Patent Publication Number: US-2022239624-A1

Title: Cloud access to local network addresses

Description:
PRIORITY CLAIM 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 17/070,155 filed on Oct. 14, 2020, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/005,517 filed on Jun. 11, 2018. That application claims the benefit of India Provisional Patent Application No. 201841005338, filed on Feb. 13, 2018. All of these applications are incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The following discussion generally relates to communications over a digital network. More specifically, the following discussion relates to devices, systems, and automated processes to establish communications between networked devices. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Network communication continues to affect almost every aspect of modern life. In the home environment, for example, it is now commonplace for home appliances, security systems, entertainment devices, lights, thermostats, locks and many other devices to inter-communicate with each other and/or with network services on the Internet. Such devices are also commonplace in offices, factories, restaurants, pubs and other locations. Moreover, many people now carry portable computing devices such as mobile phones, tablets, etc. as they carry on their life at home, work, travel and other places. 
     Often, substantial challenges arise in establishing communications between devices that are located within the same home or office environment. Many homes and offices nowadays include multiple wired and/or wireless local area networks (LANs) behind a common router or firewall, so devices operating on different LANs (or subnets of LANs) within the same environment can have difficulty in locating each other. In particular, devices operating on different LANs (e.g., different WIFI zones, or wired or wireless networks) may not be able to see each other directly, and may not share an intervening router or gateway device that can readily establish connections between the different devices. A mobile phone communicating on a home network via a Wi-fi connection, for example, may not be able to directly communicate with a file, print or media server that is operating within the same home, but that is connected to the network through another wired or wireless network. This often occurs because devices do not have dedicated addresses on the wide area network (WAN), but rather communicate on the WAN using a port on a router or gateway device. Communications between the gateway and the local device make use of local addresses that may not be visible to the WAN, or even to other LANs operating within the home environment. Locating a device on another LAN, then, can be a substantial challenge in practice. 
     It is therefore desirable to create devices, systems and processes to improve network communications between devices operating within a home or other environment. Other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background section. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY 
     Various embodiments improve network connectivity between devices operating behind a common router or gateway device by initiating outward contact from the device to an address server residing on the Internet (or another wide area network). The server device initially provides its local address (e.g., a network address used for communications on its LAN) as well as any additional addresses of routers, gateways or other network devices residing between the device and it&#39;s gateway to the wide area network. When a client device operating behind the same gateway intends to contact the server, the client initially requests the target device&#39;s routing information from the address server operating on the WAN. The client can then attempt to reach the target device using one or more of the obtained local addresses that are associated with the target. 
     In one example, an automated process is executed by a processor of a target computing device to establish a connection with a client device within a network environment. The process suitably comprises: determining, by the target device, a sequence of network addresses corresponding to router devices that couple the target device to a wide area network; providing the sequence of network addresses to an address server operating on the wide area network for storage by the address server and subsequent transmission of the sequence of network addresses from the address server to the client device; and subsequently responding to a request from the client device, wherein the client device transmits the request to at least one of the network addresses in the sequence obtained by the client device from the address server on the wide area network. 
     Other embodiments relate to device and/or automated processes executable by a processor of a client computing device to establish a connection with a target device within a network environment. The automated process suitably comprises: transmitting, by the client device, a request for server addresses to an address server operating on a wide area network; receiving, in response to the request for server addresses, a sequence of network addresses associated with the target device, wherein each of the sequence of network addresses corresponds to a different network address associated with the target device within the network environment; initiating a connection between the client device and the target device by transmitting a contact message to each of the network addresses in the sequence; and in response to a reply message received from the target device in response to the contact message, the client device establishing the connection with the target device. 
     Other embodiments relate to an address server system implemented with one or more computers and database servers. Various embodiments relate to automated processes executable by an address server system operating on a wide area network to establish a direct connection between a client device and a target device that are both operating on a local network environment that is separated from the wide area network by a router. The process suitably comprises: receiving, by the address server system, a sequence of local addresses associated with a target device operating within the local network environment that is separated from the wide area network by the router, wherein each of the sequence of network addresses corresponds to a different network address associated with the target device within the network environment; storing the received sequence of addresses in a database; 
     subsequently receiving, by the address server system, a request for server addresses from a client device that is also operating on the local environment that is separated from the wide area network by the router; transmitting, by the address server system in response to the request received from the client device, the sequence of network addresses associated with the target device to the client device to thereby permit the client device to initiate a connection between the client device and the target device by transmitting contact messages to each of the network addresses in the sequence via the local environment. 
