US 11,894,947 B2
Network layer performance and security provided by a distributed cloud computing network
Nicholas Alexander Wondra, Savoy, IL (US); Achiel Paul van der Mandele, Austin, TX (US); Alexander Forster, Austin, TX (US); Eric Reeves, Austin, TX (US); Joaquin Madruga, Austin, TX (US); Rustam Xing Lalkaka, San Francisco, CA (US); and Marek Przemyslaw Majkowski, Warsaw (PL)
Assigned to CLOUDFLARE, INC., San Francisco, CA (US)
Filed by CLOUDFLARE, INC., San Francisco, CA (US)
Filed on Dec. 18, 2022, as Appl. No. 18/067,713.
Application 18/067,713 is a continuation of application No. 17/481,177, filed on Sep. 21, 2021, granted, now 11,533,197.
Application 17/481,177 is a continuation of application No. 16/993,181, filed on Aug. 13, 2020, granted, now 11,128,491, issued on Sep. 21, 2021.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/886,314, filed on Aug. 13, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2023/0124628 A1, Apr. 20, 2023
Int. Cl. H04L 12/46 (2006.01); H04L 101/618 (2022.01)
CPC H04L 12/4633 (2013.01) [H04L 2101/618 (2022.05)] 14 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method in a distributed cloud computing network that includes a plurality of computing devices, the method comprising:
receiving a first IP packet at a first one of the plurality of computing devices of a first data center, wherein the received first IP packet is destined to a first origin server of a first origin network, wherein the received first IP packet has destination IP address, and wherein the first computing device does not have a private network interconnect (PNI) connection with the first origin network;
processing the received first IP packet at the first computing device;
determining that a second data center has the PNI connection with the first origin network;
encapsulating the processed first IP packet inside a first outer packet to generate a first encapsulated packet that uses IP as a transport protocol;
transmitting the first encapsulated packet from the first data center to the second data center that has the PNI connection with the first origin network;
processing, at a second one of the plurality of computing devices of the second data center, the first encapsulated packet including decapsulating the first encapsulated packet to reveal the first IP packet; and
transmitting the first IP packet to the first origin server of the first origin network over the PNI connection.