Patent ID: 7860105

Claim:
A method for establishing a connection between a node on a first network having a first addressing scheme and at least one node on a second network having a second addressing scheme, comprising: receiving at a gateway, coupled between a first network and a second network a connection request message from the node on the first network, the gateway including a socket map, the socket map including a plurality of triplets of identifiers, each triplet of identifiers consisting only of a first port number, a second port number and an address, the message being routed to the gateway based on the first addressing scheme; determining whether the connection request message is received on a port of the gateway that can be matched to a first port number in the socket map or contains a connection request that is recognized by the gateway; if a match is made or the connection request is recognized, sending information related to the connection request message to a plurality of nodes on the second network; receiving responses to the sent information from a plurality of nodes on the second network; and establishing at least one connection between at least one of the responding nodes on the second network and the node on the first network; and if the connection request is not recognized, dropping the connection request message.