     Other examples may relate to various client or server computing systems or devices, and/or automated processes executed by client or server computing systems or devices. Such systems, devices and processes may relate to network servers, network clients, network address servers and/or other computing entities as desired. Various additional examples, aspects and other features are described in more detail below. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES 
       Example embodiments will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the following drawing figures, wherein like numerals denote like elements, and: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates one example of a network environment operating within a home, office or similar location. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates data communications occurring within a network environment to facilitate improved location and communication with target devices. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The following detailed description is intended to provide various examples, but it is not intended to limit the invention or the application and uses of the invention. Furthermore, there is no intention to be bound by any theory presented in the preceding background or the following detailed description. 
     According to various embodiments, server devices operating within a home, office or similar network environment initially determine information about their location within the network environment. For example, the server can ascertain a sequence of addresses and port numbers that are used by routers, gateways and other devices that deliver electronic traffic to the server device. This sequence of local addresses (or other information) can be transmitted for storage by an address server operating on the Internet or another wide area network (WAN). When client devices attempt to contact the server, the client can first contact the address server to obtain the sequence of local addresses that are associated with the server devices operating within the local network. This allows the client device to contact a target server device using one or more of the local addresses in the sequence, as desired. By providing a mechanism by which local addresses can be delivered, problems previously associated with locating hosts on the local area network can be overcome, thereby greatly improving device discovery and connect-ability within the local network environment. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an example of a network environment  100  in which a client  102  and a server  104  operate behind a common router device  110 . In this example, router no connects a home environment made up of several local area networks (LANs) to the Internet or another wide area network  105 . Each LAN is managed by a separate router device  110 ,  111 ,  112 ,  113 . In the illustrated example, the two devices  102 ,  104  are separated by three different router devices  111 ,  112 ,  113 . Each device  110 - 114  corresponds to wired or wireless router or gateway devices, for example, or to any number of other network control devices, as appropriate. Device  110  may be a home gateway that communicates with a cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (DSL) or similar modem, for example, to directly connect to the WAN  205 . Devices  111 - 112  may correspond to Wi-Fi gateways, virtual private network (VPN) gateways, wired or wireless router devices, firewalls and/or other devices as desired. Each device  110 - 114  is typically implemented as a computing device with conventional processor, memory, input/output and similar features that operate under the control of software or firmware instructions to execute the various functions described herein, as desired. 
     In the example illustrated in  FIG. 1 , it can often be a substantial challenge for the two nodes to find each other and establish a direct connection even though client  102  and server  104  operate on the same local environment  100  behind router  110 . This is partially due to the different address domains used by the different routers  110 - 113  in environment  100 . Moreover, one or more routers  110 - 113  may not be configured to forward discovery broadcasts from client  102  on other networks, particularly if the discovery broadcast is a proprietary or otherwise unique format, thereby making device discovery across multiple LANs more difficult. Since router and gateway configuration can be complex for many users, particularly in the home environment, it can be desirable to use a different mechanism for clients and servers to find each other that does not rely upon specific configuration of devices  110 - 114  operating within environment  100 . 
     To that end, server  104  initially gathers information about its logical position within network environment  100  and forwards the gathered information to an external address server  120  for storage and subsequent retrieval. Typically, network routers and gateways are configured to allow most outgoing traffic to network  105  even if incoming traffic is severely restricted. That is, most router devices (e.g., router  110 ) are configured by default to permit wide access for outgoing traffic while preventing access to the internal network by incoming traffic. Similarly, most internal routing devices  111 - 113  will allow relatively open access to communications heading toward wide area network  105 . 
     It is therefore relatively straightforward for server  104  to create an outgoing connection  144  to address server  120  operating on network  105  that can be used to transmit one or more addresses that are known to server  104 . Similarly, client  102  can place a subsequent outgoing request  142  to the address server  120  to request addresses associated with any servers  104  operating on the same local environment  100 . By storing network addresses associated with server  104  (including network addresses used on the internal network environment  100 ) with an external address server  120 , then, the client  102  can more conveniently obtain local addressing information about the server  104 . These local addresses, in turn, can be used to create direct connections  140  between client  102  and server  104  via the local network environment  100  even though local addresses are not directly shared between different LANs, and/or even though different LAN addresses are incompatible between different LANs operating on the same home environment, as appropriate. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates one example of a client  102  attempting to connect to a server  104  operating within the same network environment  100 . The particular environment  100  shown in the figure is intended to illustrate the concepts described herein, but equivalent embodiments could implement any other network scheme using any number of router/gateway devices arranged in any topology. 
     In the example illustrated in  FIG. 1 , server  104  uses an internet protocol (IP) address of 192.168.1.2 on its immediate network behind router  111 . Router  111  uses an address of 10.20.1.2 on its “public” side network, which is hosted by router  112 . Router  112 , in turn, uses a “public” side address of 10.102.10.2 on the network shared with WAN gateway no and router  113 . In one embodiment, server  104  initially determines its network location by performing TRACEROUTE or similar analysis to one or more nodes on network  110 , such as server  120 . The resulting TRACEROUTE data will identify addresses used by router  111 , router  112 , router  110  and any additional routing nodes in forwarding traffic to server  120  on network  105 . 
