System and method for improving internet communication by using intermediate nodes
A method for fetching a content from a web server to a client device is disclosed, using tunnel devices serving as intermediate devices. The client device accesses an acceleration server to receive a list of available tunnel devices. The requested content is partitioned into slices, and the client device sends a request for the slices to the available tunnel devices. The tunnel devices in turn fetch the slices from the data server, and send the slices to the client device, where the content is reconstructed from the received slices. A client device may also serve as a tunnel device, serving as an intermediate device to other client devices. Similarly, a tunnel device may also serve as a client device for fetching content from a data server. The selection of tunnel devices to be used by a client device may be in the acceleration server, in the client device, or in both. The partition into slices may be overlapping or non-overlapping, and the same slice (or the whole content) may be fetched via multiple tunnel devices.
1. A method by a router device that is addressable in the Internet using an Internet Protocol (IP) address, and that comprises a Wide Area Network (WAN) interface that is connectable to the Internet and a Local Area Network (LAN) interface that is connectable to a computer device, for use with a first web-page that is identified by a first Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and that is stored in a web server, and for use with a second web-page that is identified by a second URL and that is stored in the web server, the method comprising:
receiving, by a router device via the WAN interface from a server device over the Internet, the first URL;
sending, by the router device via the WAN interface to the web server over the Internet, a first HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request that comprises the received first URL;
receiving, by the router device via the WAN interface from the web server over the Internet, the first web-page in response to the sending of the first HTTP request;
sending, by the router device via the WAN interface to the server device over the Internet, the received first web-page;
receiving, by the router device via the WAN interface from the server device over the Internet, the second URL;
sending, by the router device via the WAN interface to the web server over the Internet, a second HTTP request that comprises the received second URL;
receiving, by the router device via the WAN interface from the web server over the Internet, the second web-page in response to the sending of the second HTTP request;
sending, by the router device via the WAN interface to the server device over the Internet, the received second web-page;
transporting, by the router device, packets between the Internet connected to the WAN interface and the computer device connected to the LAN interface; and
converting, by the router device, rates and protocols between the WAN and LAN interfaces when transporting the packets therebetween.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first or second HTTP request comprises HTTP Secure (HTTPS) request.
3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising initiating communication, by the router device with the server device over the Internet, in response to a powering up of the router device.
4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising sending, by the router device over the Internet, a physical geographical location.
5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the sending of the physical geographical location comprises sending to the server device of the physical geographical location.
6. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the physical geographical location corresponds to an actual physical geographical location of the router device.
7. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the physical geographical location includes at least a country, a state or province, or a city.
8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the physical geographical location further includes a street, a ZIP code, or longitude and latitude.
9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the communicating by the router device with the server device or with the web server is based on, or uses, HTTP persistent connection.
10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the communication by the router device with the server device is based on, or is according to, TCP/IP protocol or connection.
11. The method according to claim 10 , further comprising establishing a connection with the server device, and wherein the communication with the server device is over the established connection.
12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the established connection is using a tunneling protocol.
13. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the communicating with the server device uses TCP, and wherein the connection is established by performing ‘Active OPEN’ or ‘Passive OPEN’.
14. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the communication by the router device with the server device is based on, or is according to, a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first or second web-page includes, consists of, or comprises, a part or whole of files, text data, audio data, voice data, multimedia data, video data, images, music data, a computer program, or any combination thereof.
16. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first or second web-page comprises multiple Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) objects.
17. The method according to claim 1 , further for anonymity, wherein the web server is prevented from identifying the server device.
18. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising periodically sending, by the router device over the Internet, a message that is indicative of a status of the router device.
19. The method according to claim 18 , wherein the message comprises, or is based on, an ‘heartbeat’ message.
20. The method according to claim 19 , wherein a time period between two or more sent messages is at least 10 milliseconds, milliseconds, 30 milliseconds, 50 milliseconds, 100 milliseconds, 1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds, 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds, 50 seconds, or 100 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, minutes 5, or 10 minutes.
21. The method according to claim 1 , for use with a resource associated with a criterion, and wherein the router device is associated with first and second states according to a utilization of the resource.
22. The method according to claim 21 , further comprising, periodically or continuously determining, by the router device, whether the resource utilization satisfies the criterion.
