Gateway and method for differentiating traffic transmitted by the gateway, traffic management device and method

1 . A traffic differentiation method implemented by a gateway between a first network and a second network, said method comprising:

inserting, by the gateway, marking information in a field of the header of a packet emitted by said gateway and intended to be routed to said second network, the marking information allowing a recipient device of a network including the second network to determine whether:

said packet was generated by said gateway, or whether

said packet was generated by a terminal of said first network connected to said gateway, received by the gateway from the terminal, and, after the reception of said packet by said gateway, modified by said gateway to include said marking information, wherein inserting the marking information comprises inserting one of a first marking information and of a second information in a field of the header of the packet, the first marking information being inserted when the packet is generated by the gateway itself and the second information being inserted when the packet is received from a terminal of the first network and transferred to the second network; and

sending said packet comprising said marking information to said second network, the first network and the second network being two different types of networks using different protocols.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein:

the first network is a local area network and the second network is an access network; or

the first network is an access network and the second network is an aggregation network or a core network.

3 . The method of claim 1 wherein said packet is of the IPv4 type, said field being the “Flags” field or the “IP options” field of an IPv4 header.

4 . The method of claim 1 wherein said packet is of the IPv6 type, said field being the “flow label” or “extension header” type field of an IPv6 header.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is implemented without any consideration of an IP session, and without storage of any parameters of an IP session.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the marking information comprises a single bit.

7 . A method for managing a traffic received by a recipient device of a network including a second network, the traffic being received from a gateway between a first network and said second network, said recipient device being connected to said gateway via said second network, said method comprising:

receiving a packet from said gateway;

searching for marking information inserted by said gateway in a field of the header of said packet, said marking information allowing the recipient device to determine whether:

said packet was generated by said gateway, or whether

said packet was generated by a terminal of said first network connected to said gateway, received by the gateway from the terminal, and, after the reception of said packet by said gateway, said packet was modified by said gateway to include said marking information, wherein the marking information comprises one of a first marking information and of a second information in a field of the header of the packet, the first marking information having been inserted when the packet was generated by the gateway itself and the second information having been inserted when the packet was received from a terminal of the first network and transferred to the second network; and

processing said packet based on the result of said searching, the first network and the second network being two different types of networks using different protocols.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein said processing of said packet includes at least one selected from a group comprising:

an incrementation of a packet counter including marking information;

a deletion or modification of said marking information before transfer of said packet to another device;

a selection of a quality of service to be applied to said packet;

an application to said packet of a routing method;

a destruction of said packet;

a sending of an ICMP packet to the sender of the processed packet;

a creation of an IP tunnel to route said packet via said tunnel;

a de-capsulation of a tunnel IP via which said packet is routed; and

a storage of parameters of the session during which said packet is received, to apply a processing to other packets of the same session.

9 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to implement a method for managing a traffic received by a recipient device of a network including a second network, the traffic being received from a gateway between a first network and said second network, said device being connected to said gateway via said second network, said method comprising:

receiving a packet from said gateway;

searching for marking information inserted by said gateway in a field of the header of said packet, said marking information allowing the recipient device to determine whether:

said packet was generated by said gateway, or whether

said packet was generated by a terminal of said first network connected to said gateway, received by the gateway from the terminal, and, after the reception of said packet by said gateway, said packet was modified by said gateway to include said marking information, wherein the marking information comprises one of a first marking information and of a second information in a field of the header of the packet, the first marking information having been inserted when the packet was generated by the gateway itself and the second information having been inserted when the packet was received from a terminal of the first network and transferred to the second network; and

processing said packet based on the result of said searching, the first network and the second network being two different types of networks using different protocols.

10 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to implement a traffic differentiation method implemented by a gateway between a first network and a second network, said traffic differentiation method comprising:

inserting, by the gateway, marking information in a field of the header of a packet emitted by said gateway and intended to be routed to said second network, the marking information allowing a recipient device of a network including the second network to determine whether:

said packet was generated by said gateway, or whether

said packet was generated by a terminal of said first network connected to said gateway and modified by said gateway to include said marking information, wherein inserting the marking information comprises inserting one of a first marking information and of a second information in a field of the header of the packet, the first marking information being inserted when the packet is generated by the gateway itself and the second information being inserted when the packet is received from a terminal of the first network and transferred to the second network; and

sending said packet comprising said marking information to said second network, the first network and the second network being two different types of networks using different protocols.

11 . A gateway between a first network and a second network, the gateway comprising a processor, the gateway configured to:

insert marking information in a field of the header of a packet emitted by said gateway and intended to be routed to said second network, the marking information allowing a recipient device of a network including the second network to determine whether:

said packet was generated by said gateway; or whether

said packet was generated by a terminal of said first network connected to said gateway, received by the gateway from the terminal, and, after the reception of said packet by said gateway, modified by said gateway to include said marking information, wherein inserting the marking information comprises inserting one of a first marking information and of a second information in a field of the header of the packet, the first marking information being inserted when the packet is generated by the gateway itself and the second information being inserted when the packet is received from a terminal of the first network and transferred to the second network; and

send said packet comprising said marking information to said second access network, the first network and the second network being two different types of networks using different protocols.

12 . The gateway of claim 11 , wherein the gateway forms a part of:

a terminal able to provide a connection sharing service of a Tethering type;

a network termination equipment; or

a base station of a cellular network.

13 . A recipient device of a network including a second network, said recipient device being connected to a gateway between a first network and said second network, and allowing managing a traffic received from said gateway, said recipient device comprising a processor, said recipient device configured to:

receive a packet from said gateway;

search for at least one marking information, inserted by the gateway in a field of the header of said packet, said marking information allowing said recipient device to determine whether:

said packet was generated by said gateway, or whether

said packet was generated by a terminal of said first network connected to said gateway, received by the gateway from the terminal, and, after the reception of said packet by said gateway, modified by said gateway to include said marking information, wherein the marking information comprises one of a first marking information and of a second information in a field of the header of the packet, the first marking information having been inserted when the packet was generated by the gateway itself and the second information having been inserted when the packet was received from a terminal of the first network and transferred to the second network; and

process said packet based on the result of the searching, the first network and the second network being two different types of networks using different protocols.

14 . The device of claim 13 , wherein the device forms a part of:

a device recipient of said packet;

network termination equipment;

an access point of a cellular access network;

a router;

a switch;

a traffic load manager;

a Firewall-type server;

an A-SBC, P-CSCF, MME, PGW, or SGW type device; or

a platform for providing a service.

15 . A system for managing a traffic emitted by the gateway of claim 11 to said second network, said system including said gateway and at least one management device comprising a processor, said at least one management device configured to:

receive a packet from said gateway;

search for at least one marking information, inserted by said gateway in a field of the header of said packet, said marking information allowing said management device to determine whether:

said packet was generated by said gateway, or whether

said packet was generated by a terminal of said first network connected to said gateway and modified by said gateway to include said marking information; and

process said packet based on the result of the search, the first network and the second network being two different types of networks using different protocols.