Patent ID: 9560557
Date: 2017-01-31
CPC Classifications: H04L,H04W

Claim:
1. A processor-implemented method for moving Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) layer 4 connections seamlessly between a user equipment connected wirelessly to a series of cell-towers, wherein the OSI layer 4 connections are moved between the user equipment and a first cell-tower from the series of cell-towers to the user equipment and a second cell-tower from the series of cell-towers, wherein an OSI layer 4 connection is extracted out of underlying cellular protocols at said cell-towers, and wherein the processor-implemented method comprises: detecting, by one or more processors, that said user equipment has a broken-out layer 4 connection; detecting, by the one or more processors, that said user equipment, with the broken-out layer 4 connection, has moved from the first cell-tower to the second cell-tower; tunnelling, by the one or more processors, traffic for an existing layer 4 connection from the user equipment between the first cell-tower and the second cell-tower, wherein tunnelling traffic comprises first network address translation (NAT) means at the first cell-tower and second NAT means at a radio network controller (RNC) linking said first and second cell-towers to route IP packets to an appropriate cell-tower, wherein the second NAT means at the RNC map a first network address, used by data network servers for the user equipment, to a second network address, in the first NAT means, that is used by the first and second cell-towers; identifying, by the one or more processors, a predetermined trigger event, wherein the predetermined trigger event is a forced termination of any active layer 4 connections proxied at the first cell-tower, wherein proxied active layer 4 connections are proxied in a web cache within a transparent forward proxy in the first cell-tower; in response to the predetermined trigger event occurring, migrating, by the one or more processors, an ongoing bidirectional flow of data packets from the user equipment over to layer 4 connections maintained at the second cell-tower; and byte caching, by the one or more processors, OSI layer 4 connections for all server ports other than the proxied active layer 4 connections that are proxied in the web cache.