     In various embodiments, server  104  can further increase its visibility to clients on other networks by issuing a BIND command (or the like) to one or more of its intervening routers  111 ,  112 ,  110 . The BIND command will establish a port number with the bound router that can be used to forward messages to server  104 . Server  104  may attempt to bind to router  111  or router  112  to obtain a port number on address 10.20.1.2 (router  111 ) or 10.20.1.1 (router  112 ) that can be used to receive messages on the 10.20.1.x network. Similarly, server  104  may additionally or alternatively attempt to BIND to the 10.102.10.x network via router  112  and/or router  110 , as desired, to obtain an address on the 10.102.10.x network as well. Once the server  104  establishes one or more port numbers and/or addresses with another router, this information can be forwarded to the address server  120  for storage in a database  124 . 
     Client  102  suitably transmits a query message to server  120  to obtain contact information for any servers  104  operating in environment  100 . In various embodiments, address server  120  recognizes servers  104  operating in the same network environment  100  as client  102  by a shared address on network  105 . That is, any devices operating behind router no will typically exhibit a common IP address (182.71.244.110 in the  FIG. 1  example) on network  105 . Address server  120  can use this shared IP address to identify clients  102  and/or servers  104  that are located behind the same gateway device  110 . 
     Address server  120  responds to queries from one or more clients  102  by providing the sequences of address information  125  from database  124  for any servers  104  operating on the same network environment  100  as client  102 . Address information can include the addresses used by routers  110 - 112  to forward traffic to server  104 , the address/port number pairs for any bound connections associated with server  104 , and/or any other information as desired. Note that the different devices will typically exhibit different port numbers associated with the common WAN address; these unique port numbers may be stored by address server  120  and returned to clients  102  with subsequent address requests to facilitate connections using the shared-IP-but-unique-port-on-the-WAN, if desired. 
     Client  102  can then attempt to contact server  104  within the local environment using one or more of the addresses/port numbers associated with the server  104  that are provided by address server  120 , as desired. The addresses provided by address server  120  may be tried in series or parallel until a successful connection  140  between client  102  and server  104  is achieved. Connections may be attempted using, for example, network address translation (NAT) hole punching or the like. 
     In various embodiments, connection  142  from client  102  to address server  104  does not take place via router  110 . A cellular phone client  102 , for example, may establish connection  142  via a mobile telephone connection using a separate digital network. Client  102  will typically provide a local address or other information that can be used to associate client  102  with the WAN address on network  105  that is used by router no so that address server  120  can identify relevant servers  104  operating on the relevant network, but this information need not be provided via the home network itself. In further embodiments, address server  120  could maintain a device or user identifier associated with client device  102  and/or a user of client device  102  in a database. This identifier can be associated with a known address on network  105 , or a known server  104  (e.g., a television receiver or digital video recorder that is registered to the same user&#39;s account). In such embodiments, address server  120  could use the network address of the known server  104  to identify other servers  104  that are operating on the same network environment  100 . 
     In still further embodiments, clients  102  and servers  104  may be registered with a user account or the like so that it is not necessary to compare the WAN addresses of the different devices. To the contrary, address server  120  may be able to identify one or more server devices  104  that are associated with the same user account as client  102  and automatically forward the local addresses that are known for those devices, regardless of whether the addresses match the addresses associated with the client  102 . 
     Conversely, address server  120  may compare more than one address submitted by client  102  to identify any matches. Even if matches are not identified behind the WAN address, servers having matching addresses may be identified behind one or more local addresses, if desired. This may allow local connections to be established even in home environments that have multiple WAN connections, as desired. 
     Generally speaking, server  120  is implemented as a network server system using conventional processors, memory, interfaces and other computing hardware under the control of an appropriate operating system and application software. Equivalently, server  120  may be implemented using any sort of “cloud-based” hardware, such as the Amazon Web Services product available from Amazon.com, or any other cloud service such as Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Adobe Cloud, VMware, IBM Cloud, Rackspace, Red Hat and/or the like. 
     Both client  102  and server  104  can be implemented using conventional data processing hardware, software, firmware, etc. In various embodiments, server  104  may be a digital video recorder (DVR), IP television client or other network appliance that provides video streams to one or more client devices  102 . To that end, server  104  may be implemented with conventional processors, memory or mass storage, network interfaces and other computing hardware as appropriate. Similarly, client device  102  may be implemented with any sort of mobile phone, tablet, personal computer, streaming media client, web browser device or the like. Client device  102  will typically include conventional processor, memory and interface hardware as well as appropriate operating systems and application software as appropriate. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates an example process  200  that can can be used to automatically locate server  104  and/or establish a connection between client  102  and server  104 . The various functions shown in  FIG. 2  may be performed under the direction of software and/or firmware instructions that are stored in digital memory or mass storage for execution by one or more processors. The process  200  illustrated in  FIG. 2  is intended as an example that illustrates the broad concepts described herein; any number of equivalent embodiments could modify the particular logic described, and/or could implement different functions in any other temporal order, or using different hardware entities as desired. 
