Patent Publication Number: US-2022217126-A1

Title: Apparatus and method for secure router device

Description:
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/994,469, filed May 31, 2018, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/513,853, filed Jun. 1, 2017 which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth. 
    
    
     FIELD OF INVENTION 
     The present application is directed to networking and electronic secure communication using a router. 
     BACKGROUND 
     The concept of a router has been employed in some of the first known versions of computer networking. Routers relate to intelligent decision making for deciding where packets should be sent based on a specified protocol. A router is typically connected to a network, such as the internet or a local area network. A need may arise for a multi-function router device that provides functionality beyond what is currently available. 
     SUMMARY 
     Method, systems, and devices for providing a multi-function router. A router may receive and forward data packets at a physical network interface. The router may also run a virtualized router using a logical network interface mapped statically or dynamically to the physical network interface. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows an example of the hardware of a router device; 
         FIG. 2  shows a high level diagram of an example router configuration; 
         FIG. 3  shows a high level diagram of an example router configuration; 
         FIG. 4  shows a high level diagram of an example router configuration; and 
         FIG. 5  shows a high level diagram of an example router configuration. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S) 
     The present application is written with various examples, embodiments, scenarios, and situations that are meant to present non-limiting exemplary descriptions of the present application. Further, it is envisioned that any of the examples, embodiments, scenarios, or situations may be used separately, combined, or in any possible configuration as may be possible despite the description herein. 
       FIG. 1  shows an example router. The router  101  may have one or more hardware components such as one or more processors  102  and/or microcontrollers operatively connected to memory (e.g., storage mediums, hard drives, solid state drives, ROM, RAM, etc.)  103 ,  104  and a physical interface. The memory  103  may contain computer code that may be executed by the processor and utilize the hardware of the router  101 . The physical interface may have one or more I/O ports  105  such as: a USB port (e.g. USB 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, Type-C, etc.), a serial port (e.g. RS-232), parallel port, Small Computer Systems Interface port (SCSI), FireWire (i.e. IEEE 1394), Thunderbolt (e.g. Thunderbolt 1, 2, 3), Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), PCI express (PCIe), Coaxial port, network interface controller (NIC) (e.g. Ethernet RJ-45), modem port (i.e. telephone jack RJ-11), wireless card (e.g., WIFI IEEE 802.11 standards, Bluetooth, NFC, cell phone modem based on 3GPP standards, etc.), optical data port (laser, infrared, etc.), audio ports, display ports (e.g. HDMI, VGA, DisplayPort, etc.), and human interface ports (e.g. keyboard, mouse, PS/2, etc.). For example, a networking port may be an Ethernet port. There may be multiple iterations of one type of port, such as a set of networking ports which include at least two Ethernet ports. A set of networking ports may comprise a set of the same type or different types of ports. 
       FIG. 2  shows a high level diagram of an example router configuration. In one embodiment the router hardware  201  may run router firmware  202 , software  203 , operating systems (OS)  204 , and/or applications. The router  201  may run firmware  202  that supports/enables/executes router firmware virtualization infrastructure (RFVI)  203  that creates one or more virtualized environments  204 . The RFVI  203  may support/enable/execute one or more virtual machines  204  such as a virtualized guest operating system (OS), firmware, and/or software. The virtual machine  204  may be an operating system based on Microsoft Windows, Linux, Unix, MacOS, or the like. In one example the virtual machine  204  may be a software OS performing the role of a Domain Controller. In one example the RFVI  203  may be an application specific server. The operating system  204  may run software that performs specific functionalities and/or emulates the functionality of a specialized device, such as a virtual server or router. The router  201  and/or virtual server  204  may be connected to one or more logical or physical networks, such as the internet, and may assist in the management and/or forwarding of data packets within and/or between networks, and/or virtual machines, and or hardware. 
       FIG. 3  shows a high level diagram of an example router configuration. In one embodiment the one or more virtual machines  304  may have virtual interfaces, also known as logical interfaces  305 , connected to the physical interfaces  306 , as described herein. The RFVI  301  via the router firmware  302  may facilitate a connection between the logical interface  305  and the physical interface  306 . The logical interface  305  may include a virtualized version of physical interface ports  306 . Additionally/alternatively, the virtual machine logical interface  305  may connect with a host router firmware logical interface. 
       FIG. 4  shows a high level diagram of an example router configuration. In one embodiment the physical interface may be a Physical Network Interface (PNI)  406 , which is a wired and/or wireless port such as those described herein. The logical interface may be a virtualized network interface, also known as a Logical Network Interface (LNI)  405 , which may simulate a wired or wireless network port such as any of those described herein. The PNI  406  may be used by the RFVI  403  via the router firmware  402  to facilitate a connection to the LNI  405 . 
       FIG. 5  shows a high level diagram of an example router configuration. In one embodiment the virtual machine  504  communicates with the PNI  506 . The operating system of the virtual machine  504  may see a LNI  505  and treat is as a PNI  506  without knowing that it is virtualized. The RFVI  503  may also have a Logical Network Bridge (LNB)  507  that bridges one or more connections within the router  501 . The RFVI  503  may be configured to have a static mapping of a specific LNI  505  to a specific PNI  506  and/or may have a dynamic mapping of one or more LNIs  505  to one or more PNIs  506 . The routing of information from the ports of the PNI  506  and/or LNI  505  may happen simultaneously or near simultaneously. 
     The router  101  may implement directly and/or indirectly various levels of security. The router  101  may be used in a Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC) program as instituted by the National Security Agency (NSA). CSfC provides secure solutions leveraging layered encryption solutions to provide adequate protection of classified data. The router  101  may be used as, in conjunction with, or may assist with: IPsec Virtual Private Network (VPN) Gateway, IPsec VPN Gateway, WLAN Access System, Certificate Authority, IPSec VPN Client, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Client, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Server, Mobile Platform, Mobile Device Management (MDM), Software Full Drive Encryption (SW FDE), Hardware Full Drive Encryption, VoIP Applications, Transport Layer Security (TLS) Software Applications; E-mail Clients; Internet Protocol Security (IPS), Traffic Filtering Firewall, Web Browsers, File Encryption, TLS Protected Servers, Session Border Controller, Authentication Server, Medium Access Control Security (MACSEC) Ethernet Encryption Devices, and/or Virtualized Servers. 
     In one embodiment the router  101  may run a first IPSEC VPN alongside a second virtualized IPSEC VPN thereby providing two functions in one device that reduces costs and increases efficiency of one device solution. In this embodiment the first IPSEC VPN may be mapped to a first set of networking ports of a PNI  105  of the router  101  and the second virtualized IPSEC VPN may be mapped to a second set of networking ports of the PNI  105  of the router  101 . 
     In another embodiment a router  101  may host software to facilitate network access to an eNodeB (eNB) that results in two functionalities in one hardware solution in support of network access to an eNodeB.