Patent ID: 8595357
Filing Date: 2013-11-26
Classification: H04L,H04W

Abstract:
1. A method of network management for communications over a managed network in accordance with a network communication protocol, the method comprising: establishing communications between a network host and a node device, the node device being one of a plurality of node devices communicatively coupled to the network host, wherein the node device establishes a persistent network connection path to the network host for the communications and performs a self-configuring operation in which the network host provides the node device with data that identifies a network owner associated with the managed network, wherein the network host is a backend server configured to manage the node devices over the Internet, each node device being one of a router, a gateway device, and a wireless access point (AP), wherein different ones of the node devices are part of different ones of local networks that are associated with the network owner, wherein each of the node devices operating as a gateway provides an interface and performs network address translation (NAT) for its local network to the Internet, wherein each of the local networks includes at least one client device that is one of a laptop computer, desktop computer, and a portable computing device; maintaining the persistent network connection path between the network host and the node device for the exchange of network messages; wherein the network host wherein each of the node devices maintains a separate persistent network connection with the network host for exchanging respective network messages, and wherein each persistent network connection includes a secure tunnel.