US 12,081,530 B2
Partial packet encryption for encrypted tunnels
Kyle Andrew Donald Mestery, Woodbury, MN (US); Ian James Wells, San Jose, CA (US); and Grzegorz Boguslaw Duraj, Vancouver (CA)
Assigned to Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed by Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed on Aug. 15, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/234,247.
Application 18/234,247 is a continuation of application No. 17/002,170, filed on Aug. 25, 2020, granted, now 11,765,146.
Prior Publication US 2023/0396597 A1, Dec. 7, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. H04L 9/40 (2022.01); H04L 9/32 (2006.01); H04L 12/46 (2006.01)
CPC H04L 63/0478 (2013.01) [H04L 9/321 (2013.01); H04L 12/4633 (2013.01); H04L 63/08 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
creating an encrypted tunnel over a network and between a first device and a second device to communicate encrypted data over the network;
determining, at the first device, that a packet is to be sent to the second device over the network in the encrypted tunnel;
determining, at the first device, that a first portion of the packet is encrypted;
identifying, from an overlay header of the packet, a marking indicating a second portion of the packet that is unencrypted;
encrypting, at the first device, the second portion of the packet using an encryption protocol associated with the encrypted tunnel; and
sending, from the first device, the packet over the network to the second device using the encrypted tunnel.