Patent ID: 7120701

Claim:
In a network having public and private realms separated by an interface device, a method performed by a client on the private realm for use in sending a data packet through the network, the method comprising: determining, before an application running on the client finishes building the data packet to be sent, if a destination address of the data packet corresponds to the private realm or to the public realm; retrieving, before the application running on the client finishes building the data packet to be sent, a public address of the interface device that is addressable from the public realm if the destination address corresponds to the public realm; retrieving, before the application running on the client finishes building the data packet to be sent, a private address of the client that is addressable from the private realm if the destination address corresponds to the private realm; assigning, before the application running on the client finishes building the data packet to be sent, a retrieved address to be the source address of the data packet; and the method further comprising; installing a software module on the client; and binding the software module to the public address of the interface device; wherein the public address of the interface device is retrieved via the software module.