Patent ID: 8606884
Filing Date: 2013-12-10
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A system for facilitating a direct connection between at least one host and at least one client computer, wherein the at least one host is connected to a public network through at least one Network Address Translation (NAT) gateway between the at least one host and the at least one client computer, the system comprising: a rendezvous server computer having a public Internet Protocol (IP) address, wherein the rendezvous server computer is configured to: determine if the at least one NAT gateway is traversable by a browser of the at least one client computer; receive at least one request from the at least one client computer to retrieve data from the at least one host; determine at least one port number, wherein the at least one port number relates to at least one port of the NAT gateway; transmit the at least one port number to the at least one client computer; and transmit data to the at least one client computer, such that the browser of the at least one client computer is able to initiate at least one direct connection with the at least one host, wherein the rendezvous server computer determines whether the at least one NAT gateway is traversable by determining whether ports opened by the NAT gateway are predictable, and when the ports opened by the NAT gateway are determined to be predictable, determining whether the NAT gateway allows incoming SYN packets on a port used by a preceding outgoing SYN packet, and when the NAT gateway is determined to allow incoming SYN packets, determining whether the NAT gateway closes at least one open port after receiving a Time Exceeded ICMP message, and when the NAT gateway is determined to close at least one open port after receiving a Time Exceeded ICMP message, determining an amount of hops between the NAT gateway and the at least one client computer.