     As noted above, each server device  104  operating within a network environment  100  initially determines its own network information as appropriate (function  202 ). In various embodiments, the determination is performed using a UNIX/LINUX-type TRACEROUTE function that identifies routing devices along a path from a source to a destination. In various embodiments, a TRACEROUTE from server  104  to address server  120  (or any other service on network  105 ) will identify the different routers  110 - 112  residing within the local environment  100 , as well as any relay nodes within network  105 . The server  104  may attempt to bind to one or more of the identified routers  110 - 112 ; alternatively, the server  104  may simply report the addresses of the intervening routers without separately binding to the router, as desired. Generally, the network information  125  will include a sequence of network addresses and/or port numbers that have been identified for relaying network traffic to server  104 . These addresses may be conventional IP addresses/port numbers; equivalent embodiments could support any number of additional or alternate protocols and address formats, as desired, including IPv6 addresses or the like. 
     Network information  125  is forwarded to address server  120  in any manner (function  204 ). In various embodiments, server  104  is able to make an outgoing network connection via the WAN  105  via router  110 . Network information  125  may be delivered using HTTP PUT statements, FTP/TFTP file transfers, SMTP or other messaging, or in any other manner. In some embodiments, address server  120  provides an application program interface (API) that accepts in network information  125  in XML, SOAP or similar format. Address server  120  stores the received information  125  in database  124  for subsequent retrieval. 
     Upon receipt of a subsequent request message  206  transmitted by client  102 , the address server  120  suitably identifies any server(s)  104  operating within the same network environment  100  as client  102  (function  208 ), obtains the stored address information for each identified server  104 , and forwards the retrieved address information  125  back to the requesting client  102  (function  210 ). As noted above, the address server  120  may identify relevant servers  104  through a shared WAN address corresponding to router  110 , or in any other manner. Address information  125  about the identified server(s) may be formatted for storage, retrieval and/or delivery in any appropriate manner, including any sort of XML, SOAP, REST or other formats. 
     The client device  102  appropriately selects one of the available servers  104  based upon user selection, or in any other manner (function  212 ). In various embodiments, the client  102  could automatically select a server  104  based upon the closest server  104  (e.g., fewest network hops to connect), based upon the last server  104  contacted by the client  102 , or in any other manner. 
     The client device  102  then attempts to connect to the selected server  104  to establish a data connection (function  214 ). In various embodiments, the network information  125  received for the server  104  includes a sequence of network addresses within environment  100  that are associated with the server  100 . The client  102  can initiate contact with the server  104  by sending connection request messages to one or more of the addresses in the sequence. Other embodiments may use further techniques (e.g., network address translation (NAT) “hole punching”) to guess connection port numbers or to otherwise attempt to establish connections with the identified address. Addresses in the sequence may be contacted in series or in parallel, as desired for the particular embodiment. In at least one implementation, client  102  sends connection request packets to each of the addresses/ports identified in the received network information  125  in hopes that at least one connection request will be received by server  104 . Server  104  may be programmed to ignore subsequent requests from a client  102  if multiple requests are received; further embodiments could allow server  104  to choose which of the various connection requests to respond to based upon the first request received, or any other indicia that one connection address may be favored over another. 
     When communications are established between the client  102  and server  104  using the local network environment  100 , then a data connection  216  can be established. The data connection  216  may be used for media streaming in some embodiments; equivalent embodiments could use the connection for file transfers, video gaming, IPTV and/or any other purposes as desired. 
     The general concepts set forth herein may be modified in any number of ways. Although the network environment is often described herein as a “home” environment, equivalent concepts could be applied to offices, schools, factories, restaurants and bars, and/or any number of other environments that make use of multiple local area networks. Moreover, the concepts described herein with respect to contacting video servers to establish video streaming could be equivalently applied for other applications or purposes, such as internet television (IPTV), video gaming, home or office control, file or print sharing and/or any other applications as desired. 
     The term “exemplary” is used herein to represent one example, instance or illustration that may have any number of alternates. Any implementation described herein as “exemplary” should not necessarily be construed as preferred or advantageous over other implementations. While several exemplary embodiments have been presented in the foregoing detailed description, it should be appreciated that a vast number of alternate but equivalent variations exist, and the examples presented herein are not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the invention in any way. To the contrary, various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of the various features described herein without departing from the scope of the claims and their legal equivalents.