Patent ID: 7356020

Claim:
A communications method for use in a communications system including a first network address domain and a second network address domain and an intermediate node, said intermediate node including first and second interfaces, said first interface having a first network address routable in the first network address domain, said second interface having a second network address routable in said second network address domain, said first and second network addresses being different, said system further including a downstream node with an interface and a network address in the first domain, and an upstream node including an interface and a network address in the second domain, the method comprising the steps of: operating said intermediate node to receive a first message from said downstream node, said first message including a first message body and a first header, said first message body including at least one instruction used to control said upstream node to interact with said intermediate node, said first header including the first network address as the destination address of said first message; and operating said intermediate node to generate a second message including a second message body and a second header, said second message body including said at least one instruction from said downstream node and said second network address corresponding to said second interface, said second network address being for use by said upstream node when interacting with said intermediate node in accordance with said at least one instruction, said second header including a destination address corresponding to said upstream node.