Method and apparatus for providing mobile IP service through a network address translation gateway

1. Apparatus for providing a gateway between a local area network and a wide area network, comprising:

a network address translation (NAT) module embodied in hardware, wherein the NAT module is configured to provide network address translation for the gateway;

a foreign agent module embodied in hardware for advertising a care-of address on the local area network and processing registration and mobile internet protocol (IP) communication traffic on the local area network and the wide area network; and

a control module embodied in hardware for identifying the registration and the mobile IP communication traffic to omit processing thereof by the network address translation module, thereby omitting network address translation by the network address translation module for the registration and mobile IP communication traffic, and processing the registration and the mobile IP communication traffic by the foreign agent module, wherein the control module comprises a filter module embodied in hardware configured to filter traffic from the local area network and the wide area network to provide the registration and the mobile IP communication traffic to the foreign agent module and to provide remaining traffic to the network address translation module.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the care-of address is a wide area network-side IP address of the gateway or a separate wide area network-side IP address statically or dynamically assigned to the foreign agent module.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the foreign agent module is configured to:

receive registration request messages from mobile devices through the local area network;

alter a source IP address and a port of each of the registration request messages to correspond to a wide area network interface for the foreign agent module; and

forward the registration request messages to home agents through the wide area network;

and wherein the control module is configured to:

identify the registration request messages as mobile IP messaging traffic based on destination port value; and

forward the registration request messages to the foreign agent module to the exclusion of the network address translation module.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the foreign agent module is further configured to:

receive registration reply messages from the home agents over the wide area network;

alter a destination IP address and a port of each of the registration reply messages to a local area network interface of a corresponding one of the mobile devices;

and wherein the control module is further configured to:

identify the registration reply messages as mobile IP messaging traffic based on destination port value; and

forward the registration reply messages to the foreign agent module to the exclusion of the network address translation module.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the foreign agent module is configured to:

receive first mobile IP communication traffic from mobile devices over the local area network;

encapsulate the first post registration traffic with an IP header containing the care-of address for IP-to-IP tunneling through the wide area network to home agents;

and wherein the control module is configured to:

identify the first mobile IP communication traffic as mobile IP traffic based on source address being home addresses of the mobile devices; and

forward the first mobile IP communication traffic to the foreign agent module to the exclusion of the network address translation module.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the foreign agent module is further configured to:

receive second mobile IP communication traffic from the home agents over the wide area network;

decapsulate the second post registration traffic; and

forward the second post registration traffic to the mobile devices on the local area network;

and wherein the control module is further configured to:

identify the second mobile IP communication traffic as mobile IP traffic based on source address; and

forward the second mobile IP communication traffic to the foreign agent module to the exclusion of the network address translation module.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the foreign agent module is configured to establish a filter for the wide area network.

8. A method of providing a gateway between a local area network and a wide area network, the gateway having a foreign agent module and a network address translation (NAT) module, the method comprising:

inspecting packets received from the wide area network and the local area network to identify whether each of the packets is registration mobile internet protocol (IP) traffic, mobile IP communication traffic, or other traffic;

processing the registration mobile IP traffic and the mobile IP communication traffic via the foreign agent module and not processing the registration mobile IP traffic via the network address translation module; and

processing the other traffic via the network address translation module, wherein network address translation is omitted for the registration mobile IP traffic and the mobile IP communication traffic,

wherein the NAT module is configured to provide network address translation for the gateway, and further, wherein the step of inspecting comprises filtering traffic from the local area network and the wide area network to provide the registration mobile IP traffic and the mobile IP communication traffic to the foreign agent module and to provide the other traffic to the network address translation module.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

advertising a care-of address on the local area network via the foreign agent module;

wherein the care-of address is a wide area network-side IP address of the gateway or a separate wide area network-side IP address statically or dynamically assigned to the foreign agent module.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the step of processing via the foreign agent module comprises:

receiving a registration request message from a mobile device through the local area network;

altering a source IP address and a port of the registration request message to correspond to a wide area network interface for the foreign agent module; and

forwarding the registration request message to a home agent through the wide area network;

and wherein the step of inspecting comprises:

