Patent ID: 9204336
Filing Date: 2015-12-01
Classification: H04L,H04W

Abstract:
1. A method of processing network traffic sent on a General Packet Radio Service Tunnelling Protocol (GTP) tunnel or a Proxy Mobile Internet Protocol (PMIP) tunnel between a first tunnel node and a second tunnel node in a communication network, the communication network comprising a Traffic Offload Function (TOF) including a redirector component and one or more enhanced Network Address Translation (eNAT) components in communication with each other, the method comprising: obtaining, by the redirector component, an uplink data packet from an uplink tunnel from the first tunnel node to the second tunnel node, the uplink data packet comprising: a first network address associated with the first tunnel node; a second network address associated with the second tunnel node; a first identifier associated with the uplink tunnel; an internal network address; and an internal port number; obtaining, by the redirector component, a second identifier associated with a downlink tunnel from the second tunnel node to the first tunnel node, wherein the downlink tunnel is related to the uplink tunnel; and selecting, by the redirector component, an eNAT component from the one or more eNAT components; obtaining, by the selected eNAT component, the uplink data packet from the redirector component; obtaining, by the selected eNAT component, the second identifier from the redirector component; checking, by the selected eNAT component and based on the second network address and the first identifier, whether a database entry comprising the second network address and the first identifier exists in a database in communication with the selected eNAT component; updating, by the selected eNAT component, the database in response to the checked database entry not existing in the database; and manipulating, by the selected eNAT component, the uplink data packet by: replacing the internal network address with an external network address, wherein the internal network address and the external network address are internal and external with regard to the selected eNAT component, respectively; and replacing the internal port number with an external port number, wherein the internal port number and the external port number are internal and external with regard to the selected eNAT component, respectively.