Address converter for gateways interconnecting networks of different address formats

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates generally to address conversion and more specifically to conversion of address data contained in a packet when the packet travels between networks of different address formats.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Address conversion is necessary for a gateway when routing a packet from a first network to a second network if the address formats of the networks are different from each other. For example, in an internetwork environment, local private networks are connected to remote private networks via a global network. In such configurations, addresses of the private networks are organized independently of those assigned by the global network in order to facilitate address management of the private networks.

[0005] An address converter disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Specification 09-233112 uses a database that maps addresses of a first network to corresponding addresses of a second network. When the address converter receives a packet from the first network, it makes a search through the database for the corresponding address data of the second network that is mapped to the address data contained in the packet. However, if the amount of data contained in the database increases with an increasing number of users, the time taken to search through the database becomes substantial. Hence, there is a significant amount of latency in the transmission of packets across different networks.

[0006] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method of packet transmission and an address converter for reducing the latency of packets travelling across first and second networks of different address formats.

[0007] The stated object is achieved by transmitting second address data conforming to the second network with first address data that conforms to the first network.

[0008] According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of transmitting packets between first and second networks of different address formats, comprising the steps of (a) receiving, from a first network, a packet containing first address data conforming to the first network and second address data conforming to a second network, the first address data being contained in a packet header of the packet and the second address data being contained in an auxiliary header of the packet, (b) rewriting the first address data with the second address data, and (c) transmitting the packet to the second network.

[0009] According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an address converter for use in a gateway connected between first and second networks of different address formats, comprising receive means for receiving, from the first network, a packet containing first address data formulated according to the first network and second address data formulated according to the second network, the first address data being contained in a packet header of the packet and the second address data being contained in an auxiliary header of the packet. Control means is provided for rewriting the first address data of the packet with the second address data of the packet. Transmit means transmits the packet to the second network.

[0017] FIG. 1 illustrates a gateway 10 of the present invention for interconnecting networks 11 and 12 via communication links 13 and 14. The address format of each network is different from the address format of the other, and for this reason, the gateway 10 includes a pair of address converters 21 and 22 of identical construction, each for a particular direction of transmission. Specifically, the address converter 21 provides address conversion on signals received from the network 11 via an interface unit 20 to the network 12 via an interface unit 23, the address converter 22 providing address conversion on signals received from the network 12 via interface unit 23 to the network 11 via interface unit 20.

[0018] As shown in detail, the address converter 22 includes an input buffer 30 for buffering incoming packets from the link 14, and a register 31 for storing a packet from the input buffer 30 on a one-at-a-time basis. A controller 32 is provided for making a search through the register 30 for target address data when a packet is stored. Controller 32 performs conversion of the packet's address data using the target address data and formulates an outgoing packet in a manner as will be described in detail later, and forwards the outgoing packet to an output buffer 34 where the packet is buffered and transmitted to the link 13.

[0019] An address conversion table 33 is also connected to the controller 32 to be used when the target address data is not found in the received packet. Address conversion table 33 maps the address data of a network to corresponding address data of another network.

[0020] As shown in FIG. 2, the packet of the present invention is divided into a packet header (such as Ipv6 header), an auxiliary header following the packet header and a payload field. The packet header consists of a destination address (DA₁) field 41, a source address (SA₁) 42 and a remainder field 43 for mapping other header information. The original destination and source addresses DA₁, and SA₁, are conforming to the format of the source network.

[0021] According to the present invention, the auxiliary header includes a target address field and an auxiliary information field. The target address field is divided into subfields 44, 45 and 46 for respectively mapping a field indicator FI₁ for specifying the auxiliary header, a target destination address (DA₂) and a target source address (SA₂). The target destination and source addresses DA₂ and SA₂ are conforming to the format of the destination network. The auxiliary information field is divided into subfields 47 and 48 for respectively mapping a field indicator FI₂, which specifies the auxiliary information field 48, and auxiliary information. The auxiliary information field 48 is followed by a payload field 49 in which payload bits are placed.

[0022] According to a first embodiment of the present invention, the operation of the controller 32 of each address converter proceeds according to the flowchart of FIG. 3.

[0023] When an incoming packet is received in the input buffer 30 and then transferred to the register 31 (step 301), the contents of the packet are stored in storage locations 51 to 59 of the register as shown in FIG. 4A corresponding to fields 41 to 49 of the packet.

[0024] The controller 32 proceeds to step 302 to make a search through the register 31 to determine if there is an auxiliary header to determine (step 303). If there is none, the decision at step 303 is negative and the controller proceeds to step 306 to perform an address conversion on the incoming packet using the conversion table 33 and forwards the address-converted packet to the output buffer 34 (step 308) and proceeds to the end of the routine.

[0025] If the decision at step 303 is affirmative, the controller proceeds to step 304 to make a search through the auxiliary header to determine if it contains a target address field (step 305). If there is none, the controller proceeds to step 306.

[0026] If target address data is contained in the auxiliary header, the decision at step 305 is affirmative and the controller proceeds to step 307 to discard DA₁, SA₁, FI₁ and move DA₂, SA₂ to storage locations 51, 52 of the register 30, and move FI₂, auxiliary information and payload data from locations 57 to 59 to the left so that FI₂ immediately follows the header information stored in location 53. In this way, an outgoing packet is formulated in the register 31 as shown in FIG. 4B.

[0027] The controller then forwards the outgoing packet to the output buffer 34 for transmission. Because the storage locations 55, 56 and 57 are eliminated, the whole length of the outgoing packet is advantageously shorter than the incoming packet in terms of bandwidth occupied during transmission.

[0028] Therefore, the destination and source addresses of the source network contained in the incoming packet are converted to the addresses of the destination network.

[0029] Since time-consuming table search is not required for packets if they contain the address data of their destination network, they experience a minimum latency when they travel from one network to another. Further, the cost of the gateway is reduced due to the elimination of the need to provide costly high speed address conversion.

[0030] In the previous embodiment, the target addresses cannot be reconverted to the original addresses, and hence the original addresses can no longer be used. However, there may be instances where an intermediate network is interposed between the source and destination networks, and the source and destination networks use the same address format while the intermediate network uses a different address format. In such applications, the original addresses are converted to the target addresses in a first gateway at the boundary between the source and intermediate networks and the target addresses are reconverted to the original addresses in a second gateway at the boundary between the intermediate and destination networks.

[0031] This is implemented by transposing the original address data and the target address data between different storage location of the register 31 according to a flowchart shown in FIG. 5, in which steps corresponding to those in FIG. 3 are marked with the same numerals as those in FIG. 3 and the description thereof is omitted for simplicity.

[0032] FIG. 5 differs from FIG. 3 in that if the decision at step 305 is affirmative, the routine proceeds to step 501 to transpose DA₁ and SA₁ with DA₂ and SA₂ between storage locations 51, 52 and storage locations 55, 56 of the register 31, as shown in FIG. 6A, so that an outgoing packet is formulated in the register as shown in FIG. 6B.

[0033] It will be seen that when a packet is received in a first gateway from a source network, the address data DA₁ and SA₁ of the source network are converted to the address data DA₂ and SA₂ of an intermediate network and transmitted through the intermediate network to a second gateway. In the second gateway, the address data DA₂ and SA₂ of the intermediate network are reconverted to the address data DA₁ and SA₁ of a destination network and transmitted through the destination network where a packet is routed to a destination terminal.