Combining routers to increase concurrency and redundancy in external network ...

(54) COMBINING ROUTERS TO INCREASE CONCURRENCY AND REDUNDANCY IN EXTERNAL NETWORK ACCESS

(75) Inventors: Sanchaita Datta; Ragula Bhaskar,

both of Salt Lake City, UT (US)

(73) Assignee: Ragula Systems, Salt Lake City, UT (US)

( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.

(21) Appl. No.: 09/476,646

(22) Filed: Dec. 31, 1999

(51) Int. CI.7 G06F 13/00; H04L 12/46;

H04L 12/66

(52) U.S. CI 370/218; 370/352; 370/392;

370/401; 709/203; 709/238; 709/245; 709/249

(58) Field of Search 370/217, 218,

370/219, 242, 244, 245, 352, 353, 354, 389, 392, 400, 401, 465; 709/201, 203, 227, 230, 238, 245, 249; 714/1, 2, 3, 4

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(List continued on next page.)

Primary Examiner—Alpus H. Hsu

(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Computer Law++

(57) ABSTRACT

Methods, configured storage media, and systems are provided for increasing bandwidth between a local area network ("LAN") and other networks by using multiple routers on the given LAN. Data packets are multiplexed between the routers using a novel variation on the standard address resolution protocol, and other components. On receiving data destined for an external network, a controller or gateway computer will direct the data to the appropriate router. In addition to providing higher speed connections, the invention provides better fault tolerance in the form of redundant connections from the originating LAN to a wide area network such as the Internet.

23 Claims, 3 Drawing Sheets

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

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* cited by examiner