23. The method according to claim 22 , further comprising, responsive to the determining that the utilization of the resource satisfies the criterion, shifting, by the router device, to the first state or staying in the first state; and responsive to the determining that the utilization of the resource does not satisfy the criterion, shifting, by the router device, to the second state or staying in the second state.
24. The method according to claim 23 , further comprising, performing a task, by the router device, upon receiving a request, when in the first state.
25. The method according to claim 23 , further comprising periodically or continuously sending, by the router device, the resource utilization.
26. The method according to claim 21 , for use with a set threshold value, and wherein the criterion is satisfied when the resource utilization is above or below the threshold.
27. The method according to claim 21 , wherein the resource comprises, or consists of, a hardware component in a client device.
28. The method according to claim 27 , wherein the hardware component comprises, or consists of, a processor or Central Processing Unit (CPU) operation in the device.
29. The method according to claim 28 , wherein the resource utilization is based on, or comprises, the processor or CPU time of executing one or more threads or processes, wherein the resource utilization is based on, or comprises, the processor or CPU idling time, or wherein the resource utilization is based on, or comprises, the processor or CPU executing a system idle process.
30. The method according to claim 27 , wherein the hardware component comprises, or consists of, a memory in the client device, and wherein the resource utilization is based on, or comprises, an amount of used or unused location or space of the memory.
31. The method according to claim 21 , wherein the resource comprises, or consists of, input or output capability.
32. The method according to claim 31 , wherein the resource comprises, or consists of, communication bandwidth of communication with another device over the Internet.
33. The method according to claim 32 , wherein the resource comprises, or consists of, communication bandwidth of communication with the server device over the Internet, or wherein the resource utilization is based on, or according to, IETF RFC 2914.
34. The method according to claim 1 , further for use with a third web-page that is identified by a third Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and that is stored in the web server, the method comprising:
receiving, by a router device from a server device over the Internet, the third URL;
sending, by the router device to the web server over the Internet, a third HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request that comprises the received third URL;
receiving, by the router device from the web server over the Internet, the third web-page in response to the sending of the third HTTP request; and
sending, by the router device to the server device over the Internet, the received third web-page.
35. The method according to claim 1 , further for use with a third web-page that is identified by a third Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and that is stored in an additional web server, the method comprising:
receiving, by a router device from a server device over the Internet, the third URL;
sending, by the router device to the additional web server over the Internet, a third HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request that comprises the received third URL;
receiving, by the router device from the additional web server over the Internet, the third web-page in response to the sending of the third HTTP request; and
sending, by the router device to the server device over the Internet, the received third web-page.
36. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising supporting, by the router device, Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP), an External Gateway Protocol (EGP), a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS), Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request for Comments (RFC) 4098, or any combination thereof.
37. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising routing, by the router device, according to a routing protocol that is according to, or is compliant with, an Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model Layer-3, the Internet Layer, Quality-of-Service (QoS), an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP), an Inter-Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP), Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) protocol, or any combination thereof.
38. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the LAN interface comprises a wired connection.
39. The method according to claim 38 , wherein the LAN interface is according to, based on, or is compliant with, an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.3, IEEE 802.3ae-2002as, or IEEE P802.3ba standard.
40. The method according to claim 39 , wherein the LAN interface is according to, based on, or is compliant with, 10/100BaseT, 1000BaseT (gigabit Ethernet), 10 gigabit Ethernet (10GE or 10 GbE or 10 GigE), 40 Gigabit Ethernet (40 GbE), or 100 Gigabit Ethernet (100 GbE).
41. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the LAN interface comprises a wireless LAN (WLAN) interface.
42. The method according to claim 41 , wherein the router device comprises a Wireless Access Point (WAP).
43. The method according to claim 41 , wherein the WLAN interface is according to, based on, or is compliant with, IEEE 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11k, 802.11n, 802.11r, or any combination thereof.
44. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the router device comprises, is part of, or is integrated with, a gateway device.
45. The method according to claim 44 , wherein the gateway device comprises, is part of, or is integrated with, Virtual Gateway Service (VGS) device.
46. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the router device comprises, is part of, or is integrated with, a firewall device.