identifying the registration request message as mobile IP messaging traffic based on destination port value; and

forwarding the registration request message to the foreign agent module to the exclusion of the network address translation module.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the step of processing via the foreign agent module further comprises:

receiving a registration reply message from the home agent over the wide area network; and

altering a destination IP address and a port of the registration reply message to a local area network interface of the mobile device;

and wherein the step of inspecting further comprises:

identifying the registration reply message as mobile IP messaging traffic based on destination port value; and

forwarding the registration reply message to the foreign agent module to the exclusion of the network address translation module.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the step of processing via the foreign agent module comprises:

receiving first mobile IP communication traffic from a mobile device over the local area network; and

encapsulating the first mobile IP communication traffic with an IP header containing the care-of address for IP-to-IP tunneling through the wide area network to a home agent;

and wherein the step of inspecting comprises:

identifying the first mobile IP communication traffic as mobile IP traffic based on source address being a home address of the mobile device; and

forwarding the first mobile IP communication traffic to the foreign agent module to the exclusion of the network address translation module.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the step of processing via the foreign agent module further comprises:

receiving second mobile IP communication traffic from the home agent over the wide area network;

decapsulating the second mobile IP communication traffic; and

forwarding the second mobile IP communication traffic to the mobile device on the local area network

and wherein the step of inspecting further comprises:

identifying the second mobile IP communication traffic as mobile IP traffic based on source address; and

forwarding the second mobile IP communication traffic to the foreign agent module to the exclusion of the network address translation module.

14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

establishing a filter for the wide area network.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method of providing a gateway between a local area network and a wide area network, the gateway having a foreign agent module and a network address translation (NAT) module, the method comprising:

inspecting packets received from the wide area network and the local area network to identify whether each of the packets is registration mobile internet protocol (IP) traffic, mobile IP communication traffic, or other traffic;

processing the registration mobile IP traffic and the mobile IP communication traffic via the foreign agent module and not processing the registration mobile IP traffic via the network address translation module; and

processing the other traffic via the network address translation module, wherein network address translation is omitted for the registration mobile IP traffic and the mobile IP communication traffic,

wherein the NAT module is configured to provide network address translation for the gateway, and further, wherein the step of inspecting comprises filtering traffic from the local area network and the wide area network to provide the registration mobile IP traffic and the mobile IP communication traffic to the foreign agent module and to provide the other traffic to the network address translation module.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the step of processing via the foreign agent module comprises:

receiving a registration request message from a mobile device through the local area network;

altering a source IP address and a port of the registration request message to correspond to a wide area network interface for the foreign agent module; and

forwarding the registration request message to a home agent through the wide area network;

and wherein the step of inspecting comprises:

identifying the registration request message as mobile IP messaging traffic based on destination port value; and

forwarding the registration request message to the foreign agent module to the exclusion of the network address translation module.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the step of processing via the foreign agent module further comprises:

receiving a registration reply message from the home agent over the wide area network; and

altering a destination IP address and a port of the registration reply message to a local area network interface of the mobile device;

and wherein the step of inspecting further comprises:

identifying the registration reply message as mobile IP messaging traffic based on destination port value; and

forwarding the registration reply message to the foreign agent module to the exclusion of the network address translation module.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the step of processing via the foreign agent module comprises:

receiving first mobile IP communication traffic from a mobile device over the local area network; and

encapsulating the first mobile IP communication traffic with an IP header containing a care-of address for IP-to-IP tunneling through the wide area network to a home agent;

and wherein the step of inspecting comprises:

identifying the first mobile IP communication traffic as mobile IP traffic based on source address being a home address of the mobile device; and

forwarding the first mobile IP communication traffic to the foreign agent module to the exclusion of the network address translation module.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the step of processing via the foreign agent module further comprises:

receiving second mobile IP communication traffic from the home agent over the wide area network;

decapsulating the second mobile IP communication traffic; and

forwarding the second mobile IP communication traffic to the mobile device on the local area network

and wherein the step of inspecting further comprises:

identifying the second mobile IP communication traffic as mobile IP traffic based on source address; and

forwarding the second mobile IP communication traffic to the foreign agent module to the exclusion of the network address translation module.