Invalidity dossier
US 6061796
Multi-access virtual private network
Current assignee: SSL SERVICES LLC
Added 9/24/2026, 1:34:20 AM
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Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US6061796A
Title: Multi-access virtual private network
Patent number: US6061796A
Application number: US08/917,341
Filing date: 1997-08-26
Priority date: 1997-08-26
Publication/grant date: 2000-05-09
Original assignee: V One Corp
Current assignee listed: SSL SERVICES LLC
Purpose. The invention relates to a system and method for allowing private communications over an open network — a virtual private network (VPN) providing data encryption and mutual authentication services for both client/server and peer-to-peer applications at the applications, transport driver, and network driver levels. Prior client/server VPNs leave peer-to-peer communications between client applications unprotected, while direct peer-to-peer approaches require configuring every computer for encryption, authentication, and key management, and lack central control.
Plain-language scope. The invention keeps a client/server approach with centralized control of encryption, authentication, and key management, while enabling secured peer-to-peer communications. The server provides authentication and session key generation for both client-to-server and peer-to-peer communications. The applications-level infrastructure of prior client/server arrangements is maintained, while shims are added at lower levels to accommodate peer-to-peer applications. These additions create a secured mutual-authentication and session-key-generation channel between the server and all parties to a communication, at all levels at which a communication can be carried out. The description frames the layers in Windows NT terms: Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS 3.0), Transport Driver Interface (TDI), and file systems — generically the network driver, transport driver, and applications layers. The TDI layer formats data into packets or datagrams; the NDIS layer controls device drivers. Classifications include H04L63/0272 (virtual private networks) and H04L12/4641.
Not established by this excerpt. Individual claim language is not reproduced here; the excerpt is expressly stated to be partial ("consult the source for omitted text"). Litigation (family litigation is flagged in the record but not detailed), ownership transfers, maintenance status, and prior art are not researched here; legal status shown is an assumption, not a legal conclusion.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US6061796](/patent/US6061796)/en
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:31:18 PM
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Litigation summary
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PTAB challenges
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Assignment history
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Prior art
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Obviousness
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Extensions
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Derivative works
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