9705694
Date: 2017-07-11
CPC Classifications: H04L,H04W

Claim:
1. A computer-implemented method in a software-defined network (SDN) controller for extending Wi-Fi services available within a subnet to an entirety of a communication network by centrally coordinating data plane behavior, the method comprising the steps of: centrally monitoring data plane traffic flow at each of the plurality of network components distributed around the communication network for a plurality of subnets; receiving one or more packets forwarded from one of the network components and concerning an advertisement for services within a first subnet by an advertising station, the advertisement being multicast to the subnet and the forward being unicast to the SDN controller; extracting parameters of the service of the advertising station for storage by performing deep packet inspection on the one or more packets; receiving one or more packets forwarded from one of the network components and concerning a query for service within a second subnet by a querying station, the query being multicast to the subnet and the forward being unicast to the SDN controller; extracting parameters of the service of the querying station for storage by performing deep packet inspection on the one or more packets; matching the query for service to the advertisement responsive to the advertisement parameters compared to the query parameters; and responsive to matching, sending a set of connection parameters necessary for the querying station at the second subnet to connect to the advertising station at the first subnet.