Method for providing media communication across firewalls

Abstract

The present invention supports a method for transmitting information packets across network firewalls. A trusted entity is provisioned with an address designation for a pinhole through the firewall during setup of a communication session between two communication devices. This pinhole address is used throughout the communication session between the two communication devices to transmit information packets onto and out of the communication network. Information packets addressed to the communication device inside the firewall are received by the trusted entity, which replaces address header information in the information packet with the address for the pinhole. The information packet is routed to the pinhole where it passes onto the network for routing to the communication device inside the firewall. Information packets transmitted from the network are also routed to the trusted entity for routing toward the communication device outside the firewall.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for enabling packet communication between a first communication device inside a firewall and a second communication device outside the firewall, the system comprising a media proxy router connected to the firewall outside the firewall, the media proxy router being associated with a soft switch and being configured to:
 receive information contained in signaling sent to the media proxy router or to the soft switch via a signaling pinhole in the firewall, the information identifying a port at which the first communication device will listen for media traffic;   receive a packet sent to the media proxy router via a media pinhole in the firewall, the packet identifying the port at which the first communication device will listen for media traffic and identifying the media pinhole;   assign a port of the media proxy router at which the media proxy router will listen for media traffic destined for the first communication device; and   record an association between the assigned port and the media pinhole.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the first communication device has a trust relationship with the media proxy router; and   the signaling is sent to the media proxy router.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the first communication device has a trust relationship with the soft switch;   the signaling is sent to the soft switch; and   the soft switch communicates to the media proxy router the information identifying a port at which the first communication device will listen for media traffic.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein one of the media proxy router and the soft switch sends signaling to the second communication device, the signaling identifying the assigned port of the media proxy router at which the media proxy router will listen for media traffic destined for the first communication device. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the media proxy router is further configured to:
 receive media traffic destined for the first communication device on the assigned port;   determine that the media traffic destined for the first communication device can be sent through the media pinhole to the first communication device based on the recorded association; and   send the media traffic through the media pinhole to the first communication device.   
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the media proxy router comprises a routing table and is further configured to record the association between the assigned port and the media pinhole in the routing table. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the assigned port of the media proxy router is associated with an assigned port address;   the media pinhole is associated with a media pinhole address;   the media proxy router is configured to record the association between the assigned port and the media pinhole by recording an association between the assigned port address and the media pinhole address; and   the media proxy router is adapted to send media traffic destined for the first communication device through the media pinhole to the first communication device by addressing the media traffic to the media pinhole address.   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising the soft switch. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the soft switch and the media proxy router are configured to cooperate:
 to receive signaling through the signaling pinhole, the signaling identifying a signaling port at which the first communication device will listen for signaling traffic; and   responsive to receiving the signaling, to record an association between the first communication device and the signaling pinhole.   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the soft switch and the media proxy router are further configured to cooperate to:
 receive signaling for communication to the first communication device;   determine that the signaling for communication to the first communication device can be sent to the first communication device through the signaling pinhole based on the association between the first communication device and the signaling pinhole; and   send the signaling through the signaling pinhole to the first communication device.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the signaling received through the signaling pinhole comprises a registration request. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the media proxy router and the soft switch are co-located and communicate directly with one another. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the media proxy router and the soft switch share a common housing. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the signaling comprises at least one Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the signaling comprises at least one Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP) message. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the signaling comprises at least one H.248 message. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the signaling comprises at least one H.323/H.245 message. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the media traffic comprises at least one of voice traffic, data traffic, video traffic, wireless voice traffic, wireless data traffic, wireless video traffic and multimedia traffic. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the media traffic comprises Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) packets. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the signaling and the media traffic comprise IP packets.