Systems and methods for in-transit protocol translation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024031455-A1
Application number	US-202318366836-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 8, 2023
Priority date	Mar 8, 2021
Publication date	Jan 25, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for in-transit protocol translation. Specifically, various approaches are described for translating protocols for intermediate networks in a way by which there is no need of support for encapsulation/decapsulation at the end hosts and does not require any changes to end hosts or transit networks. Various embodiments include intercepting traffic between one or more source client devices and a transit network; detecting a first communication protocol used by the one or more source client devices in the traffic; translating the traffic from the first communication protocol to a second communication protocol; and forwarding the traffic to the transit network using the second communication protocol.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising steps of:
intercepting traffic between one or more source client devices and a transit network; detecting a first communication protocol used by the one or more source client devices in the traffic; translating the traffic from the first communication protocol to a second communication protocol; and forwarding the traffic to the transit network using the second communication protocol.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the steps further comprise:
intercepting the traffic between the transit network and one or more destination client devices; translating the traffic from the second communication protocol back to the first communication protocol; and forwarding the traffic to the one or more destination client devices using the first communication protocol.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first communication protocol is Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) and the second communication protocol is User Datagram Protocol (UDP).

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the steps are performed continuously.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the transit network is a fifth generation (5G) mobile network.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more source client devices are any of IoT devices, Operational Technology (OT) platforms, medical equipment, connected vehicles, and data stores.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the translating is performed by a branch connector, and not performed on the one or more source client devices.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second communication protocol is automatically selected based on the transit network.

9 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform steps of:
intercepting traffic between one or more source client devices and a transit network; detecting a first communication protocol used by the one or more source client devices in the traffic; translating the traffic from the first communication protocol to a second communication protocol; and forwarding the traffic to the transit network using the second communication protocol.

10 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the steps further comprise:
intercepting the traffic between the transit network and one or more destination client devices; translating the traffic from the second communication protocol back to the first communication protocol; and forwarding the traffic to the one or more destination client devices using the first communication protocol.

11 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the first communication protocol is Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) and the second communication protocol is User Datagram Protocol (UDP).

12 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the steps are performed continuously.

13 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the transit network is a fifth generation (5G) mobile network.

14 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the one or more source client devices are any of IoT devices, Operational Technology (OT) platforms, medical equipment, connected vehicles, and data stores.

15 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the translating is performed by a branch connector, and not performed on the one or more source client devices.

16 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the second communication protocol is automatically selected based on the transit network.

17 . A branch connector comprising:
one or more processors and memory storing instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
intercept traffic between one or more source client devices and a transit network;
detect a first communication protocol used by the one or more source client devices in the traffic;
translate the traffic from the first communication protocol to a second communication protocol; and
forward the traffic to the transit network using the second communication protocol.

18 . The branch connector of claim 17 , wherein the first communication protocol is Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) and the second communication protocol is User Datagram Protocol (UDP).

19 . The branch connector of claim 17 , wherein the transit network is a fifth generation (5G) mobile network.

20 . The branch connector of claim 17 , wherein the one or more source client devices are any of IoT devices, Operational Technology (OT) platforms, medical equipment, connected vehicles, and data stores.

Assignees

• Zscaler Inc

Inventors

• Nadendla Arvind
• Sridhar Kartik Kumar Chatnalli Deshpande
• Srinivasan Subramanian
• Kumar Vipin
• Urquhart Kenneth B
• Howe Nathan

Classifications

• H04L69/08 Primary

  Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion · CPC title

• H04L45/645

  Splitting route computation layer and forwarding layer, e.g. routing according to path computational element [PCE] or based on OpenFlow functionality · CPC title

• H04L65/65 Primary

  Network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP] · CPC title