Method And Apparatus For Facilitating Home Network Access
A manner of extending a home network to a mobile device. An SG (signaling gateway) is provided to receive register an HA (home agent) and an FA (foreign agent) and form a secure tunnel to each to form a communication channel. A heartbeat may be exchanged with the HA to keep open the NAT boundary for the communication channel. If a high bandwidth application request is received from the HA, the SG determines if there is a PS (proxy server) able to handle the session and, if so, transfers the channel.
1 . A method of providing remote access via an SG (signaling gateway) for a mobile device comprising an FA (foreign agent) to a home network comprising an HA (home agent), said method comprising:
receiving a registration request from an HA at the SG;
registering the HA;
receiving a heartbeat message from the HA at the SG;
responding to the heartbeat message;
receiving a request directed to the HA from an FA; and
registering the FA.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising entering the FA-HA pair into an FA-HA pair table at the SG.
3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising distributing the HA and FA pair information to at least one other SG.
4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising responding by the SG to a heartbeat message received from the FA.
5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising, prior to registering the FA, determining whether the HA is registered with the SG.
6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising, prior to registering the FA, sending a query to the HA to determine if communication with the FA should be permitted.
7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving in the SG an application request from the HA.
8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising transferring the FA-HA pair to a PS (proxy server) for communication.
9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising, prior to transferring the FA-HA pair, determining whether an anticipated bandwidth requirement in the application request exceeds a bandwidth limit for the HA.
10 . A signaling gateway (SG), comprising:
a processor;
a memory device accessible to the processor;
a heartbeat message generator for responding to a received heartbeat message; and
an FA-HA pair table for registering an FA-HA communication pair during a communication session.
11 . The SG of claim 10 , further comprising a mobile network interface for communicating with FAs via a mobile network and a separate home network interface for communicating with HAs via an access network.
12 . The SG of claim 10 , further comprising a load balancer for determining when to transfer an FA-HA pair to another SG.