A method of discovering a device in a communication network having multiple interconnected nodes includes continuously monitoring, by a device to be discovered, any IP packets sent by a discoverer. The method further includes transmitting, by the discoverer, an IP packet destined for a downstream device and receiving, by the device to be discovered, the IP packet. The method further includes determining, by the device to be discovered, whether the IP packet is intended for the device to be discovered. If the IP packet is not intended for the device to be discovered, retransmitting, by the device to be discovered, the IP packet to the downstream device via an egress port of the device to be discovered.

A communication network device facilitates communication between devices and/or applications in a network without requiring each device to register with every other device or application. The communication network device may generate and assign a unique identifier to each device or application upon registration and store a role of the device or application (e.g., sender or receiver or both) in addition to capability and compatibility information. The communication network device may then dynamically broker and manage communications from each of the devices or applications to other devices and applications in real-time. Using a communication network device, communications may be directed to devices or applications without requiring a sending device to know of the recipient's network address. Additionally, the communication network device allows for the direct targeting of communications to specific applications. Accordingly, in some arrangements, two applications running on the same device may receive different communications from another device or application.

Systems, methods and devices for location-based services are disclosed in the present invention. A multiplicity of network devices, a database, and a server platform in network-based communication. The database stores a space-network model binding IP addresses and physical locations. The server platform is operable to generate at least one geofence in the space-network model and specify entitlements for the location-based services within the at least one geofence. The at least one geofence and specific entitlement are stored to the database. The multiplicity of network devices is configured to learn the space-network model and the at least one geofence and perform tasks based on the entitlements specified for the location-based services within the at least one geofence.

In one example, a communication device includes a LINK that generates a first output signal on a basis of a first external signal from a first external device, outputs the first output signal to a second external device, generates a second output signal on a basis of a second external signal from the second external device, and outputs the second output signal to the first external device, in which each of the first output signal and the second external signal includes command information indicating content of a command transmitted from the first external device, final-destination-device-identification-information for identifying a final destination device of data transmitted from the first external device, internal address information indicating an internal address of the final destination device, data length information indicating a length of the data transmitted from the first external device, and data-end-position-information indicating an end position of the data transmitted.

Methods, systems, and computer readable media for hiding network function (NF) instance identifiers (IDs) in communications networks are disclosed. One method for hiding NF instance IDs in a communications network occurs at an NF repository function (NRF) comprising at least one processor. The method comprises: receiving, from a first NF, an NF registration request message for registering a first NF instance of the first NF, wherein the NF registration request message includes a first NF instance ID for identifying the first NF instance; storing, in a data store, a mapping between the first NF instance ID and at least one pseudo NF instance ID, wherein the data store includes mappings between NF instance IDs and related pseudo NF instance IDs; and generating and sending, to the first NF, an NF registration response message including the at least one pseudo NF instance ID for identifying the first NF instance.

In one illustrative example, a user plane function (UPF) configured for use in a private 5G network of an enterprise may receive, from a user device, a domain name system (DNS) query associated with an application; send, to a DNS server, one or more corresponding DNS queries based on the DNS query; receive, from the DNS server, one or more DNS query responses which include an IP address and metadata including an application identifier for the application; and send, to a control plane function, a message for reporting which includes the application identifier. In response, a dedicated Quality of Service (QoS) Flow may be created for traffic for the application according to a selected QoS policy associated with the application identifier. For obtaining the metadata, the UPF may interact with a DNS server configured with Extension mechanisms for DNS (EDNS) or a DNS as Authoritative Source (DNS-AS) mechanism.

In one illustrative example, a user plane function (UPF) configured for use in a private 5G network of an enterprise may receive, from a user device, a domain name system (DNS) query associated with an application; send, to a DNS server, one or more corresponding DNS queries based on the DNS query; receive, from the DNS server, one or more DNS query responses which include an IP address and metadata including an application identifier for the application; and send, to a control plane function, a message for reporting which includes the application identifier. In response, a dedicated Quality of Service (QoS) Flow may be created for traffic for the application according to a selected QoS policy associated with the application identifier. For obtaining the metadata, the UPF may interact with a DNS server configured with Extension mechanisms for DNS (EDNS) or a DNS as Authoritative Source (DNS-AS) mechanism.

A method and system receives at a server a search request and processes the search request to determine a context of the search request, then determines, based on the context, a network route to an application server having the closest geographic proximity, with respect to the server, to the most relevant database associated with the context.

Methods and systems for range matching. The system holds a definition of one or more ranges of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. The definition may specify any desired number of ranges of any suitable size, and some ranges may overlap one another or be contained in one another. The definition may also specify certain returned values and/or relative priorities for the various ranges. In a pre-processing phase, a hash table that is subsequently queried with addresses to be range-matched. The hash table may be updated at run-time. During operation, the system receives addresses (e.g., extracts addresses from monitored communication traffic) and identifies by querying the hash table, for each address, whether the address falls within any of the ranges.

Systems and methods for supporting inter subnet partitions in a high performance computing environment. In accordance with an embodiment, a fabric manager can define a range of P_Key values, among a plurality of P_Key values, as a inter subnet partition (ISP) P_Key range. The fabric manager can communicate this defined range of P_Key values to a number of subnets, via their subnet managers. The subnet managers in each subnet retain management over their subnets. As there is no central management that configures each side of inter subnet communication, subnet managers on within participating subnets can set up ISP membership, and then exchange information with the other subnet.